millennial finance tips – shemakescents

The other day I was thinking about all the things I still want to do this year and started to get a little overwhelmed. As someone who is always looking forward and setting new goals, it is easy to get lost in what is left on the rolling to do list. Raise your hand if you can relate. By spending energy constantly thinking about how much we still have to do, we lose focus on what we have done already. One of my personal goals at the beginning of the year was to celebrate my successes, big and small, which to be frank; I have not really kept up with.

So today, I am encouraging everyone, myself especially, to review how we measure success and progress. Instead of focusing on how much you have left to do on a goal or project, measure your progress by much you have done already. Success Magazine backs up this paradigm with research. According to an article by Mel Robbins, a motivational speaker and entrepreneur, “research proves that seeing your progress and how much you have completed will inspire you to keep pushing”. I will celebrate the fact that I hit my money milestone with my student loans and not on the fact that I have a way to go before I can eliminate my student loan debt altogether. Reaching that milestone was not easy so I have to take a moment and appreciate how far I have come on that path to financial freedom. In addition to keeping a rolling to do list, start a “did it” list that you can go back and refer to when you need a motivational push to keep going. As I said, it is easy to get overwhelmed and forget all the great things you have accomplished. Measuring your progress by what you have accomplished and keeping a rolling list of things that you have completed so far will help each action, big so small, feel more impactful.

Happy Friday #SMCmoneytribe. I am coming to you on week two of the She Makes Cents Money Challenge to talk about the subject of motivation. I imagine most people join this challenge for one major reason; they want their future financial situation to be better than their current circumstances. This can be with respect to a very specific goal, such as saving for vacation or it could simply be the catalyst to fostering better saving habits like starting an emergency fund. Either way, you accepted the challenge and are in it to win it, so I ask you…what keeps you motivated?

How I Stay Motivated

It’s very strange to say, but I am just as motivated by not disappointing readers like you as I am to clear my now $18,025.00 balance on my student loans. This goes back to the idea of the #SMCmoneytribe and the village of supportive accountability partners who know my goal and know my progress. Should I miss a week, which has happened before…hey, I am human, I think about all the people whom I’m sharing this experience with and I do whatever it takes to catch up. I tell people all the time, if you get off track, either catch up or start over but don’t give up.

Watching my balance go down is also a very gratifying feeling. I know where I started, I know where I want to be, and I know that timeline I have given myself to accomplish my ultimate goal to be completely debt free, not including my mortgage, within the next 3 years.

When I had credit card debt, I would allocate the weekly deposits from this challenge along with a monthly set payment of $300.00 to pay off my balance quickly. Once I eliminated that debt, I set aside that $300.00 + the weekly deposits from this challenge to make quarterly lump sum payments towards my student loan principal. This, my friends is what you call snowballing your debt. I know how I excited I get to see my balance on the student loans go down at the slow pace it is currently moving since so much of the payment goes towards interest and not the principal. The idea that my balance is about to make a major decrease by attacking the principal head on is the fuel I need to keep me motivated toward my larger goal of debt-free living.

Week 2 Update | She Makes Cents Money Challenge

For week two, I decided to cross off $25.00 on my bingo money card. Since the Mr. and I are joining forces this year, that gives us a joint year-to-date (YTD) total of $145.00.