How We Transition From Living Paycheck to Paycheck to Hitting Our Very First Financial Goal

I grew up poor. Many times, my mother would intercept my grandma, father's side, whenever she'd caught her throw food away to be given to the pigs. My first paycheck was around $200 USD. Life was hard back then.

Until... I moved to Singapore. Suddenly, my income multiplied 10x more. And I like it! I started to lavished myself with things and experiences I didn't have access to before. I spent everything I could until I got married and move to the US with even more money to spend!

How We Transition From Living Paycheck to Paycheck to Hitting Our Very First Financial Goal
[photo source: here]

The result? You bet we live from paycheck to paycheck. Our biggest offender is frequent visits to fancy restaurants and traveling often.

Reality hit hard after we had our son. I resigned from my job and we live on my husband's income. We acquired liabilities instead, after working for a decade. How irresponsible!


Before any change could happen, the first that needs changing is the mind. 

I told my husband one day, "Wouldn't it be nice if after learning from the mistakes and experiences of others coupled with the knowledge gained along the way we'd bypass the woes.

He said, 

"Sometimes you have to go through the valleys [ of difficulties and hard situations ]
before you'd finally get the lesson."

Just because you've read one or more books about financial management doesn't mean you'll get it instantly. Maybe others would, that's awesome, but not us.

Acknowledge the problem and continue to educate yourself. It's not a guarantee that you'll be mistake-proof. We will still be making wrong financial decisions, but don't repeat the same mistakes. Get up, move on, and learn, learn, learn!


Set financial goals. Get out of debt!

We're in our early 30's now and this is the first time ever that we did this. It's better not to look back on the years that are gone but on the years that are still left.

We hit our first financial goal in March this year to get rid of our car loan payment. It felt like one heavy stone had been lifted up of our backs!

We were so excited to have accomplished this. In fact, this is the first step to our even bigger goal -- financial freedom. We felt like we could really do this.


Don't buy things you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people who don't really care.

Have you heard of, "Stop keeping up with the Joneses, they're broke." It's funny but true.

Our generation is obsessed with appearances. I believe it intensified with everything going online. We are the internet generation after all.

Now I don't make an exception of myself here. I'm aware that I'm also a part of the problem.

Be financially savvy. Live within budget and don't forget to set aside a little for fun, whatever that may be.

Don't mind what others say. They won't be around when you're in trouble. This is your life and your money. It's time to take responsibility!

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Actually, what I've talked about is nothing new. In fact, It's common sense. Unfortunately, a lot of us missed it. But it's good to have that friend who reminds us of these things from time to time. ;)


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