So, I finally moved out of my family. Yay! The independence, the freedom. I had found this cute little place with a fireplace and small balcony at a very reasonable price.
My girlfriend, who is now my wife and I decided to walk together but on another way. I informed my parents about this, they seemed excited. My girlfriend Jill was in a similar situation. She felt quite nervous as living away from her parents has never been her experience.
We had great plans for our future. We were already picturing so many things like late-night, parties, no worries about parents.
Oh! The feeling of freedom. It was amazing. Well, we moved in on April the 15th. It was also her birthday.
We had a great party, invited all of our friends. We all unpacked the kinds of stuff, had some beer, some sandwiches, and finally by a late night or rather an early morning, we were all done for the day.
We were tired, and the next day was Sunday so we relaxed. In the evening Jill and I went grocery shopping. It was the first time I had ever gone grocery shopping.
I was amazed at the prices. God things are expensive. Then it hit me. We can’t just live. We have to come up with a plan to manage our expenses and do some savings so we could make our ends meet smoothly and at the same time plan our future.
Most people especially newly moved out people like us have financial issues not because they have less money but because they don’t know how to manage it.
Jill and I sat down, we started discussing. None of us had ever practiced adulting yet. After a lot of talking, we concluded that neither of us are any good.
We were trying and failing at the budget thing. Finally, we came up with a plan. We each wrote our monthly expenses separately.
We decided to be honest and not hide anything and it was a smart decision. Let me tell you why?
She had a big part of her expenses going in Coffee and for me it was shoes. Well, we have our quirks and we loved each other for that, so there was no point hiding.
Guys, if you are in a relationship, you should respect what you both feel to each other. Be it an expensive coffee or branded shoe. Such little things may have little impact but certainly maintain significance in a relationship, affecting your budget.
Talking honestly brought us a lot closer, we kept laughing and trying to make a budget that fits all our quirks long with essentials
WE decided to keep all the receipts every month with us so we could Check each carefully and decide what is essential and what is not. We added all of our bills and figured out our expenses for a month.
Next, we had set our priorities.
First thing first, we made an elaborate list of things which were essential and could not be ignored Like gas, electricity, rent, grocery, etc. we added their cost and tried to find the space for other things.
Don’t get me wrong, we did have another list, it had things which we did not need but liked to spend on these. WE had listed all fun things that could be avoided, or occasionally enjoyed. I mean we all need a break; we need things to make sense and bring sanity in life.
We were very happy and felt responsible.
A major mistake that we all make in our life is, we don’t count on emergencies. and we made the same mistake. Needless to say, we were feeling like a failure but, we had a long discussion.
There was some fraud case in the company Jill worked at and payment of the entire team was put on hold for next month. While her job was safe, we were worried about the major expenses.
Our friends suggested we get a loan. We went online and found all kinds of loan options. We picked emergency money loans bad credit
, as it seemed like the best option. And let me tell you it was a good choice.
The loan allowed us to pay all of our bills on time and we had nothing to worry about. Soon the company was cleared of all the cases and Jill got all of her pay. It was great because we paid all of the loan amounts and it built our credit score as well.
The lesson I learned was, we must have a contingency plan. Rent, electricity, etc. are extremely important; hence paying these bills must be a priority.
Now that we were out of debt and our finance was going smoothly, we had set up an emergency fund. Jill and I both decided on an amount that we both deposited in that account every month. We were pretty confident.
Now that things were going smoothly, we decided to buy a car. But we didn’t have money. We had a very good experience with our loan so we decided to take out another loan. We got a car loan and bought us our first car.
We were so happy. We went on a long drive, had a lot of fun. The monthly instalment was good and it fit comfortably in our budget. We did know about what was about to happen next.
So that happened. It was out of the blue. We were unable to pay our monthly instalment and we had a tough time meeting our monthly expenses. But we had our emergency fund so we were not very worried. I did not have any job leads.
I was feeling very down. Jill sat down with me and we had a long talk. She was sure that I will find a new job soon. Presently we had to worry about our monthly instalment. She suggested we get an installment loan for bad credit.
She had some leads and we got the loan. Now we were not worried about monthly instalment.And I could focus all of my time on finding a new job. Since I had a lot of time, I decided to educate myself about finances.
There were so many online classes offered free of cost. I started getting free classes. I realized I loved these classes and I had great aptitude in finance.
We were paying our monthly instalment on time; we had our contingency fund saving for us and I was spending time enhancing my knowledge.
We knew, what we earnt. But I was not satisfied with this lifestyle. I wanted to have a better financial condition.
And one thing I learned in my classes was to set up financial goals. I discussed it with Jill. She did not seem very excited about it but she was supportive.
She was content with our present but I was getting ambitious. We discussed and decided on our financial goal. It is very important to have a clear goal.
We examined our bank accounts and decided where do we want to see it in the next five-year, ten years, and 20 years.
I realized I need better knowledge if I want to achieve my goal. I decided get admission in a full-time degree programme. The classes were in the evening. Now we had the issue of tuition fees. I still was out of a job.
I decided to get loans for the unemployed, it was easy as we were managing our credit score well. classes were going well.
It was a one-year course. With some cuts and savings, we managed our home budget. By the end of my course, I was picked by a big finance company and was offered very good pay.
Let me tell you when I took the job offer letter in my hand it was amazing. I called Jill. She was jumping. I thanked her for supporting me throughout.
I decided it was time to move forward in my life. New job, newfound financial freedom why not a new lifestyle?
Yes! I finally proposed to Jill.
She said yes!
And we were engaged. What happened after that is a whole new story which I am leaving for my next blog.
Budget is very important for a smooth financial status. While making a budget, have a family meeting. Involve everyone, have a track of income and expenses. Be realistic with the budget.
Categorize your expenses into necessary and unnecessary. Avoid credit card uses. Clear your debts, and have a great financial year ahead.
Read Also – TALKING SOLUTIONS: MANAGING FINANCE AMIDST INFLATION
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