Financial Struggles With Stella

Hi, I'm Stella, and this will be my attempt to hold myself accountable for a total financial makeover. I hope you decide to join me through all the ups and downs, and maybe even look at me as an example of what NOT to do with your money.

[mysstella]

Day One- Dec. 13, 22

Hello, I’m Stella. I believe day 1 should start with an introduction, so here’s some things about me!

I have a cat named Pepper, he is my pride and joy.

I live in New York, but not the big city (there’s more to NY than just the city guys).

I have a boyfriend of pretty much 2 years, who lives in Oklahoma. 

I have spending problems.

Oh, and I’m 20.  

Okay, I think we kinda get the gist. Lets talk money... My goal is to save up and move down to OK with my boyfriend, and start building our lives together. In July of this year I made the decision to finance a newer used vehicle and between the car payment itself, and the insurance on it, I am now starting to regret my decision. My car payment is about $400 a month and insurance about $330. That’s like a LOT of monthly outflow already. I also pay my mom $300 a month in rent. We are currently at about $1,030 just in my three primary bills. That doesn’t include, gas, food and phone, but I’ve estimated those to be about $300. $1,330 outflow with $2,000 monthly income. Plus some smaller bills and subscriptions that I still have to add up but we’ll save those for another time. Now that I’m doing all this math I think my estimates for the gas and food were off because there is no way I should have about $600 left. 

Over the next few weeks I will closely monitor my spending and get everything down to some exact numbers but maybe I am just truly that horrible with my money. 

Starting Numbers:

Car Loan Balance: $19,903.87

Credit Card Balance: $935.08

Savings: $0

[mysstella]

Life Update 1/14/23

Hey guys! So sorry it’s been so long, my pc needed parts and I had a bunch of other stuff going on as well, and then I proceeded to procrastinate on posting here, of course. All is well now though, so I would love to continue with daily updates again. 

Since we last spoke I have been able to start a nice chunk of my savings, and I’ve been looking into either getting a better job, or even moving up in my current job. I’ve been trying to brainstorm on what I would like to do as a long term career, and honestly, I’ve been struggling quite a lot. I know one thing I’ve loved about all my jobs so far, has been the human interaction, and helping customers, the things I dislike specifically about my current place of work, is my management. I cannot stand who my upper management is, both my store manager and sales manager have made their way onto my shit list. The way that both of them talk to people is so demeaning and condescending, and it really grinds my gears. Another thing I dislike about my current position is how temporary it feels, I feel like this is just the filler chapter of my life, which I guess it kind of is, but I would love to still feel like my life has some meaning, ya know? 

I’ve been working really hard to try and focus on my goals, and make sure I don’t over spend. I have a few things I need to spend on this month that are necessary but unbudgeted for, such as new sneakers to work in (my old ones were worn out and my feet have been killing me), and I also need an oil change and tire rotation for my car. Both of these are just parts of life, however I had not budgeted them in necessarily, since I barely started budgeting to begin with. 

I am going to try to start putting away at least $50 from each paycheck, now that I get payed weekly, that will be $200 a month, which hopefully will be achievable. That will end up being a little over 2K saved this year just from that. I would also love to start Door-Dashing again to bump up how much I can afford to stash away each month. Even if that doesn’t happen though, I hope I will at least be able to keep up with the minimum of $200 a month. 

I also think I am going to start doing a weekly spending log at the bottom here, instead of doing it as daily, so I will update it every time to adjust the amount per week, including bills and everything. But I will start that this week, since I have also fallen back on not tracking my spending as I was previously. 

Finance Tracker:

Savings: $500

[mysstella]

Day Five- Dec. 18, 22

Hey guys! I haven’t been up to too much today, but I do have a work dinner tomorrow so that’s cool I guess. In all honesty, its pretty late right now and my brain is kind of giving up on me, so it may be another short update for today, sorry. 

I did have to spend a little more than I would’ve liked on lunch today because the other place was way too busy, and any other day I would’ve just skipped lunch but I worked a later shift than usual today as it is so I was already pretty much starving. I think Sundays I will do an end of the week recap, as in showing what I spent for the week. Also, I didn’t notice until a little while ago but my phone bill snuck in yesterday on autopay, so I should've included that as well for yesterdays update, but it was $50 for those wondering. 

One of my more personal goals for this upcoming week is to get at least something put into my savings. Another goal is to try and get my sleep schedule back on track. As some of you may know, I had a week off last week, and my sleep schedule has been all sorts of out of line. 

One thing I would love to do to wrap up the end of the year is tidy up my space, and try to just really finish the year off strong, and therefore starting the new year off fresh. I definitely need to super deep clean my room and declutter a ton of stuff, maybe I’ll actually sell some of it and put that money into my savings as well, but if I don't get to it I plan on at least donating what I can. 

Alright, I think that’s all for today. definitely feel free to DM me suggestions or hit the “Ask me anything” button on my profile if you have questions or feedback! I’d love to hear from you!

