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Breaking Free of Poverty Mindset – Here’s to My New Money Shoes

posted 1st December 2011    Written by: Dusti    CATEGORY: All Posts, Dusti, Job/Career/Work, Money, Season 5, Tips & Tools

“What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.” – Julia Cameron

Money hasn’t been an easy subject for me for a long time. When I was a kid, I was a saver. But my mom would “borrow” my money, so I learned to spend it when I had it.

Now, I owe $30,000 in student loan debt, due to start being paid back in June. And a baby due February 29th. As you can imagine, “I got my mind on the money, and the money on my mind.”

I even had this (stupid, stupid) idea that would have allowed me to spend the year justifying making a limited amount of income. If that isn’t self-sabotage, I don’t know what is.

Earlier this year, I was talking to a couple of friends who had already broken the 6-figure boundary the year before. It was crazy to thin they were doing things not so different than what I was doing – they were just doing them on a bigger, more frequent scale. They were pursuing their dreams – but they knew their dreams had dollar amounts attached to them. But it all seemed so far out of reach. I couldn’t imagine $30K a year, let alone adding an extra zero.

As a would-be entrepreneur, I knew I had to do better if I wanted to make a living doing what I loved. But how? Where the heck do you even start when your perception of money is so warped? A friend said it best – “Your people like you. They want to see you succeed.”

Talking with Molly cemented it. She recommended Overcoming Underearning and I Will Teach You To Be Rich – and I pass that recommendation on to you! Ramit’s tips are solid gold. (Heh.) And Barbara’s are great, too – especially if your problems with money stems from a fear of failure (or success).

My financial goals for next year are ambitious and exciting. Now, I know I deserve to earn more than minimum wage. I’ve got skills! Even more than that, I have the confidence to know I’m worth more.

Danielle LaPorte talks about your money shoes – you can only earn what you’re comfortable with. And $50,000 is a very comfortable starting point for me these days. My goal for my business next year: Breaking the big $100K.

One hundred thousand dollars. $100,000. A hundred G’s.

When I imagine my life, I think about how exciting it will be to pay off my student loans. Zero debt. Automating my bills and savings. Having savings. Starting a retirement fund. Donating to causes I believe in! Visiting France. Ooh la la!

When I close my eyes, I can picture myself doing each one of these things with elegance and joy.

This past year, my business made more than I’ve ever made in a year before. And I’ve only been in business – really – since June. That feels sooo good. To know that I can do what I love, make an amount of money I’m comfortable with, and not be afraid of wealth anymore – those are some pretty sexy money shoes.

What about you? How is your perception of money treating you?

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Dollars vs. Dreams

posted 23rd October 2011    Written by: Kat    CATEGORY: All Posts, Kat, Money, Season 5, Travel, Travel/Adventure

Money’s been on my mind a lot lately. Long-term travel plans will do that to you, I suppose. I’ve got a variety of fears related to this trip, but the one that’s most consistently present is the fear of running out of cash. I touched on that in my post about my travel/moving plans, but I think it’s worth a closer look. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone here, and I suspect this fear is what stops some people from following their dreams of traveling, opening a business, and more.

My parents raised me to make very practical choices about money. My family is solidly middle class–perhaps even upper middle class in the economically-depressed area where I grew up–and they taught me from a young age to save. I’ve never been the type of person to accumulate a large sum of credit card debt, and while I was employed, I was putting money into a retirement account. I decided to leave my job in Seattle to do AmeriCorps partly because the paychecks were sometimes uncertain. Even though I wasn’t going to earn a lot of money during my AmeriCorps year, at least I was able to plan for that.

Point being: my nature is to make reasonably intelligent financial decisions and save money.

What the fuck was I thinking when I quit my job?!

I was thinking that I’d spent a few years automatically transferring 20-30% of my earnings into a savings account every month. I knew that someday I’d use that money to do something awesome, and that time had come. When it wasn’t in my checking account, I didn’t spend it. It was like magic when I looked at the savings balance later!

