The Numbers

It's a little disappointing and depressing when I look at how much debt I have compared to what I make. It's even more discouraging when I read success stories and see that there is little in common with my current situation. Is there anyone out there paying off huge amounts of debt (most of which is student loan debt) making little money each year? If so, point me in that direction so I won't feel so alone.

Here's my current situation:

Total amount of debt: $89,612.40 ($67,000 of that is student loan debt. Yikes!)

Total amount of income BEFORE taxes: $16,754 

Most of that money I will never see, and I also have to take into account that is from working 3 jobs at 60 hours a week. Seriously. All the "get a second job" advice is something I no longer want to hear.

In an effort to save money, and to start eating a bit healthier, I've been trying to make a lot more things from scratch rather than just buying it. Today I made these strawberry banana chocolate oat muffins from Ambitious Kitchen (link here) and they are absolutely amazing. I want to try every single recipe she has on her blog.

No one ever said this would be easy.

It's been about a month since I declared I was going to be not spending money. So far, that hasn't really been working out for me. I knew it was going to be hard. I knew I wasn't going to be able to quit cold turkey. So today, I handed over all of my cards to my mother to lock in her room so that it would be more of a challenge. I deleted all of my card information from the websites I shop from and am now declaring to only spend cash. Which will be easy to be frugal with because now I get it more often, and I can easily separate it into my different payments where I can actually see it. Virtual money (bank accounts, ect.) is a little bit harder for me to visualize where it is going. 

And although is doesn't sound ideal if my point is to be making money, I ended up quitting one of my four jobs. But honestly, it was the best decision I have ever made. I only worked one day a week, and I was scared to go to work. My boss was not a very nice person, and I would end up going home in tears after each shift. Some serving hours opened up at the other restaurant I work at, and I jumped on them and threw my former boss my notice. I'm so glad I don't have to play manager anymore, and i actually am making some tips that boost my take home pay to help pay off those credit cards.

I just gotta remember: two steps forward, one step back.