It’s Wednesday! It’s time to discuss debt, but I’m going to start out with a little confession. Then I would love to hear your experience and insight on debt!
Confession
Waking up early has never been a talent of mine. I would rather stay up late working on a project than wake up early to get it done.
I really want to be an early-riser. So many of the amazing, inspiring, wise, productive, people I admire get up early. They say that those early morning hours are their most productive. Harnessing the power of the quiet wee morning hours is the secret to their success.
Even my little ones can quote Ben Franklin’s “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise.”
I know I can get up early. Through all four years of high school I woke up (with my parents’ help) to attend a daily early-morning scripture study class at church. For several years in college, I worked an early morning (4 AM!) custodial job on campus.
Fits and Starts
Becoming a “morning person”is a frequent resolution of mine. Sometimes I do really well. I feel so triumphant on those mornings when I pop out of bed when the alarm sounds. I accomplish so much in that hour or two before the kids start waking up. I’m also in a much better mood to greet my little ones than the other mornings when they are the ones dragging me out of bed.
As badly as I want to wake up early, I have such a hard time with consistency. I go in fits and starts. For several days I’ll get up like a champ, then for a few more days I just can’t do it. I am far from making my resolution into a habit.
Thankfully each new day gives me another opportunity to try again.
Debt
Does this sound anything like your debt repayment journey? Do you have bursts of energy and enthusiasm, then a couple months later have trouble finding motivation?
Consistency can be a challenge in any resolution. Since this is a debt discussion, let’s talk about consistency in debt repayment. Your stories and suggestions can help us all improve our consistency. Maybe I’ll even learn something to improve my success in all those early mornings.
If you find yourself experiencing bursts of energy followed by dips in enthusiasm in your debt repayment, what do you think might be the underlying reasons it’s so hard to stay consistent?
What do you do to be consistent in your resolve to pay off your debt? How do you avoid fits and starts in repayment?
What suggestions do you have for someone who is struggling to stick with their resolve (in debt repayment or other life challenges)?
I get up at 4:30/5 during the week. I used to read the news or catch up with friends or balance the check book while I eat breakfast and enjoy my coffee. Lately, I’ve been prepping food or making menus…. Anything in the name of saving money.
We’ve had to sputter on debt payoff because of medical reasons but it doesn’t mean we’re not trying to at least budget… And do the best we can.
Wow! That’s early! That’s great that you’re not letting everything slide because of the medical bumps in the road. I hope things turn out well and things start looking up soon!
I am also not a morning person and stopped forcing it. I do my best work between 9pm -midnight. I am the same about consistency. Some days are up, some days are down, some are just at a plateau. I motivate myself to pay off debt by looking at my daily interest rate, imagining my life post-debt, and fantasizing about travel.
Imagining my life post debt is motivating to me too! Living in my in-laws basement is great, but I’m eager to get our own place eventually. Thinking about that really keeps us on track. It’s a constant reminder of our goals.
That’s my most productive time too. The thing is that my kids will be getting me up in the morning, so ideally I should be going to bed earlier!
PS: Here’s another reason when I went crazy with spending. I found out it is going to cost us $1,100.00 to get rid of flying squirrels that we’ve had for a long time. So I figured, since that is gonna take a chunk out of our emergency fund/savings, what’s the difference if we spend a little more than that and actually get something we want in return for the money (other than the peace of knowing squirrels aren’t chewing our roof/insulation anymore!)? –I think this is another reason why after pinching pennies for so long, I sometimes spend like crazy: Usually something un-fun happens that takes a huge chunk of money, and then it’s like I just give up and buy things (usually for the kids) that I’ve been waiting months to get. (but these are more WANTS for the kids, not NEEDS). Once my budget is blown, forget it. That is why one trick I have for myself is to make our budget very plump, because in the long-run, we’ll come out ahead that way. Because I know I am the type of person that once I’m off budget, I will just keep spending since I am again either in it 110% or OUT OF IT 110%! I know, not good! :p
Flying squirrels? It makes me think of Rocky and Bullwinkle. I have never seen a flying squirrel and kinda thought they were just made up!! That is crazy (and super frustrating) that they are destroying your roof!!
I think it’s so good that you can pinpoint the reasons for your spending binge and getting off-budget. You know yourself well 🙂 I guess that’s all the more reason to be sure to stay on-budget 🙂
As always, thanks for sharing Liz!
I’ll keep this short because I tried about 4 times to comment on your last post, and whenever I would hit “Post Comment” it wouldn’t work. Anyway, I am having this EXACT problem as we speak! We did so good recently paying off our credit card, our savings is already building quickly, and now I am on a spending binge! Even though I’m using cash, that still doesn’t justify it. I know the reason I am spending so much is because I pulled a muscle in my neck and literally couldn’t do anything for a week, so I was doing a LOT of online browsing. And I am NOT a window shopper, hence the reason I literally (no joke) ran and hid when the UPS guy pulled in my driveway yesterday. I was embarrassed. I even took a picture of my 4 year old with all the packages…I wish there was a way I care share it here, lol. Anyway, this happens to me a lot where I go from pinching pennies and then once I reach a milestone or get good results for awhile, I go nuts spending. So, I know I need to not LOOK online and that will be a big help. My only advice (and I need to practice what I preach) is to not stretch myself so thin for so long, because then eventually the opposite happens. I need to learn to work on a goal, but while doing so, allow for little splurges along the way. But I just can’t seem to do this: When I am working on a goal, I’m in it 110% and it totally consumes me. But anyway, I THINK that would be the solution. If I wasn’t so extreme in pinching pennies, then I probably wouldn’t eventually hit the other extreme where I spend hundreds in one week.
I’m sorry to hear about your neck and how it ruined your budget! That’s hilarious that you hid from the UPS guy out of embarrassment!
I know what you’re saying about the extremes. I think lots of people do that. We need to be careful not to over-do it with extreme frugality. You can definitely get burn out. I guess it’s the same with any goal or resolution. If you set the bar too high or try to do too much all at once you get overwhelmed and give up. It’s good that you recognize what’s going on 🙂
That’s sad that you tried to comment before and it didn’t work. I wonder what was wrong?
Motivation is hard for me. But writing it all out frequently has helped (i.e. doing our networth check in each month). Seeing the number I owe is a reminder during my “lazy” times when I want to pretend like I do not have any debt.
I agree Michelle! Writing things down, especially the monthly report, really helps.