Here’s the comprehensive story of me, Fabulously “Broke” (FB), once and for all, with all of the posts that haphazardly explain the situation right up until I cleared my $60,000 of debt.
Narcissistic? Most definitely. All blogs are.
But for me, the real bonus is that I can direct you here so you can just click on here and read everything at once instead of my having to throw you towards 50 different posts depending on what you’re asking.
If you’re interested, this is how I got my blog name: “Fabulously Broke in the City”, and this is how I started getting into blogging.
No, I am not “BROKE” any more!
As of 2008, I am not “broke” any longer, but I can’t give up the moniker. It’s just too much of who I was before, and it makes me remember what I went through and where I came from.
So in case you were confused, it’s just a nickname. I go by “FB”.
I was also interviewed by Natalie at She Takes On the World, and by FiLife, a Wall Street Journal affiliate. I was also interviewed by a favourite fellow personal finance blogger – Living Almost Large, and you can read the interview here.
Anyway, as a new blogger I entered the personal finance world and soon realized that I am by no means a normal personal finance blogger because I don’t punish myself for a $3 chocolate bar just because I’m was in debt.
I also don’t believe in depriving yourself or giving up on things that you love, if you can afford it and you make room for it in your budget.
You just need the discipline to cut back on other areas.
However, I have no mercy or pity for people who knowingly put themselves in that position, or try to pull out the excuse of sentimentality and using emotions as an excuse for their poor financial decisions.
I also hate it when people tell me that they don’t have any money. I think it’s true in about 10% of the examples being given to me, but not in 100% of all the cases.
People can always find the means or the money to do and get what they want, they just need the discipline to start and stop making excuses.
But I can’t really blame them, they have these as examples in the media and on TV.
I still love to shop for pretty girly things, but I now aim for quality and for items that I don’t see every day. What I have foregone can be found here and that includes not watching television! I wholeheartedly believe in the principles of cost per use, but I don’t abuse it just to buy items I don’t need.
As for my life, I almost got scammed once, and I grew up in an odd middle-class existence. I also talked briefly about what my parents have given me, financially.
But even though I went through a strange childhood, and didn’t feel adequately prepared for the financial part of life, I cannot help but feel grateful for the challenge and experience. My parents gave me an invaluable life lesson without even knowing it – I refused to end up like them.
I also refuse to act like my brothers Mr. Jones and Cheap Opportunist, who are on truly different ends of the spectrum in terms of personality!!!
I didn’t know anything about my money until I graduated from business school, and as a result I was a really crazy shopaholic who accumulated so much stuff you would not have believed my closet. I shopped to fill my emotional void, which I hear, is quite common.
I wish someone had taken the time to sit down with me in high school and go over the basics of life before I entered University. The bad part about wishing I had known what I can see now in hindsight is that debt made me a its bitch for a while, but it was totally worth it because I showed it who was boss(ette) in the end.
For a living, I am a consultant. By the way, the pros and cons of being a consultant is that you travel a lot. But if you’re still looking for a job, I wrote a ton of posts on getting the interview, and getting through it as well.
Back to my student debt, I was in debt by $60,000 and here’s a snapshot of all that I owed and owned as of May 2006
Pretty depressing huh?
Even with that, I didn’t get serious about my debt until around May 2007, when I started using my budgeting and expense tracking Excel sheet.
As a result of taking better care of my finances, here’s my debt repayment history.
Keep in mind that I earned $65,000 until August 2008 (near the end of my debt repayment cycle), so I paid off most of that massive debt on what I’d consider a good starting salary for a business school grad.
That big drop in October 2008 is when I used my earnings as a freelancer to clear the remaining $15,000. More on that later.
Anyway, since my journey through getting out of debt, I have decided to become an eco-friendly minimalist and buy as little as possible to reduce using chemicals in my home so it benefits me and the environment, buying and using less to save on waste, and saving money in the process.
I sound like a hippie! But can a yuppie be a hippie? I don’t think so. It sounds like an oxymoron.
If you’re interested, this is my history of my Net Worth (Assets — Liabilities = Net Worth) Or you can check it out in my Networth IQ sidebar on the right.
That was when I left my corporage gig as a consultant, went freelance and ended up earning a gross total of $85,000 for 3.5 months.
With that, I cleared my $15,000 in debt, bought a car that I only drove once (update: I’ve gotten more than my fair use out of my car since I wrote that post!), and saved the rest, which I use to live off on when I don’t have a contract.