I was thinking that I was tired of earning my keep in a way that drained me. I was doing so many things on the side that I enjoyed–teaching yoga, blogging, taking photographs–and I wanted more time to explore those options as a potential sources of income.

I was thinking that life is short, and that I’ve never really bought into the idea that we should wait until we retire to follow our dreams. A former coworker once said to me: “It’s hard to dance when you have a walker, but it’s easy to sit at a desk and type.” I don’t want to wait my whole life to do something that I’m excited about now. I don’t want to spend my whole life saving for something that might never happen.

I’m not advocating racking up debt to fund crazy plans and diving into things with reckless abandon. That’s not my style. I am suggesting that if we want to do awesome things, we need to make those a priority. I was able to save the money for this trip by living what some people saw as a spartan lifestyle. I spent money on the things that mattered most–travel and food, including eating out with friends–and I was cautious about the rest. There were certainly times that I missed living alone, but I saved hundreds of dollars each month by having a roommate. I rarely bought things like clothes, books, and other random items because those weren’t in my budget.

My dad said to me a few years ago that he and my mom had a hard time understanding me because they saw my brother buying things (new tv, car stereo, etc.), and I wasn’t like that. I like to spend my money on experiences. That’s how I choose to live my life, and that includes the financial side of it.

All of that doesn’t take away the fear of running out of cash. You know what’s scarier to me, though? Planning around a someday that might never arrive and living a life that isn’t authentic.

Of course, I’ve still got a semi-meticulous travel budget. It’s not like I can get away from my upbringing that easily.

[photo credit: me!]

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From Barista to Writer: Building a Business out of Thin Air

posted 20th October 2011    Written by: Dusti    CATEGORY: All Posts, Dusti, Job/Career/Work, Season 5

I never had any intentions of being an entrepreneur. Really I didn’t.

I thought I was just starting blog. Harmless, really. Then, it was a month-long course on blogging. No biggie. Then, I made my first affiliate sale. Oooh, that was pretty exciting. Then, I was writing and marketing an ebook.

Okay, so it was a slippery slope.

Who am I kidding? I showed all of the telltale signs of the would-be entrepreneur.

The inability to stay at a job I couldn’t stand and couldn’t change. (Seriously, I’ve had 36 jobs.) I had to stop participating in student council, because I blew a fuse or ten when I realized all they did was fundraise for parties and dances. So much for wanting to get the curriculum updated and get the school more active in the community. That may have also been why I was voted most likely to be a politician… in 8th grade.

I joke about it, but honestly, stepping into this new role has changed my life in ways I struggle to describe.

Let’s jump back to the summer of 2010. I was working at a Starbucks, slinging coffee out a window to people more or less unhappy with their lives. (The only notable exception to this was Phil Knight and his wife, two of our regulars.) Life was okay. Except that I knew I was handing a false answer to their problems out the window.

When I wasn’t making coffee, I was online. I’d started blogging in my spare time, downsizing my life, and doing more of what I loved. And what did I love? Writing. Sharing. Even when only an hour of my day could be devoted to this secret passion, it lit me up like the 4th of July.

When I first got started, I did it all for the love of writing. All of these thoughts and ideas had been building up with nowhere to go, and when I started blogging, it was like the floodgates opened. My heart soared every time I penned something. Little pieces of me scattered online and throughout the world.

Now it’s October 2011, and I have built myself a job and the makings of a business. In the past year, I’ve written about half a million words. No exaggeration. Between college, writing for pleasure, and writing for business, the flow of words has been more akin to tsunami force than that of the steady river metaphor I had considered using there.

With no qualifications, I wrote ebooks that real people bought. I offered my services as a branding coach and a copywriter – and real people paid me with real money. Danielle LaPorte says the universe speaks in cashflow, and it certainly did to me. The whole thing still blows my mind.

It’s amazing on so many levels, but entrepreneurship is not easy, especially if you’ve got workaholic tendencies. It feels like your work is never done. There’s always this inner conflict going on. How should I be spending my time? How much time with my daughter is enough? How many hours a week should I work? How many would I like to work? How many do I actually have to work to pay my rent?

