How I went from living in an apartment as a single mom to owning a home.

There I was sitting in my overstuffed rocking chair, in my 2-bedroom apartment. I was wondering if I was going to live in an apartment for the rest of my life as a single mom/woman.

My biggest mistake was thinking I couldn’t move out of my apartment and buy a house as a single mom. Of course, I came up with many reasons why I would not be able to buy a house on my own.

Another thing that came to my mind, is that I didn’t have enough money to move out of my apartment and buy a house. Unfortunately, I had no money in savings and I was living paycheck to paycheck. I had a few credit cards with running balances, and multiple loans. Learn more about how to start saving money when living paycheck to paycheck.

In reality, I did own a home (when I was previously married) before renting. With this in mind, I started thinking, if I did own a home, I would need a budget and a savings account for home maintenance.

Wanting Financial Freedom

In fact, I was so tired of feeling like I couldn’t do anything financially more in life until I changed. It was finally time for a change.

Finally, I became determined to get out of debt and start saving. Ultimately, I wanted financial freedom.

For one thing, I wanted the freedom and confidence to change jobs, the buying power to purchase a house and the ability to go to the store without feeling frustrated and stressed out.

Another key point was I wanted the freedom to have experiences instead of just paying bills. In particular, I was tired of having sleepless nights and wondering how I was going make all my payments. Therefore, I promised myself I was done being in debt!

At first, I was angry about the situation I was in, but then I got excited about my future.

Make a Budget

My first step was to make a budget. I created a budget so that I could see my income, expenses and debt.

Start making a budget today. If you don’t have one, I created one so you don’t have to. It’s the same budget I use today.

A wonderful friend of mine, recommended the Dave Ramsey book on how to “Get out of Debt”. I used many useful tools in this book. Learn more about me.

The Cash Budget

It’s important to realize, I used a cash budget system. Surprisingly, this system worked really well for me. When I spent money, I could see how much I had left. It was very eye opening! The most compelling evidence is, it really made me think before spending money.

To point out, I used a small, pretty pink accordion folder system that I added cash to on each payday. The envelopes were labeed and it looked something like this:

• Groceries:                  $150
• Fuel:                         $40
• Oil Changes:               $25
• Clothing                    $40
• Entertainment             $40
• Utilities                      $75
• Gifts                         $35
• Toiletries                   $100

You can start doing this today too!

Pay off Debt

I made the decision, as a single mom, to pay off my credit cards and loans. Ultimately, I decided to live within my means. Essentially, I wanted to do this quicker. The fastest way would be to live WAY below my means.

Next, I made as big of a monthly payment as I could, on my smallest debt. This is also known as the debt snowball.

Then, I only made the minimum payment on my other credit cards and regular payments on my loans.

As I paid off the smaller debts, I got more and more excited!

It’s important to realize, once I paid off the smallest loan, I would start on the next smallest loan. Essentially, I would take what I was paying on the previous loan and add that amount to the next loan. To emphasize, I was so excited to have one less monthly payment.

As I started paying off debt, my dream of moving out of an apartment and buying a house as a single mom/woman was getting closer.

Finding FREE Fun Activities

Another key point, we did as many things as we could for free. Here are a few things we did:

• Went to as many parks as I could find
• Took bike rides throughout town
• Attended as many parades as we could find in the area!
• Packed a picnic lunch and took day trips.
• We went on adventures to see what we could find for the day.
• We did some amazing sightseeing!
• Cross country skiing
• Had slumber parties in the living room with a movie.
• Put out a picnic blanket and had carpet picnics in the living room while watching “America’s Funniest Home videos.

To point out, even though we didn’t spend much money on entertainment, we sure had fun together! Certainly, it was heart-warming and I have wonderful memories of fun times!

Finding a 2nd Job

In reality, I still needed more income. For this reason, I started talking to people and looking for another job. Then, I was offered a position as a Secretary. In fact, it was for the apartment building I was living in.

This was helpful in paying down my debt. However, I was working over 40 hours per week with 2 small children.

Despite working long hours, I continued to pay off my debts. Truly, it was the most freeing experience! For this reason, I was getting more and more excited about the possibility of moving out of my apartment and owning my own home as a single mom/woman.

My Employment

It was time for a change. I was getting worn out working two jobs raising two children.

Under these circumstances, I needed to make more money without working 2 jobs.

In particular, I wanted more for myself and started looking for a new job that had better pay.

On the positive side, I was gaining confidence in myself as I was paying off debt.

New Job

In fact, I landed a job as a Personal Banker at a Community Bank. To point out, I processed and learned in depth about:

• Credit cards  – I learned in depth about authorizations. Not to mention, how much money is paid in interest each month when you don’t pay off your credit card balance. Learn more about the easiest way to establish credit. Pro tips on how to stay calm if your credit card info was stolen, like mine was.
• Mortgages – The process of purchasing a house and all the details of underwriting a mortgage and HOW MUCH INTEREST you pay each month!
• Loans – I learned how to get the value of new and used cars, trucks, vehicles, motorhomes to produce loan documents and understand them.
• Credit Reports – I learned how to read credit reports and understand them in depth. I learned there are errors on credit reports and how to fix them! In addition, how to remove old negative information from credit reports.
• Traditional & Roth IRA’s – I learned about bank CD’s and IRA’s in depth for retirement. I learned bank CD’s were not as volatile as the stock market and definitely a safe place to keep your money, but does not usually outpace the stock market.
• Checking Accounts – I learned about debit card authorizations, how to avoid overdrafts and avoid ATM fee’s!
• Savings Accounts – I learned about Christmas Club, Vacation and health savings accounts to save for those expensive times in life!

Funny story: I was declined a vehicle loan 7 years prior (when I was married) at the same bank where I was hired as a Personal Banker! Ironically, I was hired for the position, of the loan officer, who declined our loan! She was retiring!!!

Keep going! Don’t give up!

Trust me, I know how hard it is to stop shopping and buying things. I love to shop, especially for clothes, jewelry and nail polish. I love to look pretty!

Honestly, once you start paying off debt, you’ll get excited and want to continue. At least, that was my experience.

The last debt I had, was my car loan. I worked so hard to pay it off. In fact, I was so excited to pay off my car, I would put as much money as I could on the loan. Essentially, making it easier to pay off.

After I paid off my car loan, I started saving money like crazy! Essentially, the money I was paying on my car, went directly into a savings account.

My personal experience with money, along with working at the bank, I as a single mom/woman went from living in an apartment to

buying a house!!!

Financial Freedom comes with Confidence

I was so pound of myself that I paid down my debts, made a budget and started saving money! Ultimately, it lead to financial freedom. Finally, I had reached my goal as a single mom/woman and went from living in an apartment to buying a house.

It was such a freeing and liberating experience to buy a house! After all, it was a great experience because I knew the process. Additionally, I knew what to expect and how much it was going to cost me. Ultimately, I had great confidence in my financial life.

This great confidence lead me to reach for more goals. Especially the goals I didn’t think were attainable!

One last thing

If you are a single mom/woman, you can buy a house too! I know you can.

My biggest advice is to start off with a budget. I have an awesome budget for you. This budget will help you succeed with your goals. This is the same budget I use today.

The second reason I was really successful, is that I used the cash system. I left my credit and debit cards at home. Definitely, this made me very consciences of how much money I had. Ultimately this lead me to be successful while shopping.

My personal experience of getting out of debt along with the many things I learned working at a bank will ultimately help you! Please get in touch if you would like guidance.

I would be happy to help you succeed in the same way I did!