It may be payday for some of you and some of you are wishing it was payday. A few of you reading this right now had insufficient funds in your acct prior to your direct deposit hitting your bank account today. That proverbial $70 in insufficient funds is killing you. We have all been there at some point and time.
The Vicious Cycle
Yes, it seems as though there is no end to the vicious cycle of being broke and to make things worse there is always that one sista-friend that always seems to be in the right place at the right time for some unexpected financial come up. I have a confession, I was probably that sista-friend…. Yall know the one with the good-gov’t job and the seemingly endless supply of Jesus favor. Marvette was sprinkled in black-girl magical dust 365 days of the year, or so it seemed.
No Magical Formula
Allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is hard work and saving 10%. There is no magical formula. Plain and simple, I work and I save. I don’t give a rats booty as to how much money you make and or how much money you don’t make, you need to save and you need to save on a consistent basis. If you are reading this and you only make $10 per hour, you need to save. If you are reading this and you make $40 per hour, you need to save.
There is no magical formula. I can tell you that I save, I invest, I side hustle, I hustle when I’m sleeping, and lastly, I implement. Some of you will read this article, knowing that you need to save and still won’t take 10 minutes to open a free Ellevest Acct, but you’ll go on Instagram and like 100s of pics, send a # to Beyonce praying that just maybe she sees it. Maybe she’ll follow you back – Sike, Queen Bey doesn’t follow a single soul on the gram. I digress. Is the fear of success holding you back?
The lawn-care-guy just left my home and I paid him his $65 with side-hustle money. While he was here, I checked the mailbox and guess what was in the mail? A statement for my Southwest Airline Stock that I purchase on a monthly basis. $50 dollars a month is what I purchase. My point in sharing this is that it’s all a result of taking a simple action and making a simple decision. If your job told you that they were going to pay you $100 less per month, would you resign? Would you walk off the job and quit? I didn’t think so, hence you can afford to save $100 a month.
You, Will, Have An Emergency
At some point and time, we will all have an emergency and if you are like most black folks, then you don’t have a rich uncle that you can call and ask for a loan. I recently had a buyer close on her first home via the NACA program this past January. She worked at Walmart- she might have made $15.00 per hour. She saved, she saved, and she saved again. She walked away with a super low-interest rate and a payment under $700 a month total. She made a decision that if she earned $100, she would save $20. She also worked overtime and saved her OT on a consistent basis. The keyword is consistency.
Here is something else that I know about us… If it doesn’t apply to you then I’m not referring to you. Some of us think that we are too good to do certain things such as drive for Uber or Lyft or work part-time- that’s beneath us. I drove 9 hours last week and made over $300. Car note paid. I intentionally drive 10 hours a week now, just so I can show Goddesses how much my lil side hustle brings in. Sometimes I drive while I’m running an errand. If I were going to Lenox, I can tell Uber to find me someone headed that way. What could you do with $300 extra dollars a week?
Getting back to this uppity mentality. If you want the Goddess Affect to manifest within you, I highly suggest that you check it at the door and learn a thing or two. Honestly, if you are tired of being sick and tired of being broke, I do have a few tips that you can implement that will help you to achieve a better financial future- (there is a reason why future is mentioned in the Melanin Goddess Tagline) Some tips may seem strange- but I promise you they will be relevant at some point and time.
1. Clean Your House
Clean your house. I know that you are thinking what does cleaning my house have to do with me being broke, or me making money? It is extremely hard to focus when your house is cluttered. Clutter is distracting. If you are distracted, then you can’t focus, if you can’t focus, then you can’t make money. If you can’t make money, then you can’t buy stock or invest, or start a business. Pick a room, any room and focus on keeping that room clean for 21 days.
2. Pick A Uniform
Pick a uniform- If you work outside of your home create a uniform- Seriously create a uniform, ie., black pants, black t-shirt, simple blazer. No more than 21 pieces. This includes shoes, pants, tops, purses, blazer (jacket) Separate these items in your closet if possible – Try to only wear items from the 21 for the next 21 days (make a list of the # of shoes, pants, blouses, dresses, purses you own) this will be focused on in another blog post.
3. Create A Few Simple Accounts
Let’s create some simple accounts that you need to get jump-started – You need to create them within the next 24-48 hours. Stop making excuses. Take Action, Take Action, and lastly Take Action
Acorns Yes mam, take a minute and create an acorns account. It is a simple and easy way to invest without thinking twice. In addition, when you join you can refer people and earn $5, they will get $5 too!
Stash Start investing today with just $5. The Stash micro-investing app helps millions of Americans learn, save, and invest.
Get a simple Bank account – checking & savings. I happen to like Fidelity (Ameris Bank) as they have no fees and they have free checking on business accts.
4. Get A Journal
Get a journal. Make a goal and write it down. Write it down in BIG BOLD letters. I know other programs talk about finding your WHY…. forget all that. Your why is because you are sick and tired of being BROKE and simply decided to take action to make some changes. (make sure you hashtag #GODDESSAFFECT Your goal can be something as simple as saving $50
Call a good friend and ask them to participate with you. It is easier when you have an accountability partner that is focused like yourself. I always say you can not be the only sister in your circle that can afford to pick up the tab.
 Acorns & Stash in that order, for less than $10 you now have 3 different types of investment-related accounts
5. Pull Your Credit
Pull your credit, I recommend Experian. You have to know your status in order to become credit healthy. If you need credit assistance then check out Kredit Koncepts, Make sure you check them out.
6. Make a Commitment
Make a commitment to make changes. Ask yourself where do you want to be in 24 months.
A Few Things To Help You Earn A Few Extra Coins -10 hours a week.
There is enough info on this page, hence click the link above to go to the blog post on 10 items that you can do to earn extra coins in 10 hours or less. Yes, I do in fact do all of them. As I stated above, there is no magical, hocus pocus. You get ahead by taking action. You get ahead by gaining knowledge. When you know better, you can do better.
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