The Debt Princess | Lessons in What Not to Do

Tipful Tuesday – Pay yourself first!

April 20, 2010

My tip for you today is one that I should have listened to a long time ago. I read David Bach’s book “The Automatic Millionaire” many years ago. And I promptly ignored what I’d read. The most important thing you can learn from me, from David Bach, from anyone with two pennies to rub together and a lick of common sense would be to “pay yourself first.” I didn’t think I could afford to do this for many years. The truth of the matter is: I couldn’t afford NOT to do this. I should have been doing this from...

Mental Health Monday – A Day to Dream

April 19, 2010

I’ve said before in this blog, I have the “luxury” of living with my mom. I was “lucky” enough to have a place to go after my divorce until I can get back on my own two feet. I am truly grateful for this opportunity even if things aren’t perfect here. One way that I make it through when living in someone else’s home is to dream about my next place. My first real place as a single-mom with kids. I imagine a small little bungalow somewhere on a tree lined street that I can rent yet still make...

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

April 12, 2010

Take a good look at the people around you. Your friends, your family, your significant other; are they supportive of your journey? Are they enablers? Maybe they are full of doubt and have difficulty being positive. A challenge, similar to what I am currently on, takes far more people than yourself. As I talked about in this blog post, you are going to need a solid support system. But what do you do about those that may be holding you back? I have a dozen or so enablers in my life. I love them so very much but sometimes...

Deep Thoughts by the DebtPrincess

April 8, 2010

Gandhi once said “Action expresses priorities.” For a long while I would tell people that my financial future was a priority. I would site my desire to be debt free or my frustration with my rising debt. Then I would turn around and charge a trip to another state to see a band perform. A band I had seen perform 9 times prior in the previous year. Sure I had a fabulous time. Sure I felt justified at the time. But in the end, was it worth the cost? I’m not so sure. My actions the past few months...

Debt Princess – A Fairytale in the Making

April 5, 2010

Once upon a time, I was debt free. It was about ten years ago, I was 24 and I filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I had accumulated quite the pile of consumer debt and was struggling to pay it all off. I didn’t make a lot of money and was beginning to feel extremely overwhelmed. Someone gave me some advice (later, I determined it to be bad advice) and they suggested I file Bankruptcy. So I did. A couple of months later all I had was my school loans. It felt great to be free of credit card debt. I...

DP’s Debt Reduction Plan

April 3, 2010

Let me begin this post with a disclaimer. I am not a financial planner. I have absolutely no experience in this arena. The only experience I have is in spending money and using credit cards. Therefore, what I’m about to describe in this blog should not be considered advice nor should it be considered as a solid financial plan. It is only what I plan to do at this moment on April 3, 2010. This plan could change as I fail or learn more about personal finances. With all that being said, let’s take a look at how the...

Where’s the Debt 04-1-10

April 2, 2010

Well here it is, April 1, 2010. No April Fools here, this is completely real. Here is the progress I have made over the course of the past month. Total Debt has decreased to $19,136.02. This isn’t due to debt reduction completely. I have paid on my debt, had some balances reduced from the companies and added a bill that I did not have added last month. I have had some income this month above and beyond my child support. I was able to bring in $50.00 from plasma donations. This is a much lower amount than I anticipated...

ADHD-1, Blogger-0 – An Update on My Progress

March 30, 2010

Did you hear the one about the blogger who had ADHD? She started three blog topics and then didn’t finish…wait, what? What was I saying? Ok Ok, so I did that on purpose. But the truth of the matter is that I do indeed live with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I was diagnosed at the ripe old age of 9 and have used it as a spring board for much of my life’s choices. It is not something I suffer from, it is who I am. I have had a love/hate relationship with myself throughout much of my adult...