I am going to be a different kind of “influencer” in your feed today.

I am going to be the one to remind you not everyone is “living their best life” with their “favorite humans” eating avocado toast on the beach today.

No, some people really expletive crap up in their lives and their day-to-day is about 25% as cool as what they occasionally post on Instagram. At least that’s my experience, anyway.

I’ve been to hell and back over the last few years and one of the net by-products is about $60,000 worth of debt. “It is what it is,” and I take responsibility for it and am ready to do something about it. This is not something that’s going away with a “30-day cleanse.”

Now — I’ve known about anti-debt crusader Dave Ramsey since 2016. However, Dave frequently reiterates personal finance is “80% behavior and 20% head knowledge.” Ramsey also says his principles are merely “God and grandma’s ways of handling money.” I learned about God and my grandma’s ways of handling money at an early age, but still did dumb stuff anyway. Like Dave I have a PhD in “D-U-M-B.”

It has taken some time for my thoughts, attitudes and actions to catch up to what I know about personal finance.

Since May 2018 there have been two job losses in a field that could be rewarding, but it probably was not the best path for me financially. I knew local television news was not the path to riches, but it was a risk I was willing to take. I liked the work and I thought I was decent at it. I believed, still do, in the responsibility of a free press in fostering democracy.

However, I was caught by surprise at how low the salary floor could remain when I worked in bigger markets in Kansas City and St. Louis. I am making more now in an insurance company’s customer service call center than I ever did in TV news.

I’m FINALLY OK with the fact I may never step foot in a local TV newsroom again if that’s what’s required to achieve financial peace.

Since 2016, there was also an alcohol-related arrest and the beginning of recovery from an insidious addiction problem that plagued me for years. There were bar tabs and golf games I could not afford charged to my thin, plastic friends. Then, there was a year-and-a-half period where I had a budget, but did not stick to it because a $100 entertainment budget was not going to get me drunk three nights a week.

The last six months (since Feb. 2019) have been about getting sober, repairing relationships, re-gaining the desire to live and putting together a plan to go at this with the “Gazelle-like intensity” of the people who travel from all over the country to Franklin, TN to tell Uncle Dave they did it. For a few months I just wanted to keep my car away from the re-po man and avoid bankruptcy.

I’ve also learned to take responsibility for this. This isn’t the “one-percent’s” problem, “the economy’s” problem or “the government’s” problem. “The man” and “the system” aren’t the problem, I was the problem. Anybody who is waiting for Mitch McConnell to do something for them is screwed. The cool part is: they won’t get any of the credit when I fix it.

I’ve learned that I will need to work all the time at multiple jobs to pull this off and need to embrace putting some pleasure at bay. Years of being a hedonistic, selfish prick didn’t go so well, so why not try something else?

There’s no better place to start than on this payday, July 25, 2019.

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July Gross Income: $6,000

Emergency Fund/Car replacement fund balance: $500

July debt payments: $2,000

Total outstanding debt: $58,500

BABY STEP #1

Critics of Dave Ramsey say his plan is “one-size-fits-all,” and cannot be uniquely tailored to each person’s situation. I agree, which is why I am taking some creative license and taking a hybridized approach to baby steps #1 and #2.

Baby Step #1 is: start a $1,000 emergency fund. Baby Step #2 is: pay off all debts using the snowball method.

The biggest way Murphy can come after me right now is by way of car trouble. My car has been for the most part reliable, but likes to throw a $500-1,000 tantrum every couple months lately. And $1,000 is not going to be enough to address the worst-case scenario, knock on proverbial wood.

So instead of sticking with the script on step 1, tomorrow I am paying $800 to get the front struts fixed on my car and depositing $500 into an online savings account with Ally. That does not sound like much, until you realize it puts you in a better position than about 40% of the working people in this country right now. 

A car can be driven safely with bad struts, but it is hard on tires and joints. It affects stopping distances and makes the ride rougher. It is not a complete emergency, but has become enough of an annoyance over the last month that it needs to be addressed.

Throughout the working of the second baby step, I will continue to deposit $500 into this fund each month. That can be put to use in one of three ways:

A) Good: Pay down the car loan to a positive equity position before trading it in, or put down the largest payment possible on another vehicle.

B) Better: Keep up with repairs on my car to get it to the 200,000 mile mark on the odometer.

C) Best: Save up to buy the next car with COLD, HARD CASH.

I’ve been trying for three years to get where I am today, and cannot believe I am finally there. Nonetheless, this is just the beginning. Check back next month to see completion of the first phase of the plastectomy.