Iterations Over perfection

Over the past few years, I have embraced a mindset focused on iterations, primarily applying it in my pursuit of financial freedom.

Not counting a mortgage and two car loans, we started our credit and loan payoff plan with a gaggle of credit cards, a student loan, and a signature loan with balances totalling $132,836. With Dave Ramsey’’s plan and mentorship, that debt will be paid off in approximately 4 years. Total debt free forecast is in 9 years, but we need to move from this condo before I have to tell Dave we pay $912 for this terrible HOA.

I love the Every Dollar app and the website ramseysolutions.com. It’s the best mentoring website I’ve seen. Scheduled daily lessons keep me engaged in my quest to find new avenues to save money and make more strategic financial decisions.

After being with Verizon Wireless for all of my cellphone owning life, we switched to Spectrum Mobile to save $130 per month - over $1500 per year. That reminds me, I need to include that $130 in our debt payoff plan for March. That brings our monthly snowball to $872. Every little bit helps to drive down the timeline. I think I have the gazelle intensity I’m supposed to have, because as I write that sentence, I thought of going to my March budget to be sure that amount is included.

Dave is also mentoring me to give to the church and charity on a regular basis. I’m not at 10%, but I’ve started a weekly donation plan and consistency compounds meaning as we build a habit to give to the church and charities, the amount will grow.

Iterations is part of the title of this post. I have found peace in just starting. My budget wasn’t perfect, but I started. Our net worth and investments weren’t perfect, but I developed a plan and took action. I am growing into the financially minded person I am supposed to be.

I will make some mistakes and need to course correct along the way, but I believe in myself to make the best decisions with research and the Ramsey Solution team’s guidance.