So when I left my corporate gig, I went freelance, which means I quit what I was doing and did exactly the same job, except I worked for myself.
I also needed to start taking care of my own healthcare expenses, insurance and retirement, so I came up with my own paranoid budgeting principles for a self-employed person.
And this is my snapshot of what I owed and own now as of November 2008, about a year and a half later.
Now that I have money, I guess I could let loose and live a little, but I don’t want to because after going through what I did, I guess I am going to be frugal forever, because there are a ton of examples of people out there who have big brains and earn super high incomes but aren’t good with money at all.
I don’t want to be one of them, especially since I am constantly reminded of this when I think about the fictional Mr. Jones, and I feel grateful for everything that I have. I mean I could have ended up like this guy!! But I also don’t want to continue paying for my guilt just because I am luckier than most.
I still keep my income in perspective to what other people earn, because sometimes you just get so caught up in everything that you forget that other people are trying to make it by on 5-10% of what you earn, and that could have been me.
I was just luckier in life than they were, but I also attribute it to having a strong personality to see me through tough times because your personality has a lot to do with how you deal with everything in life.
I now spend about $1500 a month in expenses, and that’s more than enough to live on because it covers my rent, basic utilities, food, and gives me extra cash to splurge.
Even being out of debt, I still make a budget every month and track my expenses in my budgeting spreadsheet, which can be found here.
And that’s my life to date.
Questions?
Contact me here.
- Fabulously Broke in the City hits its 3rd year
- It’s time for a change.
- March 2010 Budget Roundup
- 2010 just keeps getting better.
- I don’t normally ask for anything, but please think about helping out a very close friend and dear blogger
Rebecca Rodgers
on Jan 18th, 2009
@ 2:44 PM:
Me thinks this is a PERFECT-First visit click here kind of post.
Can I has the obese squirrel now? hahaha
her every cent counts
on Jan 18th, 2009
@ 5:18 PM:
You are amazing. Inspirational. I love this post. And how it links back to so many great previous posts that I’ve missed. If you can get out of $60k debt that quickly, I surely could save it. Keep on doing what you do girl.
The Fabulous Life of a Southern Belle
on Jan 18th, 2009
@ 10:52 PM:
oh that pie WAS massive. Still feel it in there somewhere.
K-money
on Jan 19th, 2009
@ 12:04 AM:
Shame on anyone who would criticize you for liking fashion and frugality. I personally have bad style and could use a little fashion sense rubbed off on me while I read about personal finance.
Thomas
on Jan 19th, 2009
@ 3:25 AM:
Great story!
flirty*almost*30
on Jan 19th, 2009
@ 2:38 PM:
Wow! So inspirational. I’m not in that bad of a starting position, but I can see I’m going to gain a lot of good council from reading your blog (I’m new here).
One question from a blog newbie…. what program/gadget and where do you find the tracking charts that you use to follow your progress? I’m not usually an idiot when it comes to computers but I seriously can’t find this thing! Thanks!
Living Almost Large
on Jan 19th, 2009
@ 5:41 PM:
Cool update!
I got hooked because how many people do you know would live out of a suitcase to clear debt? You lived without an apartment and I thought that unique in THINKING outside the box.
Fabulously Broke
on Jan 20th, 2009
@ 8:49 AM:
Rebecca: Thanks!.. and No. Nuts is my pet obese squirrel
her every cents: Aww..thanks!
The Fabulous Life: That’s usually when I swear off chocolate and cake for a while
K-Money: The blog is just me. It’s half fashion half finance .. a nice mix.
Thomas: Thanks
flirty: My budgeting spreadsheet does that.
LAL: That’s an interesting hook eh?
I should play up on that more. I wish I could go back to those days.
Be Well
on Jan 30th, 2009
@ 11:33 AM:
FB- Your blog rocks, you are extremely talented and funny, and smart!
All the best to you!
Jen (aka Be Well from Everythingpure.blogspot.com)
Monica
on Feb 17th, 2009
@ 1:36 AM:
FB you are the BFF I've never met! The way you write sounds exactly like the voice in my head & not to sound completely insane (no I'm not an internet nerd who reads blogs because I have no friends & nothing else to do) but I totally understand your style of writing & where your coming from. Hmm maybe its a fellow-Torontonian thing! Love reading your blog & now if only I could get my student loans in order:)Keep up the great blog & stop by http://beautyparler.blogspot.com
Persequi
on Mar 1st, 2009
@ 10:04 PM:
That is great. Some of the things worked out for you and made things very easy to pay off the balance in such a short amount of time(85,000 dollars in 3 months is NICE) but all your advice is sound and you back it up with facts and figures. I am in the process of paying off 120k in 4-1/2 years but I am using the same principles as you and still have 400 dollars a month to spend on frivolous things.
