I have been reading and listening to a lot about personal finance. This has never been something that has interested me until now. I would have never known it interested me because I went to school for education which does not require any economics or finance courses. I certainly have never had any personal role models in the are of money.

One day, I woke up and realized I wanted to learn more. I wanted to know more about investing, saving, the market, consumerism. I’m not sure what the exact trigger was it could have been realizing that after 4 years of college and getting into my career I’m still living paycheck to paycheck. I saw this picture the other day and it sums it up excellently: I work hard, I work really hard but I’m not paid what I’m worth. I know there are millions of teachers in America who would probably agree. There are probably millions of people who aren’t teachers who could agree.

I am committed this year to improve my financial health. I do have credit card debt, I do have student loans, I’m about to have a mortgage payment. I’m telling you all this because I know I’m not alone in my financial missteps. For the next year I’m going to share my journey with you all. I’m giving up my apartment which is a ridiculous expense (Over $1,000 per month) and purchasing a home with Jon where I’ll be saving nearly $600 per month on living expenses.

My first goal:  to pay off my credit cards. I’m going to try the Dave Ramsey trick of the snowball method. I’m going to pay more than the minimum on one credit card (I have 2) until it is paid off. Then I’m going to take the money I was paying on that credit card and the minimum I was paying on my other and put those toward the 2nd card until it’s paid off.

Second goal: Put all the money I was paying on credit cards and put it toward my student loans. After consolidating my loans and everything one should do, I’m still paying nearly $500 per month on just minimum payments toward student loans.

Some resources I’ve been using to educate myself and to organize myself:

Dailyworth.com – If you have never checked out this website it’s full of great articles and pieces of information from experts. It has quickly become a new favorite.

So Money podcast- Again, I cannot say enough how much I love this podcast. Not only is it accessible to everyone it provides great resources.

Money, Master the Game by Tony Robbins- I hear it’s money for dummies. I’m on the waiting list to get it from the library.

Mint.com App- I’ve been using this app for a few years and I love it. It really keeps me in check when I have months where my spending is completely out of control. It uses visuals too which is something I need and love.