I’m on my way to meet with a local business owner, Sweet Dee (reference to "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), to continue helping her with her finances and budget, on a volunteer basis. This is the story of my favorite hobby in the world.
I don’t do this for resume building, I don’t do this for network expansion, and I obviously don’t do it for money; I do it because it’s fun. There, I’ve said it: Hi, my name is Ina, and I like to budget for fun. (Hi Ina).
It all started back in 2004. I had been out on the real world for 6 months, and I noticed that my savings account never had more than $2,000 in it. At the time I was making around $1400 bi-weekly, so I had NO idea where my money was going! I decided to take advantage of the American Express consultants that came to my job site one day, and I scheduled a free consult.
At the meeting, they walked me through what it takes to budget, and how they could help me straighten my finances out. They made it very clear that the first step was to keep track of where my money went every hour of every day. But first, they would need $600 from me. That was more than 25% of my savings! So I told them I could not afford it, and they should call me in 6 months, when I have kept track of my spend and we can analyze the data more thoroughly. I even put the 6-month mark on my phone calendar. The day came and went and they never called, which was a relief because by that time I had already firgured out the secret to financial health: AWARENESS of where money goes, and automatic transfers to ensure savings.
This became one of my disciplined obsessions. I learned all I needed to know to increase my credit score and keep it high, I knew what expenses I could live without and which I needed to lower, and I started a Roth IRA account to save for retirement in addition to maximizing my 401k. I was on top of it!
Fortunately, Brian was even MORE anal about his finances than I was when we met. So we would give each other tips, but mostly I learned a lot from him. By the time we got married, out credit scores were 750+ each. We couldn’t have found a better life partner. But then came the decision: who should manage our finances once we got married?
I loved keeping track of everything, but I used homemade speadsheets, while Brian used Microsoft Money, and all of our accounts together (more than 26 in savings, checking and credit cards combined) would have made my spreadsheet too complex and unmanageable. So the answer was easy: he would take it over.
The lack of tracking left a void in my soul, until I found a friend, Charlotte, whose finances were a serious mess and who had no motivation or inclination to straighten them out, even now that she was unemployed. This was a golden opportunity to get back into it and help out a friend. It has really paid off!
Then I offered my humble services to an entrepreneur, Sweet Dee, who admittedly had no clue about her finances and could barely stay afloat. I was interviewing her for a class paper last semester, the topic came up, and I just asked if she needed help, and she said yes 🙂
And that’s the story of my very unconventional hobby. Sometimes "you just gotta do whatever makes your heart sing" (CEO of Dancing Deer bakery).
Do you have an unconventional hobby? What makes your heart sing?
ina