Family Debt- How to Manage Money
Family Debt - Tips on Budgeting
For most of my life when I was growing up I heard four main words repeated many times: “I have no money”. My mother was a single mom taking care of three rambunctious kids. As you can imagine money was always tight and any amount of debt wouldn’t help the situation. There were many things I wanted and wished I could have but my mothers problems with debt always made my wants an unlikely dream. Because I was just a child, I couldn’t understand why she didn’t give me the world or why our birthday presents were handmade or why we would sometimes ’skip’ lunch. Obviously today I understand what she went through. Sadly her situation is not an uncommon one.
Through the help from some very good friends and plenty of work from myself I have begun to educate myself on how to manage money. I have also done my best to teach my mother everything I know and she too is learning and her debt is slowly dissolving. I don’t look back at my childhood with regret because I know she did her best. At the same time, I don’t want my children to have to worry about getting three square meals a day.
Right now I am working four jobs and sticking to a budget. I have applied all of the principles that I have read on this blog and it has helped me a great deal. I dream of the life I’ll have after this “work-time” is over. The way I see it is if you dream of how you want to live, work at it until you achieve it. Goal setting is one of the most important steps you can take both in your financial and everyday life. As Edison said: “Imagination is everything, it’s the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
My first big financial decision will be to buy my first house within a year. I plan to rent out some of the rooms to cover the cost of the mortgage and basically I’ll be living rent free! In fact, people will be paying my mortgage for me! From there I will invest in other properties to increase my income. I am aware of the many headaches that could be involved with being a landlord but it is a sacrifice and a challenge that I am willing to take on. I am dreaming the dream and taking the steps necessary to make it happen.
In short self-education in managing money is priceless and can create debt free future. My mother didn’t have the resource we have today. I’m certain my childhood would have been vastly different had she known more about finances. I hope this will encourage you to keep reading and act on your dreams, regardless of your past.
I’ll leave you with one last quote from Albert Einstein, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Matt
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Great article. What an encouragement to know that you are building a stronger financial foundation for your family just be self-educating yourself on personal finance. I hope that your children will continue in this learning process and building on this foundation.