My Total Money Makeover Story in Will Fly For Food

My background:

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a 27 year old college graduate. I live in a town of 12,000 people in central South Dakota. I don't earn much, about $25,000 a year working for the State of South Dakota in the Department of Public Safety. This is the first Full Time job I've had since I graduated college in 2009, that is to say, ever. Boo hoo, times are tough for everyone.

I graduated from college in 2009 with quite a bit of student loan debt.

2009-2010 I was underemployed, I worked Part Time (35 hours a week) at a grocery store and lived with my mom. I had no job prospects. I was earning roughly $1100-1200 a month, and paying $650 on Student Loans and another $300 on a car payment. I was a hamster in a wheel - barely making traction. I got a job as a Contract Pilot in July. I started working right away and started to make some progress. In October the contract job ended, but I had another contract that started in May. I moved to Huron to be with my (now) husband and got another FT contract job at the airport - October-May to fill the gap.

2011 I resumed my contract job in May and worked quite a bit and earned some money. I was able to hold my own. However I used credit cards for work - to make Hotel Reservations and to buy fuel for my airplane. Sometimes I was able to pay everything off at the end of the month. Sometimes I wasn't. In October I was offered a PT/FT flex job working nights for the USPS, which paid solidly for around here ($14.85 an hour, plus a night time differential). I worked hard, volunteering to come in early and to stay late. I also kept working Part Time at the airport.

2012 I paid off about $12,000 in debt - credit cards and paying off my car loan. I wasn't following a specific plan, I just wanted to have the title to my car in my hand and be out from under my credit cards. My credit cards were stupid debt - things like $2000 in car repairs that I couldn't delay and didn't have the money for. Nate and I also got married, which we paid for ourselves. I was working overtime, 6 days a week, for months on end, and still working weekends at the airport. I saw my husband about 2 hours a day if we were lucky. I was always exhausted, my body was sore and I spent almost all of my non-work time sleeping. I didn't have health insurance, so I was paying for things like yearly exams and going to the dentist or eye-doctor in cash.

In early 2013 I got my car title.

In April 2013 Nate and I filed our first ever “joint” tax return. We planned to file separately but in their everlasting wisdom, the United States Federal Government said we couldn’t get the Student Loan Interest Tax deduction if we filed separately. This deduction, which normally counts for $2,500 per PERSON is only allowed as $2,500 per couple if filed jointly (Whereas most tax benefits are DOUBLED if you file jointly) You aren’t allowed to take it at all if you file separately. So, together we were. We paid more than $13,000 in student loan interest between the two of us. That’s just the amount we paid in INTEREST. Something broke in my brain. I got pissed off.

In July of 2013 I accepted the job I'm at now. The job came with a pay-cut per hour (plus lost OT wages and grievance payments), but I was infinitely happier. No more overtime unless I volunteered for it. I was too young to be a union steward – to be fighting an inept administration – to be protecting everyone from the injustices we faced every day at work. The new job had steady hours, 5 days a week, scheduled days off. First Full-Time job I was offered since I graduated from college in 2009. First job with benefits, too. Financially, I was doing OK. The only real debt I have is my student loans from college. A total of $680 a month. For MINIMUM payments. My credit score soared - over 800. My debt to income ratio dropped too - 30%.

After the first few months of my new job, I was scraping the bottom of my bank account, and I couldn’t figure out how a person with hardly any debt, who had a steady income that should be sufficient, kept running out of money. I’ve been using Mint.com for years to track my account information. Something broke in my brain again. I got pissed off. I started studying money management and investing. I started listening to the Dave Ramsey podcast.

In December 2013 I ordered the Total Money Makeover book. I read it in a day. I set up a budget in Mid-December. Mint helped me out here as well. I could see what I spent on groceries, fast food, restaurants, entertainment, car repairs and fuel over the last few years. I trimmed what I could. I paid cash for all Christmas presents. At the end of December I had $900 of my $1000 emergency fund.

That brings us to now. I got a pay raise in December since my 6 month probationary period ended. I start my part time job on Monday. This will absolutely be a to be continued... Sarah