We take the structure a workplace provides for granted. The thing with being the one calling shots is just that – you’re the one calling the shots. There’s no one else to blame. It’s all on you. Every decision you make about your schedule, your rates, everything. I’m a fan of bootstrapping, but now I dream of the day I can hire my very own virtual assistant. (I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the heavens will open up and angels will sing.)

Have you considered starting your own business? I’d love to hear about your ideas, and if you have any questions about how I made the transition, I’m happy to answer them! (Molly and Hannah, I want some input here from you guys, too!)

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I Admit, Money Makes Me Crazy

posted 16th March 2011    Written by: Laura    CATEGORY: Laura, Love/Relationships, Money, Season 4

So, here’s the thing. I haven’t been completely honest with all of you. Although I’ve been pretty real about where I am in my life right now, I haven’t fully acknowledged my crazies.

The crazies that have to do with money. Specifically, with spending too much of it, feeling like I need more of it, and being forced to spend it in ways I’d rather not. I don’t even know where to start, or how to admit my deep down demons in an eloquent way. So I’m just gonna write, and see what comes out.

My issue with money goes pretty far back. My parents split up when I was in junior high. One of the spin-off benefits was that my already close relationships with them got even closer. My Mom and I were like roommates and there wasn’t much parent-child censorship going on, which most of the time was pretty convenient. But other times, it meant that my Mom’s worries became my worries. Or at least, they became stressors I was acutely aware of.

Even though I worked steadily since I was 16 and my Mom’s burden of paying for our day-to-day was a heavy one, I got to spend my money on whatever I wanted. In our little non-nuclear family, my Mom worried about how to pay the bills, I spent my money on school books, booze and clothes, and my Dad paid for my education and took me out often for dinner, movies and other treats. I felt my Mom’s anxiety, benefitted from my Dad’s lean lifestyle (it’s not that he was rolling in it; it’s that his splurges were minimal), and enjoyed the rush of spending discretionary funds.

As my university degree was coming to a close, my Mom was getting ready to move in with her boyfriend. So within six weeks of my final university exam, I was living with my boyfriend, paying bills, insuring my first car, and receiving my first salary. Hunny and I worked out a bit of an expenses-sharing model that would do for the time being.

We didn’t talk about it nearly enough at the time and five years later, we still don’t. Five years later, our salaries have increased – a lot – but so have our spending habits. Our financial discussions and collaborations have not increased with them.

Our savings? Nil. Our mortgage readiness? Non existent. Our credit card debt? Growing. Or at best, cyclical; paid down, back up. Expenses we didn’t budget for? Constant. Because I don’t budget for wiggle room. At all. Hence the growing credit card debt.

But I hate debt. It makes my chest tighten, my pulse quicken, my blood pressure rise. It makes me feel 24/7 pressure to make more, or spend less. Yet, the reality of doing either to any significant extent is pretty, well, unrealistic.

To make matters worse? When I feel like I’m making progress with the crazies – you know, through peaceful thoughts, acceptance, that kind of stuff – I feel like everything other people say or do aggravate them.

Hunny talks about wanting to buy something or tells me gas went up again; my chest tightens.

My Mom stresses about not being able to afford something for herself; my mood darkens.

My Dad wants to treat me to dinner and even though I make more than enough (and more than him), I let him; because I didn’t really account for eating dinner out this week.

I check the balance of our bank account (the one Hunny and I both contribute to, but that doesn’t hold all of our money) and I hold my breath. Did he buy something I don’t know about? Did those three trips to the grocery store add up to more than they should have?

My girlfriends plan a night out for drinks and snacks, and I dread having to pay for it. Because I love the control of not spending money; although, I also like the ease I trick myself into feeling when I do spent it.

My new business partners and I crunch numbers and play around with budget projections, and fury slowly boils in my gut. I believe money can smell fear. If you worry you don’t have it, you won’t. If you wish you had more of it, you’ll have less. If you talk about it too much, the power you’re giving it will manifest in a tangible way.

