Before we started this Broke on Purpose journey any money that I would make working as a digital media influencer, I was allowed to keep. Granted at that time I was working within one particular niche, so I wasn’t generating tons of income, but it allowed me the ability to treat myself whenever I wanted. Now that we are living on a budget, any extra income that I make now goes straight to our debt. I enjoy it for the split second that it hits my account and then I take out money for tithes and taxes. The remainder then makes its way to whatever debt we’re working on at the time. The good news is that this year has been my best year financially working my side business, but the bad news is that I’ve not been able to keep a dime of that money. I could have owned both a Louis Vuitton Neverfull and a Chole Marcie Satchel with plenty to spare and just thinking about this makes me feel sick. I’ll be honest it sucks,

Admittedly, I love to shop, and like any regular person, I like to have nice things.  I always find myself “window” shopping online. Perusing the sites to see what’s new and then adding things to my cart, searching for a coupon code that will give me the best deal and then making it all the way to “view your cart” before I exit the site. I’m not sure why I torment myself like this. I like to say it helps remind me of where I want to be and keeps me motivated to continue on this journey. When this month started, I jokingly asked my husband if we could take this month off.  I felt as if we needed a break or more so I needed a break. I don’t remember if he ever answered the question, but without a vocal response from him, I knew the answer. No, we can’t take a month off. I knew deep down inside that taking a month off could open us up to taking another month off and eventually not even getting back on track. It’s just like a diet. Sometimes taking time off will do more hurt than help. So what do you do when you get tired and want to ditch your debt snowball and all your plans for getting out of debt?

Go back over your plan: My first thought is to stay motivated, but that’s easier said than done. One way to keep motivated is to go back over your plan and remind yourself of why you’re doing this in the first place. I have reminders of the debt that needs to be paid off and how much we’ve paid off everywhere. It’s on the chalkboard in the kitchen, it’s on the whiteboard in my office, and it’s on several pages inside my day planner. Seeing how far we’ve come is the biggest motivator for me. In these short seven months, we’ve given up, so a lot but at the same time gained so much. Paying off over $16,000 in debt has freed up over $2000 from our monthly budget. Sometimes I sit and think what if we had no more debt and we had that extra $2000 to do as we pleased every single month. Just the thought of having that type of money freed up gets me excited to keep going even when I don’t want to.

Budget out a treat for yourself. My husband and I both get a monthly allowance. This is something we’ve worked into our budget. Before we started Broke on Purpose, a monthly allowance was hit or miss. If we had money left over at the end of the month, we could get one, and if we didn’t, we would both just be empty-handed. By working an allowance into our budget every single month, we can scratch that itch to go shopping if we want. I find that now that we’ve been getting an allowance consistently we don’t even spend what we have. Usually opting to save it for a more significant item or a bigger shopping trip.

Talk with a Friend: Talk about your feelings to someone else who is also on a Broke on Purpose Journey. They may have dealt with some of the same feelings that you’re having right now. Ask them how they got past the feeling of giving up? Their story may inspire you.

No matter how far into the journey you are giving up just can’t be an option. It’s okay to put your debt snowball on hold to save up for things like a new baby on the way, a car replacement where you want to pay cash or even an upcoming move. As long as you put a plan in place to get back on track once the savings goal is met. Remind yourself of how exciting it will be to finally be able to officially say you’re debt free.