Become Financially Independent

Yay! I consider myself financially independent now. I pay for all my bills myself. It’s a good feeling but at the same time seeing your hard earned money you just got in the bank fly out the door to bills is not such a good feeling. I’d suggest if you are just starting this goal DO get some help at first. If your family can help you out a bit, there’s no shame in that. Just make sure you really need the help and aren’t being a mooch.

Budget!

- pay my own car insurance
- pay my own car repairs
- pay my own PO Box fee

What I’ve recently done: besides paying for everything related to being on my own…paying my own cell phone bill now.

Well I’ve moved out now. Still paying for all my college out of pocket. The costs are fairly high, but still managable. Thank god for savings.

But I still don’t consider myself finacially independent. I’m on a cell phone plan with my parents but I plan on cacelling b/c of a crappy phone & service. After that I want to eventually take control of paying for my car insurance. Those are the only two obsticles I have now.

From where I’m standing, this looks next to impossible.

I have one job now. It’s only part-time though. I’d be making just enough to pay for college, gas, and my meds. I’m living w/ my parents now which helps but not w/ this goal. I really do think I’m going to have to get a second job, a night job. So that way I’d work in the mornings, be in my college classes in the afternoon, and work again at night. I’ll have to work my ass off to achieve this goal. So I guess I’m off to find a second job. Wish me luck. :-)

The two things I need to do first are 1) Get a job and 2)Have a massive yard sale.

Okay, so you may be scratching your head as to how #2 has anything to do w/ becoming financially independent. My family has never ever had a yard sale. So basically all the toys, clothes and other junk from my childhood is packed away in a different room. I would get tons of $ from this. I doubt I’ll be able to sell every little thing but the things that I can’t I’ll donate to charity. And I wouldn’t just sell stuff only at a yard sale, I’m already selling stuff on half.com.

As for the job part I’m waiting on several companies to call me back. So cross your fingers.

To be completely honest I haven’t thought of doing this goal until recently. I really don’t like the idea of using my parents money. I rarely do but when I do I feel guilty. I’m living w/ my parents right now. To make a long story short I was in college, ran low on $ because of an unexpected fee (not clearly outlined in paperwork), and now I’m living at home looking for a job to earn money and go to a community college. I’m not in college at the moment but I’m planning to come back in the fall. Okay, so I guess that was a bit of a long story. Believe me there’s a whole lot more to it too.

Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out what all ‘financially independent’ means to me. I guess I could write a list. I’ll most likely add more to it in later entries as I define this better.

• Not living with my parents
• Not asking for money from any friends or family
• Able to pay for my own living situation (rent/other)
• Balance my checkbook regularly & double check my bank statements
• Pay for grocieries
• Pay all the bills on time
• Get a job <<< pretty big one ;-)

That’s all I can think of now. Yeah obviously I was a little scatter brained but you get the general idea.

My boyfriend and I are planning on moving in together sometime in the future. We’ll probably have to get a roomate to help us pay the rent. I mentioned to him that we should consider saving up a lot of money and buy a trailer. That way instead of wasting money renting a place we’ll never own we could live in the trailer, earn money for a better place, and when we get enough $ we could just sell the trailer. You guys tell me what you think of that idea.