Turtles

My rent check did not bounce! Okay, I've never bounced a rent check. It felt different today though. There was something satisfying about seeing my rent check clear today. Normally, I use different amounts of credit to make up the difference in all my bills and expenses-- a complicated time consuming system of jostling money around. Yesterday, I went to bed knowing that if the rent check was cashed, I would wake up to a balance of $8.86. Seeing it made the money feel more real. I also did not spend any money today. It is very unusual for me to be able to say that!

I felt more optimistic today. I looked at my old money journals from 2004-2007 and I saw how I once chipped away at debt, little by little. I was doing really well for a while there (before fertility and child expenses). I realized that I made progress on that debt, slowly.....slowly. There was no magic bullet, no unexpected source of money that helped me out. I lived frugally and put everything I could towards the debt and watched it go down.

So that gave me hope for this time. I am going to try to avoid short term solutions (like borrowing from my 401k) and just focus on slow continuous progress.

My partner said she will send me pictures of turtles for inspiration! Slow but steady wins the race!

I did not increase my debt today!