become financially responsible

So I’m moving away from home. After almost eight months away from home, it doesn’t seem as scary and overwhelming as before, especially because of the money from the state. The month in Africa did more than the six months at Uldum school. Doing stuff I wasn’t comfortable with and realizing it doesn’t kill me, just takes me somewhere new.
Oh, I’m so looking forward to having my own place: Something I’ve never, ever felt before.

This is one of my number one goals for this new year.

I forgot that my mom said she has a wonderful tax man/ financial advisor and she generously offered today to pay for an appointment with him. I am going to take her up on that and use him to become more financially educated an competant in managing my finances.

And I have the book Your Money or Your Life that is on order from Barnes and Noble and I am using my Christmas gift card to buy it. I have heard great things about the book, so I am really excited to get more tips and really proactively work on this goal.

Or at least on giant leap for meeeeee! I did huge things today in regards to this goal… mailed off a money order for the entire back taxes payment (whew!) and somewhat randomly asked about getting a bank acct again at WaMu and ended up getting one! It’s been a year since I last had one, partially out of choice because I trusted myself in dealing with only cash. I was shockingly not on the ‘checks system’ where I could’ve been banned for 3-5 yrs from having an account. And I have things in my recent financial history that almost guarenteed me being on the system. It’s like a little miracle from God (perhaps like seeing the virgin mother on that grilled cheese…) that I somehow slipped thru the system and they let me have a bank account.

As I sat there with my mom (she was out running errands with me)... I pointed out the cardboard poster behind the desk of the guy helping me. It said “Now Washington Mutual is proudly backed by JP Chase Morgan…” And my mom said, “And you think you’re bad with your financial history- WaMu just went belly up for millions and millions of dollars!” Ha! Apparently a bank can do wrong too, and my $90 overdraft that I was able to pay today wasn’t so bad. It’s all about perspective. I really learned today to face my issues- they are usually worse in my head. Although in this case it was pretty bad in reality too, but I wasn’t on the checks system and it was relatively an easy problem to fix. The biggest issue is to not be in denial and to face what I fear most, and to have healthy and financially responsible habits in the future so that I can never go back to where I was.

to record every new episode of the Suze Orman show. Even though her personality is a bit grating at times, I always feel more inspired to be financially responsible after listening to her. Good place to start, I figure.

- but financially giving.

I’m cleaning at the hospital. Making coffee, preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner. Physically exhausting, I feel as though I’ve worked for a fortnight without rest, but lets my mind wander and has me thinking about all sorts of other stuff while I do the toilets.

This is not a job I love, I could never do this for a living, but I’m getting used to “life” – doing things I don’t want to because I have to, not taking everything too personally as some people are just terrible.

I’m doing nothing but looking for jobs these days. As of now, I’ve

1) cleaned for the elderly in their homes – most cozy job ever
2) helped at a rest home
3) cleaned a kindergarten (6.30-9.30 in the morning!)
4) sung in church
5) done mindnumbing office work for my dad’s company (the best pay, though, wouldn’t be without it)

My goal: 45.000 DKK.
I need something that lasts more than a fortnight.

i need to be better organised with my money, learn to save, not get into debt, and not waste so much

I check my bank account online almost every day. I know how much money I have at all times. Every bill gets paid electronically on time. I’m even over-paying some of the credit cards. I can see how it’s possible that one day the credit cards will be paid off.

The very very best part is that I have absolutely no more negative feelings associated with getting the mail and checking my accounts. Totally gone. I even look forward to getting the mail these days. This is huge.

I won’t mark this done yet and I can’t decide right now what “done” means, but I feel like this should remain open for now.

it seems to be my impossible ultimate dream nowadays!

find a job that I am interested in and become independent