Who is Angie?

Photo by Adam Solomon on Unsplash

Hello, again! I'm glad you decided to come back and go on this journey with me. Since you're here, you're probably wondering who exactly Angie is and why she wants to get out of debt and retire early. Well, I'm going to tell you all that!



The Basics
I'm 28 years old which puts me several years behind most of the early retirement bloggers out there. But I'm here to tell you that it's never to late to start! If you want something, go for it!

I currently live in Middle of Nowhere, California with my parents, three dogs, three turtles, and a lizard. Obviously, this means that I don't own a house, so no mortgage for me to worry about (yet). I do pay rent though, so at least I'm adulting a little bit.

I don't drive, so I don't really go anywhere except to work (I take the bus). I do enjoy my job, but like I mentioned in my welcome, I don't earn very much. $14.85 an hour. 40 hours a week. I do have full benefits and a 401(k) though.

I do in fact have a bachelor's degree which I am not currently using, which is where that $17,000 student loan comes from. I was luckily enough to have most of my tuition waived through VA, but that unfortunately made me ineligible for scholarships or grants. I was forced to take out loans for the rest, since I didn't work during my school years.

Beyond the Basics
My hobbies include reading (all genres), yoga (every day!), coloring (which I don't do enough of), and obsessing. I'm a chronic obsessor, but I'm working on it.

The one thing that I spend way too much money on is clothing. I only wear Made in the USA retro clothes, so it's not cheap. Of course, I have to get this under control if I want to reach my financial goals. I've been justifying spending hundreds of dollars every couple of months on clothes on the fact that I've been consistently losing weight and my old clothes (that I've only had for a couple of months) don't fit me. Sure, I did need things that fit, but did I need to buy a full wardrobe for each size that I went down? No. I know that logically, but putting it into practice is more difficult.

I'm single and childfree and don't have any immediate plans to change that. It's just me and that's enough for now. I want to get myself together before involving another person.

Before discovering financial independence blogs last month, I had exactly zero personal finance knowledge. My paychecks get deposited into my back account automatically where they stay until I want to buy something. Then I charge it to my Visa, which I immediately pay off (paying interest is stupid!). That's it.

Why early retirement?
I don't like working. I know I just said that I like my job, but that doesn't mean I actually like working. I'd much prefer to stay home with a good book. Maybe binge watch some of those shows everyone is raving about, but I know nothing about since I don't watch TV. I could travel! I've never been anywhere except for Disneyland (my favorite place in the world) and Las Vegas (never going back). I want to learn languages and new skills!

Basically, I want time to do whatever the heck I want. Maybe I'll decide that I do want to work, but I don't want to be forced to work in order to survive. Gaining financial freedom will afford me to do this.

I'm also a very goal-oriented person. I love challenges and check lists. Can I save enough money to pay off my debt? Yes! Can I save enough money to pay off my debt this year? I have a plan and I'm going to try! Can I then save enough money to live off for the rest of my life? I'm learning everything that I can, developing a plan, and I'm going to try!