Focus On Yourself For A Change

For me I have always cared for others in one way or another. I will take care of there finances, there health, there children, and worry about what will happen if I couldn't do it. It has taken me 30 years to realize that I can not really help anyone else in my life if I could not take care of myself. This has hit me hard. I do not feel as if I have wasted my time, but I do feel as if I could have done more if I would have put myself first from time to time.

I know this blog is about my personal financial journey, but this is a big part of it. For those of you who are like I was you should focus on yourself for a little while. Take control of your own finances, health, education, and other aspects of your life. Doing this will actually help others in your life as well. Remember that you are not being selfish. You want more for yourself so you can do more for yourself and others that are important to you in your life.

Always remember; "You can not take care of others until you take care of yourself!"

This is something that I have not done in my life, and I feel that it is about time for it.

Credit Repair

Since I have been working on my credit for a little while, and have learned some of the steps that actually work, I wanted to share them with everyone. I wrote an article today on Firehow. The article is How To Repair Your Own Credit. In this article I have provided steps that I have taken to help repair my family, friends, and my own credit at one time or another. In one instance I was able to increase an individuals credit score by 100 points within a year. Even if you already have decent credit, it will not hurt to try to make it even better.

Defaulted Student Loans

One of the biggest things on my credit is student loans. When you are in default on student loans it can greatly decrease your credit score. I am also wanting to return to school in January, and would not be able to get any financial aid if I am in default. Yesterday I decided to call the Department of Education to see exactly what I needed to do to get back in good standings.

Apparently there is a new program that can help. The program allows you to set up payment arrangements and get caught up. In this plan you have to make all of your default student loan payments on time, every month. If you pay all of your payments on time you will be eligible for financial aid in six months, then if you pay on time for nine months your loans will show on your credit report as a positive.

I could not pass this opportunity up. I signed up for the program and will start making payments of around $40. This is one of the biggest steps I have made in my personal financial journey, and it is going to help quite a bit.

If you have a default student loan through the government you should read this page, or call 1-800-219-7931. It is worth a try to get your finances together if you are on your own financial journey.

Secured Credit Cards

I have been looking into a variety of different ways to improve my credit. I have not gotten my score recently, but I am sure it is well below 500. This is because I have not been focused on it for one reason or another. I do not have a lot of bad things on my credit report, but I do not have resent positives either.

To have a better credit score you need current positive items. This is why I have been looking into secured credit cards. These cards allow you to put money down on a credit card, pay payments as with any other credit card, and they do report it to the credit bureaus.

Today I did a look on Google and found a few cards that interested me. I chose the Capital One Secured Credit Card. For me it seemed to be the best option. There is also a list of different secured credit cards on Credit.com. The application process took about five minutes, and was very easy. They also allow you to pay your security deposit over time. I will probably be putting my deposit within the next couple of weeks.

I am hoping that this secured credit card is going to be the beginning of me building my credit again. I am sure it will take more than just this, but it is a start.

My Financial Journey In Now begining

I have not been able to do much about my finances without working, but I now have income coming in. I started on job on Friday and the second one I will begin tomorrow. I also have my online income and I clean houses every other week. I am going to be a very busy person, but my finances are going to begin to pay off. I am currently in the process of making out a financial plan for myself with goals and deadlines. I am going to share a lot of that with the readers as soon as I am able to have it completed.

Welcome To My Blog "A Personal Financial Journey"

I want to welcome all of the readers to my new blog. I have recently began to look closely into my finances and began to worry. I am now beginning to take steps to get out of debt and get my finances in order. I feel that I may be able to help others by sharing my successes and failures.

A little about me:

I have to share a little about myself so you will know exactly where I am starting on this journey. I am 30 years old. Divorced by 20 and went through a separation a few months ago from a man that I was with for six years. In the marriage my finances took a turn for the worse when I got divorced; credit debt, foreclosure, and other misc things. Now in the relationship things began pretty well. I was making $35000 a year, paying my own bills, and only had a few bad things on my credit from the marriage. In 2004 my sister became very ill, so I became her nanny. That was a very big pay cut. There were a few other things that occurred from then till now, but it would be a long story. I basically went from taking care of everything myself to having a lot of debt. I am currently $35000 in debt.

I am now single, but had been out of work for a few months, and I live with my family. I do not have a vehicle or much else for that matter. I have made a little money working online, but not enough to pay for much. It has been a very hard few months, but I am finally getting back on track financially.

Work:

I have recently been offered two different jobs, and I have accepted both. I will be working 11am-11pm then 11pm-11am Thur-Sunday. I know that this will be a hard process, but It will be worth it financially.

This is going to be a temporary situation. In January I will begin school. That means for 4 months I will work very hard, then give up one of the jobs so I can go to school. During this time I plan on getting a lot of my finances in order.

My Blog

I plan on sharing most of my successes and failures on this blog. I know that finances are going to be a life long process for me as it is for everyone else. I am hoping that this blog can show others how they may be able to succeed and help them avoid any failures that I may have. I will also share helpful websites or articles that I may find.