savings Archives - DEAR DEBT

For a long time, I had a great relationship with Savings. He was big, strong, and made me feel safe at night.

I moved to New York City with $14,000 in Savings and left New York with $10,000 in savings. After 2 years of struggling to find a full-time job, I was glad that Savings was there to help me out.

Once I got back on my feet, I realized that having all that money just sitting there wasn’t really doing much for me. I was getting quite bored with the relationship. My debt kept nagging at me and started to ignite a fire in me. I wanted it gone and it wasn’t going away quick enough.

Slowly, I started chipping away at Savings and spending less time with him. I put my energy towards Debt and started to see the positive results. It was exhilarating.

After becoming very serious about this dangerous bad boy, Debt, I’ve nearly depleted all my Savings. We are definitely not passionate lovers anymore, and just barely friends.

Now, I only have $1500 in Savings, and I am OK with that. I feel secure in my job and am now insured. I have side hustled quite a lot to continue paying over 1k a month on my student loans, but as you can see I’ve depleted over $8k from Savings to pay off Debt in the past year.

I’m now at the end of my rope with Savings. I can no longer comfortably take from him and not feel guilty, let alone survive. I have to work that much harder to make more money and stretch my dollar.

Things have changed so much between us. I use to feel sick to my stomach if my checking account had less than $1,000. Having $10k in the bank felt like ultimate security.

My priorities shifted.

I couldn’t have ultimate security and pay off my debt as soon as possible.

I had to choose one. I could stay with the safe, “nice guy” Savings, or go into this volatile relationship and pursue Debt aggressively. At the time, it felt like a risk, but it was also really exciting.

It was a hard decision but to be honest, most days I really miss Savings. I miss the good times, the security and compassion. If you love someone, sometimes you have to let them go.

I hope to reconnect with Savings one day—but now, the timing just isn’t right. One thing is true though; I’ll always love him.

For the majority of time I’ve been writing on my little slice of the Internet, I’ve been desperate to find a job. I couldn’t adequately comprehend paying off my massive loans without finding a steady, decent paying job.

Luckily, the universe gave me a break and I have reached my biggest goal of the year, which was finding full time work. I’ve been there less than a month, and I won’t feel fully secure until the 90-day intro period is up. But I’m feeling pretty good about the direction everything is going and I have faith in myself that things will continue to get better.

Now that I have reached my ultimate goal this year, and probably celebrated that fact a little too much (my May budget died a slow death), it’s time to get back to business. I want to pay off debt and have this gone as soon as possible. Although, I’ll be able to pay more towards more debt, my debt payoff timeline won’t change. If you go back and read my first post, I state that paying off my debt with my current income is impossible. Now it is possible, instead of just a dream! But I still have years to go….(uggggggggh)

I want to be a well-rounded, financially fit person. I have money to cover six months of bare necessities in an Emergency Fund. I put $150 in savings each month that I don’t touch. I have roughly 1k in my retirement fund that I started in grad school and stopped after I graduated and couldn’t find a job (I cannot wait to replenish savings and build up retirement once I am debt free!).

What’s next for me? I could throw all my money at debt, including my savings, but I start to feel physically uncomfortable with anything less than 1k in my checking.

Should I:

A) Stop saving and throw everything towards debt

B) Keep paying off debt, keep saving and start saving for retirement

C) Pay off debt and save for retirement

D) None of the above. Insert better answer _____________

What do you think? I want your opinions and expertise!

savings

I miss my ex-lover, Savings

My priorities shifted.

What’s next?