3 road blocks I'm facing becoming debt free

Becoming debt-free is not a stroll in the park. Saving money is difficult, working overtime gets old fast, and becoming debt free is a long journey. Here are some road blocks I've encountered during my journey of getting out of debt.

Budgeting isn’t easy or simple

I have been budgeting for about two months now and I still somehow come up barely affording anything. There are a lot of apps out there that help you put your bills into categories which is great to see. But budgeting is so much more than just writing down your monthly payments. Budgeting is choosing not to buy X because you’re saving money or not go to some movie that’s in theaters because the movie ticket just isn't worth it right now.

Budgeting = Sacrificing spending for fun for saving funds

Overtime is draining

I work about 8-10 hours of overtime a week (depending on if I want to work on Sunday or not). I try to spread it out so I don't get burned out. I work an hour each day except Thursday which is half an hour then I work 4-5 hours on Saturday or Sunday.

I’ve been doing this for about a month so I’m used to it. In the beginning, it was hard to get in that rhythm of staying late or working on the weekend when I just want to be with my family.

There is no success overnight

Just because you’re working overtime now doesn’t mean that you’ll be paying off those big debts right away. I am definitely less stressed out over “are we able to pay this bill this month” scenarios. But we have yet to make additional payments on our debt. Mostly because I want a small nest egg in our checking account so when we do start paying off debt I won't be saying “If only we didn’t put more towards that bill we’d be able to afford X”.

I'm not trying to persuade you to not get out of debt, I'm just telling you my experience. You may have different hardships then me, but this is what i'm going through and what i'm working on. This will be one of the hardest adventures you'll ever go on. At the end of the day, this will be worth it. You'll be debt free and you won’t be living paycheck to paycheck anymore.

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