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Penny Saver

A Financial Do Over

June 10, 2011 by Penny Saver

This is a special post from Penny at The Saved Quarter as part of the Yakezie blog swap. This week, we were asked, “If you had one financial do-over, what would it be and why?” You can read my post on the same topic at her site.

Remembering games in elementary school, when the ball went out of bounds, my friends and I would yell, “Do over!” and get another shot.  That is fine for the playground but obviously doesn't cross over into  financial choices. Thinking back over my financial life, there are a number of instances where I wish I could call for a “do over!”

If I had my life to do over, I would have finished college before having kids. I would have started saving and investing earlier, taking advantage of the awesomeness that is compounding interest. I would have bought a house before the bubble. But the number one financial choice I wish I could do over:  I would have started budgeting sooner!

For too many years, I spent money like water, letting it flow in and out of my life but not making any real choices about how I used it. I cringe to think of how much money I wasted in my 20's due to irresponsible overspending and overdraft fees. I can't do over those years, and that money (which could be compounding as we speak!) is gone forever. It's never too late to change habits and stop the damage, though.

It took a drastic pay cut and brush with food stamps to get my butt in gear and start really managing my money.  I had to budget out of necessity. What a revelation! Making a budget meant becoming aware of my spending, which wasn't in line with my income, and made me reevaluate what I considered needs. I started using cash envelopes. I made an envelope for each budget category so I couldn't overspend. I couldn't overdraw our account. Financial responsibility became a habit. In a little over a year, I was able to turn our situation around, even with a low income. I saved a quarter of our income, dropped the food stamps, and returned to college to finish my degree. I will graduate debt free.

Without becoming aware of my poor money habits and making deliberate choices about how I would manage our money, I would still be wishing for the do over.  I can be glad that I'm making good choices now, and try not to kick myself over the choices I didn't make sooner.

Image by Gamma Man.

Filed Under: Budgeting, Education Tagged With: Budget, Finance, Home, Money, Money Management, Personal Finance, Poverty

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I started a little side hustle blog in 2008, and left my full-time day job as a Senior Financial Analyst to turn my side hustle into a full-time gig. Learn how I did it so you can build your side hustle. It all starts with the first dollar.

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