Jillian
on Oct 3rd, 2009
@ 6:43 PM:
Again-absolutely LOVE your blog and can relate to it so much it’s like reading about my own life!
Jillian´s last blog ..Parents Say Funny Things
Financial Samurai
on Oct 9th, 2009
@ 2:22 AM:
Regarding your narcissistic comment….. if you don’t have your real picture or name up, and don’t brag about your net worth, it’s not really narcissism right? Wouldn’t that word be targeted towards people with their picture up and always boasting?
Financial Samurai´s last blog ..Dear Wall St. Journal, Have You Never Heard of San Francisco?
FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com
on Oct 9th, 2009
@ 8:08 AM:
Maybe.. but I don’t brag about my net worth, but I do have it up on my side bars. I still think a blog is narcissistic to some extent
Because you think people WANT to read what you’re writing about!!
DAM
on Oct 11th, 2009
@ 1:11 AM:
I recently stumbled upon your blog, and am floored. I, like you, am in my twenties and going through some serious financial/lifestyle changes, and you are truly a kindred spirit. We definitely see eye to eye on (and I dare say the vast majority) of things you’ve written about. I haven’t blogged about my experiences, but I’m beginning to think that I should.
Thank you for the push in the right direction.
Getting Intense: $700 to debt? « my pretty pennies
on Oct 29th, 2009
@ 10:27 AM:
[...] Carrie recently talked about her experience living the bare minimum to pay her’s off. FB at Fabulously Broke worked her way out of $60,000 debt on a $65,000 salary. SS4BC each month pays 38% of her paycheck. [...]
Lee
on Nov 12th, 2009
@ 8:20 PM:
Amazing story. Congratulations on your achievements!
Announcing: Fabulously Broke in the City & Style on a String | The Everyday Minimalist
on Jan 2nd, 2010
@ 5:02 AM:
[...] started it 3 years ago to get out of $60,000 of debt using my budgeting sheet, and it has evolved to being more of a lifestyle blog with a personal [...]
Broke by Choice
on Jan 10th, 2010
@ 12:54 AM:
Thanks for stopping by my page. I want to be where you are.
Money in Minimalism: From my perspective (Part One) | The Everyday Minimalist
on Jan 11th, 2010
@ 5:04 AM:
[...] $60,000 of it in education loans that I cleared in 18 months. [...]
This aint no competition | Punch Debt In The Face
on Mar 8th, 2010
@ 3:29 AM:
[...] took me about two years to go from the red to the black. FB at FabulouslyBroke fought her way out of $50k of debt in one year. Maybe you won’t be able to get out of debt [...]
PetiteAsianGirl
on Mar 21st, 2010
@ 2:25 PM:
Your story is so darn impressive – I have friends who complain complain complain about their student debts yet they spend their entire paycheck on shopping, eating out, rent, etc. I talk their ears off about budgeting and saving and they could not care less!
FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com
on Mar 25th, 2010
@ 6:30 PM:
Thank you.
Luckily for me, a lot of my friends are pretty good at managing their money. I wouldn’t call them frugal, but they’re not silly about debt and spending.
Spitfire
on Apr 10th, 2010
@ 7:41 PM:
Great blog, great self discipline to pay down that massive mountain of debt!! Congrats to you!! Keep on….your a rock star!!
Azarethroy
on May 22nd, 2010
@ 6:34 AM:
Just came across your blog today. Great read! How to you find the time to maintain 3 blogs daily??
I use an Excel spreadsheet as well for budgeting after finding online money management tools (like Wesabe) too cumbersome.
Btw, there is such a thing as a yuppie & a hippie. It's an urban-hippie or a yippie!!
FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com
on May 22nd, 2010
@ 7:58 AM:
I have too much going on in my head, so it all comes out and spreads itself across 3 blogs
That, and I am off contract right now, and I build up a whole set of posts for 9 months ahead.
Azarethroy
on May 22nd, 2010
@ 10:14 PM:
Ah brilliant idea, building up posts in advance. Keep it up!
I'm now inspired to take better care of my finances