The embarrassing art of scraping for money
So here I am, working 60 plus hours seven days a week with the goal of
1. Creating a system which I can create a high energy, high output process for my business on a weekly basis through great sleep, great diet and proper organisation
2. Pay off my 80k of debt as quickly as possible, so I can be ‘debt free’ and save up for a house
3. Save up for two holidays for next year
4. With my business currently in infancy, I want to serve and keep happy my customer base and keep the ones who create a significant long-term return for the business and get rid of the customers that bring the business down
With these things in mind, my biggest one is the debt. I have around 14k to pay off due to tax reasons (I am still learning the ins and outs of GST and tax brackets), my car loan needs to be paid off, my HECS which I have been told to just pay off through my tax returns and also my phone which is just less than a 2k debt.
I am working hard at a solution but at the same time feeling burnt out and having nothing to show for all the hard work I am doing
The idea came from so many financial money books I have read. The one message that stood out in most of them is to ‘get debt free as fast as possible and keep it that way’. So that’s the primary aim!
Doing this requires heaps of sacrifice at the moment regarding living. No more buying takeout food, no more going out and spending money, no buying luxury items, no dating (not that I usually date anyway), work more extended hours, make as much money as possible (in an honest manner of course), make minimalism part of my lifestyle, sell stuff I don’t use anymore which would be of value to others etc.
Reading a lot of minimalism books had me more confident about this approach. The fact that most the things we buy are to look rich to others rather then functionality and that the rule of thumb of ‘if you haven’t used something in the last 6 months then you will never use it’ is an excellent rule which got rid of about 70% of my junk. I actually felt happier having a cleaner room, having less clutter and also having less cleaning to do. Also mentally it improved me as it gave me the mentality of thinking quality over quantity in how I invest my time and on how I run my business.
Scraping with food has been a challenge. It has been a long habit of mine especially with working long hours and having to come home with no food. I would usually buy out, but I did the math and statistics don’t look so good. If I spent $20 per day on food, I would end up paying $6720 a year, which is a lot that can come off my debt and also afford a 2 week backpacking holiday in Europe. Been relying on having lunch at my relatives’ houses and I also got a lot of clients that are willing to give me free food on most days! Been getting used to it plus the food tastes better when it is free!
The truth is I am not proud of it. I am working hard at a solution but at the same time feeling burnt out and having nothing to show for all the hard work I am doing. Hacking my productivity had me going away from the social media world and putting more energy into myself and my duty (check out: https://betterhumans.coach.me/how-to-set-up-your-iphone-for-productivity-focus-and-your-own-longevity-bb27a68cc3d8). Being brought up from a young age with these success metrics of ‘you need a lot of money to be happy’, ‘you need to live the dream of owning a big house and a fast car with a beautiful family and a flawless life’ to be happy. It’s been making me depressed just thinking about the fact that I am so far from achieving any of that and even more depressing that this dream is being sold as happiness when in reality happiness is an internal state that is made from one’s own success metrics, not something made by mainstream media. Fun fact I learnt that someone’s happiness does not get any higher when going above an income of $74K.
Financial freedom is a bitch. It is an absolute hurdle to get over especially if you’re in the early stages of a career and just striving to make ends meet while trying to become someone of value to your community. Just understanding how to earn, how to spend, how to save. How to become self-aware of your emotions which cause impulse spending and buying. It’s all a game which I don’t think many have control over. Just keeping honesty and virtue as a trait while trying to create a life you can respect for yourself at the same time giving through a career and appreciating the life you live. It is so overwhelming. It’s so easy to just get high off optimism and high hopes but in reality, what’s needed is hard work, sacrifice, time and a lot of calculated risks.
Whoever is reading this, if you are in the same boat as me I’d love to hear about your situation whether it’s better or worse. I like to think no one has their shit figured out. Even those exceptional people, I love to believe their life is lacking somewhere because it makes me feel human and confident to feel vulnerable about these things.