Finance Tracker:

Savings: $0

Spent Today: $14.88  

[mysstella]

Day Four- Dec. 16, 22

Hey guys, I know I’m posting this a day late, but I completely forgot to do my update before I fell asleep last night. I am doing this before work so it might not be as long as I don’t have too much time, but I really wanted to make sure I got at least a little update out. I’ve been trying to practice lots of good small habits as well over the last few days. I really think this lil blog is helping me hold myself accountable even if no one ever reads it. 

Yesterday I spent a little bit because I had to pick up a few things for dinner. But other than that I haven’t been spending that much unnecessary money. I've been logging every penny I spend too which has helped me see just how much I spend per day and how sometimes its pretty ridiculous. alright that's all for this update, I’ll be back later for todays update!

Financial Tracker:

Savings: $0

Spent Today: $15.16

[femmefatalevibe]

What are some finance books you recommend? Love your blog <3

Hi love – thank you so much! These books come to mind:

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle 

The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel

Rich As F*ck: More Money Than You Know What to Do With by Amanda Frances 

Rich Bitch  by Nicole Lapin 

Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche

Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins 

Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach 

Hope this helps xx

[aboutto-fly]

Does this support the life I'm trying to create?

[mysstella]

Day Three-Dec. 15, 22

Hey guys! Today was my first day back at work after my vacation time, how fun. Today felt like it lasted longer than my whole week off. I don’t have all that much to say today, but I will say I have at least one book recommendation. “From Paycheck to Purpose” by Ken Coleman. I started reading it a few days ago, and although I’m not too far in yet, it’s definitely a good read. In the book, Coleman talks about how he went through the struggles that I’m sure a lot of us are facing, being miserable with your work, as well as living paycheck to paycheck. He gives some great insight on how to try and figure out what kind of careers suit you, and focuses a lot on emphasizing that your job is more than just where you make money, it’s where you spend a lot of your time and effort as well, so why stay at a place that makes you miserable. I’m hoping to take lots away from this book as I continue reading it, as I would love to figure out what kind of long term career suits me and what I love to do and excel at. 

I currently just work as a head cashier, and although I love interacting with customers, this job is not something I can see being something long term. I mean honestly, even if I moved up to supervisor or manager, it still would not feel like a real, long term job. 

Okay, now onto the daily update. Today I didn’t do much, other than go to work and watch my little sisters middle school band concert, exciting, I know. I will say, that since I’ve started this Tumblr blog, I’ve been thinking a lot more about my spending habits and my current financial status, which has been quite enlightening, I suppose. Just trying to think about all the places of which I needlessly spend, or how to stop being so careless with my money. I need to focus on not just telling myself that just because I have that money does not mean I can/should/need to spend that money. I need to start making sure I remind myself of my long term goals. Which is mainly trying to figure out a long-term living situation with my long-distance boyfriend, but to achieve that I must focus on being super tight with my money and only spending on absolute necessities. “Do I really need to go out and buy my sister and I dinner?” “Do I really need this shirt?” “Can I live without this thing?” The answer is NO, you do not need it! I’ve really been trying to make sure I stick with this very minimal spending, however its very difficult to break a habit that you’ve pretty much always done. Today, the only thing I spent money on was my lunch, because I skipped breakfast and was starving. But, this is not unusual for me to buy my lunches, in-fact, it’s part of what I’ve budgeted in for. However, for both my wallets sake and my own, another goal I have is to start prepping some simple, easy to throw together meals to take with me to work. My biggest issue with that, is that I’m kind of a picky eater and I get really bored of the same meals everyday, but I am still going to give it a shot. I will try to start implementing this after I go grocery shopping again, so I can make sure I have everything I need for my meals.

Financial Tracker:

Savings:$0

Spent today:$5.40

[mysstella]

Day Two-Dec. 14, 22

Hey guys! So yesterday and today I have been tracking all my expenses down in my notes, so I can see exactly how much I spend, when and where. I think this in depth break down of my cash flow will really help me see where my issues are occurring, to hopefully help me break this terrible habit of spending I have. I will also start including the log of outflow at the bottom along with my debt balances and my saving balance. Obviously the outflow one is going to be really the only one that will change daily, as I am not going to be paying towards my debt every single day. So I have decided to only update the debt sections once a month to reduce redundancy.  

Today, I did buy my sister and I some food as well as we went Christmas shopping, so that’s why I spent such a high amount today. But, I am now all done with Christmas shopping so I no longer have to worry about that. I do normally get lots of gift cards from my family members for Christmas, and they’re typically those Visa gift cards that you can use anywhere. So I have decided I will either only use those for the next few months for my purchases other than my auto bills, or I will put those into my savings. I haven’t quite decided on which yet but either one will pretty much have the same outcome; money going into my savings 

I don’t want this all to just be me ranting about my financial struggles, as I would love to make this a little more personal than that. So I will also try to include funny details about my day, or anything I feel interesting enough to share with you all. If anyone has any questions or comments, I’d love to hear them! You can DM me or even hit the ask button on my profile!

 Financial Tracker:

Savings: $0

Spent today: $72.04

[mysstella]

Hi guys! Not my daily update yet but i just wanted to share my handsome floof ball! This is Pepper, he is a longish haired black cat, and he’s about two and a half!