Day 248 | $3,720.97 paid | $8,175.76 until freedom
I recently read the claim that excitement is the same as happiness. I might agree with that. A long time ago I read that life is change, not just figuratively, but chemically. I agreed with that, too. With that in mind, I present you with this blog post.
Excitement
In the last few days I’ve deposited another paycheck for almost $1,000. $600 goes straight into rent, as usual, and I take the normal beginning-of-the-month hits I usually do. Cell phone (still keepin’ it cheap), internet (same), groceries. But some of that money is for keeps, and that means that my mid-month check is ALL for keeps.
Interestingly, I hope, I have another regular expense to deal with: paying Shopify for hosting my new website. Since my last post a lot of progress has been made there: I’ve put up quite a few more products, I’ve honed the design somewhat, I’ve created a facebook page in what I guess is called a marketing tactic. I haven’t done much of anything else, actually, unless you count today’s 13-hour work day at an airfield.
Investment
We can all agree that my loans are winning this fight, but one thing I know for sure is that without branching out I would still be going nowhere. (If I hadn’t committed to this blog, the lower bar would be less than a quarter of its current length.)
They say it takes money to make money, and lately my serious frugality and intention paid to income has resulted in my having a little bit more than I’m used to. So I’ve elected to reallocate some portion of my NMMD-dedicated funds. In that sense, NMMD is an investor and you all are stakeholders!
Many people take expensive classes to learn the stuff I’m learning these days. CSS, online retailing, photography, graphic design (I kind of did take expensive classes on this), marketing. These have serious value.
I strike my loans much less frequently these days, but when I do, I strike with devastating blows. I see my progress this last week as lethal weapons training.
Progress looks great. A few ideas for your UX (I work/worked as a Project Manager for web development company) – make sure all the images of your products are the same size. It allows the users eyes easily flow from product to product. – You may also want to create some rules (internally) for how long product names are etc. To help keep design balance. — some unasked for advice. — also do you read Ramit Sethi? (iwillteachyoutoberich.com) you’re strategy to pay of your loans is one he highly supports = BIG WINS
Thank you again, Krishna! Your unsolicited advice is very well-received! I think you’re totally right about the alignment of the product grids. I’ll have to see what I can do about that.
You’re also right about the product names. I got carried away.
I haven’t read any Ramit Sethi. That title sounds suspiciously close to a different book I’m reading right now.
Can you summarize the “strategy” he supports?
His strategy is more along “big wins” which means instead of saving $2 on a latte, figuring out where the big savings on. Bank Fees, your back accounts, your income, interest rates, finding CC that work in your favor, rent, cell phones, etc. He has built on top of that and created content to help people “Find your dream job” and “Earn 1k” – which helps people start their own businesses on the side and grow them until they feel comfortable leaving their 9-5.
Basically, find out where you can save a lot and how the savings will continue over the years instead of depriving yourself of something that is hardly going to make a dent and how to make more money, either at your job or on the side. He has a book called “I will teach you to be rich”
I believe you are trying to figure out ways to increase your income. You’ve cut back on items you’ve realized aren’t necessary (remember, this is from my perception) and now you’re just doing things that interest you and receiving high rewards. (throwing 1k at your debt vs. 100.00)
I hope that makes sense.
Silly that I can’t reply to your reply.
I’m really happy to read what you’ve written. This sounds exactly like the journey I’ve taken. I started with a commitment to cut out small things, then quickly established evidence for my suspicion that small things won’t help.
Hopefully the rewards increase steadily, because even at the rate I’ve been going the last few months I’d need a year to meet my goal. If I’d started by throwing 1k in per month, I’d be set!