Blogging about personal growth in financial independence, health, and happiness
Given my post of two weeks ago about where I might move soon, and given that my BFF Lyra lives in Cleveland already, I thought this week would be the perfect opportunity to have her write a guest post about her move there, the rationale, and what it’s meant for her finances (also, guest posts mean I can skip a week of writing and not feel guilty! Yay!). Please give her all the welcomes so that I can con her into convince her to guest post again!
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Ok, I know that the New Year is actually not really the optimal time to set new goals. But there’s something so enticing about a new year and new possibilities. And this “new goal” has been in the works for awhile and is finally turning into reality. In the past year, I’ve made a lot of progress toward ongoing goals. I’ve paid off my credit card debt and traveled. I’ve focused more on self-improvement and read plenty of non-fiction books. But I also had some set-backs; I didn’t get a job I thought I wanted, and then spent seven months trying to figure out my life. That included clarifying my professional goals, turning down a few seemingly perfect opportunities that weren’t right for me, and thinking about relocating to a lower cost of living location. I wrote all about 2018 in my last post.
I’ve had a lot of fun over the last year going through my family’s genealogy. Digging into rumors and fact, old documents and family stories (Spoiler alert: I was lied to as a child, and we are not, alas, illicit descendants of Queen Victoria). And as I’ve done that and have seen some of the struggles that my ancestors overcame, I’m struck by how much my financial heritage—my financial DNA, so to speak—influences my life now.
The Personal Finance community has some pretty strong views about budgets. About whether or not you need one, about the proper way to allocate money, and about what tool is best. Excel spreadsheet user? You should totally be using Personal Capital. No, you should use Mint. No, nothing beats a good old-fashioned spreadsheet! While I hate to add to the noise of the budget debate, I am a fervent convert of You Need a Budget (YNAB).
It has officially been one year since I started my free 34-day trial, and I can honestly say that using YNAB has changed my life. Without it, I never would have gotten my financial shit in order, and I never would have found the personal finance and FIRE community. I finally feel like I have control of my finances, and I want to shout YNAB’s praises from the rooftops. Conveniently, I have a blog now! Complete with virtual rooftops galore!
So here it goes. Reasons why I love budgeting in YNAB: Continue reading “An Ode to My YNAB Budget”
Remember that NBD accident from Mental Health, Part I? Yeah, it left me pretty screwed up mentally as well as physically. I did a great job of pretending I was okay for awhile, and the panic attacks and obsessive thoughts kept getting worse. I was a mess. And ironically, it took my therapist and I awhile to figure out that I was depressed. Turns out I was so good at faking normal by that point that even in my own head, depression was masked as extreme stress and exhaustion. But when we did finally put a name to that feeling of being constantly overwhelmed and unable to find a way out, things got a lot better. Why? Continue reading “Mental Health, Part 2: Sanity and Financial Security”