Experience the freedom!

Do you get these too? I rarely go more than a month without receiving one of these come-ons:

I am already responsible for an insane amount of personal debt. In addition to my line of credit, I have three credit cards. Most of the time, I don't carry a balance on my credit cards from month-to-month. I try to be a credit card "freeloader" as much of the time as I can be. But, as a freelancer, I have been known to live off my credit cards during a lean month (or two, or sometimes – gulp! – three).

Despite the fact that my wonderful local personal banker is supporting me in my goal to reduce my ability to borrow on my line of credit by $5,000 a year, the folks at banking HQ would be "happy to help" me take on the option of more credit. 

Treat yourself!

Take that trip! 

Relax!

Experience the freedom – yes the freedom of crippling debt with interest payments that make it ever harder to get back into the black. 

I've been experiencing that freedom for years. It sucks.

But you've worked soooooooo hard!

I bet they have people with psychology degrees holed up at the bank writing these letters. You've worked hard to maintain an excellent credit history. Pat yourself on the back, kid, and show us what you can do with several thousand more dollars of rope with which to hang yourself!

I tell you, I'd have been working a lot harder if I'd simply managed my money properly in the first place. If only I'd used my brain and a little common sense. For instance, if I'd never spent the HST I had collected and then scrambled after it three months later when it was time to remit. Or if I'd put a little something aside during the lush months for the coming lean months and the inevitability of income taxes. 

The party is over; a better party is just beginning

I think I may have found my answer. I read a great article in the Montreal Gazette a couple of weeks ago about a person who lived in Montreal on $11,000 last year. It's an inspiring story about co-operative living and alternative economic models. 

And careful money management. 

The article mentioned something called YNAB (You Need A Budget). I thought, that sounds like me. I need a budget.

I've been checking YNAB out and I love it! It's software with a phone app that lets me track what I spend, anywhere, anytime, so I actually know both what's in my budget and what's in my bank account. This may shock some people, but it is novel for me to know how much money I have. And really novel for me to try to hold a conscious awareness of how much of my money is truly available to spend – when a lot of it is really owed to of all the infrequent expenses that keep mounting in the background (taxes, bills that get autopaid by my credit card, etc., etc.)  Before, I was blithely spending the money I appeared to have – and not really caring because I knew I had the cushion of credit whenever I screwed up and overspent (which was often). Wotthehell, I thought, I'll pay it back later. Un-hunh, with interest.

YNAB is good software, but as they say themselves: "It's not just software, it's a mission." What I really find YNAB good at is training (i.e. re-training) the way I look at money. They offer 4 simple rules to follow. There are webinars about how to apply the rules – about how exactly to get out of existing debt and how to handle the dramatic ebbs and flows of freelance income. I feel like it was made for me. It guess it was. It was made for people just like me. People who need a budget.

The whole point of YNAB is to have money saved up for needs and emergencies so that I'll eventually be spending only money I have instead of continually dipping into the poisoned credit candy dish. It's going to take a little time and a little (unaccustomed) restraint, but with a good tool on my side, I'm looking forward to experiencing the freedom – of living within my means.