Finance: Suddenly Single

Hey ya’ll! I hope you all are having a really good day! Since I’ve gone through this life change I want to share with you all some of the things I’ve learned and the things I’m currently learning. So join me on this “Suddenly Single” Journey. I’m going to be real transparent and talk a tad bit about finances. 

Most of you guys know I went through a divorce last year and while there were a lot of changes and a lot of adjustments that needed to be made the biggest ones was going from a two income household to one. 

WHOA. 

To say I wasn’t prepared is an understatement. I may have been a bit naive but honestly when I got married I didn’t think I would ever be divorced so I never really focused on the finances. Not in THAT way. 

I will say that I am accustomed to budgeting, paying bills and saving.

WITH TWO INCOMES. 

Yes, I was a stay home mom for about 10 years if not longer and almost four years ago I started my business. That was such a blessing and I took it for granted. Let me just be real. 

For YEARS I wasn’t used to making “my own money”. It felt AMAZING. I was happy but boy oh boy I didn’t treat it right lol. It was splurge, splurge, splurge. Spend, spend, spend. Didn’t think about saving a DIME, because there was another income. 

However, I don’t regret it. Because of those times I now know how to TRULY take care of my money and TRULY save. It is indeed HARD to save when you only have one stream of income.  People will always tell you, “you better pay yourself first.” Listen. That is HARD when you have a power bill that’s due and groceries to buy. That may not be your reality but it’s mine. 

I have gotten SO much better but I do know I have SO much more to learn. Let me tell you about a few services that I have found out about and use now that make saving a little easier for me: 

Dobot -Dobot helps you save by visualizing your goals, and then makes saving easy by automating it. After you connect your checking account, Dobot’s algorithm goes to work analyzing your spending patterns to calculate “safe savings amounts” that ensure you have enough to meet your spending needs while still saving. Every few days, Dobot will move small amounts of money into your Dobot savings. And if you want to add more money, you can transfer funds directly into your Dobot savings whenever you want. It’s that easy.

Qapital– Qapital automates your savings by letting you set up Goals toward the things you want and then save toward them by setting up different saving Rules. The saving Rules trigger transfers from your connected bank to your Qapital account where you can build up your savings.

Digit – To use Digit, you need to connect your checking account. This allows Digit to analyze your income and spending, and find small amounts of money it can safely set aside for you. They use 128-bit bank-level security, and they don’t store your bank login.

The links above are my referral links. Use them. Thanks! LOL

These services make it soooooooooo easy to save. Now I do have money that I move over to my savings account on a weekly basis, but these services are so helpful. The algorithms they use are pretty freaking amazing. Since most of us don’t use cash anyway these round up the spending on your debit card. Genius. If you swipe as much as I do, it adds up SO quick and it has truly been a blessing to me. You never miss it. Like ever and neither of these services will over draw your account. 

I have also been working on my credit. I don’t have bad credit, I just don’t have a lot of it. There was hardly anything in my name. Seriously, like maybe ONE bill lol. There is a Facebook group called Dream Catchers: LIVE RICHER that is WONDERFUL. I have learned SO much about repairing and building credit. I used to be afraid of credit cards. They aren’t anything to be afraid of. They are excellent tools when used correctly. 

What else have I been doing? I have been reading up and dabbling in investments as well. Just a little bit here and there. I started with Acorns and have been enjoying learning about investments. Something I’ve always wanted to learn about but never took the time. Well now I am. 

Let me be clear and say I lack for absolutely NOTHING and all of my needs are met. I even get a lot of what I want but I’m smarter now about my spending and and I’ve taken control of my spending habits. I don’t make spur of the moment purchases anymore. I will think on that thing over night lol. I LITERALLY sleep on it. 

Let me encourage you to take care of your finances. Married or single. Make sure you are saving and paying attention to your money. Learning how to truly live within your means. These are lessons that I’m learning right now. 

Adrienne