I’ve said that our financial situation is not good.
That’s … probably an understatement.
Our financial situation is bad. Really bad.
Here’s the thing, in 2020 when the world was shutting down … we went through IVF.
It was probably not the best timing because my husband quit his job literally the week before the shutdown.
And we went into the IVF office at about the same time.
The year before, in December, we had spent every last bit of our savings to pay off our credit cards.
We had absolutely nothing left.
Then in March my husband quit his job, we met with an IVF specialist and then … everything shut down.
In June we decided we were going to go for it anyway.
We were going to go through the IVF process and it was … definitely not cheap.
We cashed out the only thing we had left, which was a savings bond my husband had since he was young.
And then the rest went on a credit card and a loan.
We never really got back to where we were in 2020.
And we had a baby … so the last three years have been terrible for our finances.
The Situation Looks Bleak
To be honest … we’ve never been in this much debt before.
Our situation is bleak.
But we’re determined.
In fact, we’re more than determined to just get out of debt.
As I mentioned earlier this week, we’re determined to go on the trip of a lifetime this year. And we’re not willing to sacrifice that.
But we also want to turn our current situation around and get out of debt.
What that means is taking a very serious look at our credit cards and figuring out what we’re going to do and how we’re going to pay them down.
Finding the Silver Lining
Okay, so … with the credit card situation looking really bleak, what could possibly be the silver lining?
The silver lining is:
- We’re up to date on our cards. Not one of our cards is past due.
- We have payment plans for medical expenses in place. We don’t have to worry about huge medical bills while we’re working on everything else.
- We don’t have installment loans, personal loans, second mortgages, payday loans, or a home equity loan (or anything else like that) to worry about.
- My husband’s normal monthly income pays the regular bills in our household. So we use my income for the debts and for spending money.
- I make my living from freelance writing. That means my income is already variable and I have the potential to increase it if I choose.
- Our credit scores are really good. They’re not amazing anymore (because of the debt) but we’ve always stayed current on our bills/debts and always made at least the minimum payments, so we still have really good scores (in the mid-700s).
- We’re willing to try unconventional methods to bring in additional income to reach our goals.
So, there are actually a lot of good things that are going on in our process. At the moment … we’re treading water. But we have the potential to swim (which is ironic because neither I nor my husband can actually swim … but I digress).
Finding the silver lining does give us some hope, and our research online has given us even more because we have ideas and plans for earning more income.
Turning to Unconventional Methods
Our conventional methods for earning income are our jobs.
My husband works a standard 8-5 job. And while freelance writing isn’t quite ‘conventional’ it’s still a more regular job. It’s what I do for a living in general.
Our unconventional methods are things like:
- eBook writing/publishing
- Video game streaming
- Mystery shopping
- Website/app testing
- Surveys
- Test scoring
- Book reviews
Yes, each of these are ways that you can make money online.
Of course, they each work to varying degrees and you’re not going to get rich doing any of them (except maybe the first two if you’re really good and also get really lucky).
For us, we’re just looking to bring in a little extra money each month so we can start putting it toward our debt and also toward our big trip later this year (if you’re interested in hearing about that you can check out Budgeting for the Trip of a Lifetime).
Publishing the books that I write is actually super simple because I’m just doing it through Amazon and Barnes & Noble and other eBook sites.
My husbands’ video game streaming is simple for him because he likes playing the games anyway so now he just shares his screen with other people and gets a little extra money in the process.
The rest … well, I’ve been doing freelance writing for over a decade, so I know how to research different online money-making opportunities. And these ones have no startup cost and allow me to make a little extra whenever I have free time.
They’re really a win-win because I’m not tied to anything if I’m busy that day but I can do something little on the days that I have free time.
Making Your Own Plans
So, what plans do you have for your finances?
Are you currently in a good financial place or are you barely treading water like us?
Or maybe you’re currently drowning in financial troubles.
No matter where you are, there are things you can do to keep pushing yourself forward and getting things on track again.
But it’s going to take work.
It’s going to take dedication.
And it’s going to take time.
Understand that you’re not going to get out of debt overnight. Even though you might want to.
Trust me, I want to. I want to be able to just wave my hands and be back (financially) where we were going into 2020.
But … that’s not going to happen. And really, I wouldn’t want to change our decision to do IVF (though I would change some of the purchasing decisions we’ve made outside of IVF that contributed to our current situation).
Still, there’s nothing that I can do about that now.
Just like there’s nothing that you can do about your past decisions now. (Except make a promise to yourself that you’re not going to make those decisions again and then work toward making that promise come true).
Take a look at the different options that we’ve used to help increase our income slightly each month.
One or more of those may look appealing to you.
If it does, comment below with your questions.
Or comment with your ideas for earning a little bit of income in an unconventional way.
Others will love to hear your ideas, and I can assure you I’m always looking for new opportunities and ways to keep boosting our income.
With our current financial situation, we can use all the help we can get.
Start with the End in Mind
You’ve probably heard this quote before, right?
Start with the end in mind.
Well, that’s what I’m doing.
I keep telling my husband about all the things we’re going to be able to do in 2025.
- 10 ticket pass to our local baseball team.
- 10 ticket pass to our state basketball team.
- Twice a month date nights out at restaurants.
- Overnight trips every month.
- Buying whatever we want without worrying about finances.
- Saving money for our retirement.
- Saving money for our little one’s future.
- Going on another big trip out of the country.
- Traveling to at least two new states.
All of that … it’s going to take a whole lot of work to pull off. But that’s the end that we have in mind.
And that’s the end that I’m going to keep pushing for.
I have to admit … every time I look at our credit cards I feel … disappointed.
I’m disappointed that we went from debt free in 2020 to having way more debt than we’ve ever had before going into 2024.
I’m disappointed that we are going to have to spend a lot of time and money getting the situation back under control.
And I’m disappointed that it’s going to interfere with some of our daily experiences and the things we’d like to do.
But I’m also determined.
I’m determined that we’re going to lock this down and get things back where they need to be again.
I’m determined that we’re going to be debt free in one year (which is a huge stretch considering how much debt we have).
And I’m determined that we’re going to go into 2025 as the best year ever, where we get to do the things we love and enjoy without worrying about our finances. (And without credit cards.)
So it’s time to get to work. And that’s something we’ve never been afraid of.
Comments