About Buck N' Blogger

I always thought I was good with my financials. I didn’t blow a lot of money on frivolous things like other people my age (mid 20s). I always made sure I had money to pay my bills, although only ever paying the minimum due on loans. But I was constantly going out to bars on the weekend, stopping to buy coffee and breakfast on the way to work, and ordering out for dinner whenever I felt like it. These were just normal things that I thought everyone did. Go to work, make money, pay bills, spend money. Round and round and round.

It wasn’t until I was introduced to the concept of “financial independence” a little over a year ago that I realized I had a problem. I didn’t realize that all of my every day spending added up to a huge amount of money every month. I had no idea the weight of the debt I had and how it impacted my current and future life. I had no idea about any concepts of investing. I knew I contributed to a 401k, but what the hell is it?

I started to read some financial blogs and listen to podcasts to learn a little bit more, and that’s when I decided to do a little math and figure out just how my daily spending habits actually affected my life.

Spending $5 a day on coffee five days a week equates to $1300 per year. My mind was blown. I never gave a second thought to spending $5 on coffee in the morning. I was half asleep and needed that coffee. At least that’s what I always told myself. Then add in the other money I blew on food, bars, stupid shit. That’s a lot of money to be spending every month and every year, especially when I had a mound of debt from student loans and financing a car.

Remember when I said I always thought I was good with my financials? Ha…yeah…my credit card statement determined THAT was a lie. So I put a halt to all the unnecessary spending. I figured out how much my monthly bills were, and then calculated how much money I had left over from my paycheck after paying my bills.

Bills…why the hell am I spending so much money on car insurance? On my phone? All it took was a couple quick phone calls to drop my car insurance and phone payments by hundreds of dollars every month. Man, did I feel like a boss after that (and also a fucking idiot for throwing away all that money every month for nothing).

I then looked at my student loans and car payment. I realized if I threw all of my excess money after bills to my loans, I could actually pay them off fairly quick. With doing that, and using some money I had in the bank, I paid off my car in a couple months. Then once that was paid off, I took all of that money and threw it at my student loans. Few months of that, paid off. Almost $20k of debt paid off in about 8 months. Years of extra payments gone, just because I sat down and looked at my life and gave a shit about my future.

Then I was debt free. Holy shit, is that a good feeling. I knew I never wanted to get back to that point. I changed my mindset about money, I changed my outlook on my life and my future, and I saw the light at the end of the tunnel…the one that was showing me that there’s another path to take in life instead working a boring desk job until my 60s or 70s. And that’s what financial independence can do. It can give you the freedom to say “fuck it” and quit your job and travel, because you have no debt and have an emergency fund and have money invested. You can learn new skills, start your own business, do what you want. You don’t have to be chained to your mandatory job forever. Change your outlook.

I am still at the early stages on my path to financial independence. I am debt free, have an emergency fund, and started investing in the stock market. But if I stick with this path, I plan to quit my desk job in the next few years, start my own business that I enjoy doing, travel more, and spend every waking hour with my dogs. I don’t miss going to bars every weekend because drinking beer at home around my firepit with my dogs is more enjoyable and cheaper. I don’t miss ordering food out every day because I’m a pretty damn good cook. I don’t miss my fancy coffees because I make my own espresso at home (that’s a lie, I really do miss my fancy coffees, and I splurge and get them about once a week…). I find it is very important to have balance in your life. Balance between frugality and having fun. And I believe everyone would feel less stressed if they made some adjustments to their financial lives.

Okay, so that’s my past year in a nutshell. More on that to follow. But for now, go crack open another beer. Cheers.