I’m terrified of obsessing about it; so then I obsess about not obsessing. See? Told you. Crazies.

Don’t get me wrong – we’re fine. We have a new car, nice apartment, I buy as many vegetables as I want, I have life insurance, we contribute to RRSPs / 401Ks, and I have plenty of client projects on the books. Our little family has more than enough. My business makes more than enough. I believe both of these things to be truths, not temporary.

But in my relationship, my Hunny and I are not on the same financial page nearly enough. In my business, I have a lot of honesty to share if I want my business partners to get where I’m coming from. And in my head, I’ve got a whole lot of crazies related to one thing that is never going to go away. As certain as death and taxes is that I’ll always live in a civilization that is based on money.

Love it, fear it, loathe it; it ain’t going anywhere. Which means this girl right here? She’s got a lot of work to do. Ugh.

{Photo credit}

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Wait, You Mean I Have To Be Responsible With My Money, Too?

posted 4th March 2011    Written by: Katharine    CATEGORY: All Posts, Katharine, Money, Season 4, Travel


My first year living in the City of Brotherly Love I worked at the District Attorney’s Office, making a measly $28,500 salary.  I opted out of health insurance and a 401K account because I couldn’t afford the deductions from my paycheck. I would much rather have money in my pocket than in an account doing whatever money does in an account. Or at least that’s what I thought then.

I racked up over $8,000 in credit card debt to pay my bar tabs and shopping sprees because I wanted my own version of Sex and the City. Screw paying rent every month, I wanted new clothes and to drink my body weight in vodka every weekend.

When I got a job at my law firm in 2008, I earned a $65,000 salary, had exceptional health benefits, 4 weeks of paid time off, and finally started a retirement fund and contributed the maximum amount.

Oh, the difference between private and public sectors.

It was the first time I could spend my money without feeling guilty about it.  I paid off my credit card debt, treated myself to pedicures every month, and traveled to Las Vegas and Tampa for hockey tournaments and still had a good chunk of money in my bank account.

I really wish my parents taught me the importance of using credit cards wisely and how to budget money appropriately.

My biggest concern with moving to Prague isn’t how much stuff to bring; it’s how much money do I need?  One of the main reasons I chose to study in Prague is because the cost of living is significantly cheaper than anywhere else in Europe.  My school recommends that I bring 16,000 koruna (~$900 USD) for every month that I intend to live in the city.  That’s enough money for rent, health insurance, and food, with some spending money still left over.  Do you know how much $900 gets me in Philadelphia?  One month’s rent and one week’s worth of groceries.  That’s it.

I really want to make the most of this opportunity to travel and teach abroad.  I’ve already booked a flight to Paris in April, after I complete my certification.  I also have plans to travel to London to visit a friend, Warsaw with my roommate when she visits in May, and I’m dying to return to Rome to gorge on delicious pasta, cheese, and wine.  But I also want to visit South Korea, Costa Rica, Australia, and New Zealand, and traveling to those places aren’t cheap.  I’m afraid I won’t find a teaching job, spend all my money, and have to return to the States sooner than I intend.

I know what you’re thinking:  “But you will get a teaching job!”

I’m trying to be all ‘Peppermint Positive Patty’ about this (get it?  ‘Negative Nancy/Nellie‘ and ‘Positive Patty?’  No?), but like everything else in life (except death and taxes, of course) nothing is certain.  I want to be as realistic as I can about what I’m getting myself into so that I don’t set myself up for disappointment later down the road.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing in all of this is that I won’t have any answers to the millions of questions running through my head until I get to Prague, complete my certification, and start looking for a job.

So for now, I’m just going to estimate how much money I need to have access to, be smart about spending it once I get there, and hope for the best.

What are your thoughts?  How do YOU budget money?  If you’ve traveled or lived abroad, how do you budget your expenses?  Got any tips for me?  Come on, let’s take our relationship to the next level here.

{photo credit: Public Domain}

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