31 Days. I'm challenging myself to not spend money on anything other than essentials for an entire month. A financial fast, if you will. Given my track record of impulsive spending and a gargantuan appetite for food and drink, it won't be an easy task. I'm going to document my efforts here as a way of being accountable to myself, and others.
So, how did I get to this point? A little background to my story:
In January of 2009 I was as close to financially secure as I had ever been in my life. Married, with a new baby, our household income was north of $100k/year. We had a beautiful house in a pleasant suburban neighborhood, two good cars in the garage, money in the bank, and all the bills were paid on time, plus a little extra left over for fun. Both of us had promising professional careers, her a part-time physical therapist, me a civil engineer. The future was bright for our normal, upper-middle class life.
That was all about to change. In February of '09, I was laid off from the engineering firm. The majority of our business had been site design for multi-family housing, also known as apartment complexes. When the housing market tanked, so did my career. I went back to tending bar, a good fallback that kept the cash flow coming in, and my wife went back to work full time. We were managing to maintain our lifestyle with some careful belt tightening, but the cracks in our relationship began to show, and by July of 2009 we had separated and filed for divorce.
I'm under no illusions that my story is unique. During the time I spent behind the bar I met countless people in the same boat. It was, and is, a tough time in our world to navigate financial security, or even contemplate financial prosperity.
From then until September of 2010 I bounced in and out of the engineering firm that had laid me off, getting some part-time, some full-time, some on-call work...and then I got let go again out of the blue. Through all of that I was trying to put my life back together after the divorce. For anyone that's been through it, a divorce is painfully expensive. We were fortunate to sell the house in this market without taking a loss, and after a few months of wrangling, were able to get a child support agreement hammered out that wasn't threatening to bankrupt me. Along the way I borrowed from just about every friend or family member willing to float me a loan. I also let a number of bills go unpaid, resulting in several collections now being held against me. My rent and car payment never went unpaid, but it was a close call more than once.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I was not acting financially responsible during this period. I was going out a lot, eating out a lot, and drinking more than I'm comfortable admitting. I'd like to chalk it up to sowing some post-divorce wild oats, but the reality is I was just ignoring my problems and thinking very short-sightedly.
After a month on unemployment, digging my financial hole even deeper, in October 2010 I landed a job in construction management with a contractor that builds railroads. It was a significant pay cut from where I had been as an engineer, but their business was booming and they dangled a couple of nice carrots under my nose. I went back to work.
So now I have a regular income again, but 7 months later I'm still living paycheck to paycheck, still have collection agents calling regularly, still owe money to friends and family, and I'm really not much closer to digging myself out of this mess. Something has to change, and since the money coming in is fixed (for now), I need to get better control of the money going out.
I saw a Facebook post from a friend of mine in which she mentioned trying a financial fast. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so starting tomorrow, May 1st, I pledge to spend no money that isn't for a bill, debt, or necessary item such as food at the grocery store (more on that later) or gas to get to and from work. I will hopefully entertain my loyal readers with anecdotal delights about arguments with myself at the entrance to drive-thrus and downtown bars, and maybe shed some light on issues we can all deal with a little better.
The all-mighty dollar has been kicking my ass lately, and I'm long overdue to hit back.
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