Affordable Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season

March 21, 2024 | Leave a Comment

Affordable Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season

Since the holiday season is in full swing, this is the perfect time to consider giving back to others. Depending on where you are in your journey of becoming debt free this can be really tough. It’s hard to scrap up enough money to put toward your debt let alone donating money to others.

Since my kids are getting a little older I want to show them that giving back to the community not only helps them, but it makes us better as well. Helpguide.org states [Read more…]

How a Side Hustle Helped Melanie Lockert Break Up With Debt

March 21, 2024 | 12 Comments

Have you considered adding a side hustle to help you break up with debt?

Well, in today’s video, we’ll learn how Melanie Lockert used a side hustle to break up with debt.

If you don’t know Melanie, she’s the personality behind the award-winning blog, DearDebt.com, where she chronicled her journey out of $81,000 in student loan debt. Through her blog, she inspires readers to break up with debt by writing their very own breakup letter to debt.

In 2015, Melanie (and her journey out of debt) was named one of the top five most inspiring personal finance stories of the year by Yahoo! Finance. She currently works as a freelance writer and event planner. Melanie and her work have appeared in Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! Finance, INC, and more.

After graduating from college with $23,000 in student loans, Melanie had the opportunity to attend her dream school, NYU, to earn her master’s degree. There, she incurred $58,000 more in student loans for a total of $81,000.

Upon struggling to find a stable, decent-paying job after graduating from NYU, Melanie made some extreme changes in her life to pay off her student loans. In December 2015, Melanie made her last payment and became 100% debt-free.

She is also the author of a brand-new book, “Dear Debt: A Story About Breaking Up with Debt” which shares her journey and her advice for those in the process of breaking up with debt.

In the interview with Melanie, she shares:

What drove her to rid herself of her student loans
How she cut her expenses and started side hustling to bring in extra income

How her side hustling has led to an unexpected career path
Her best advice for how to find a side hustle that’s right for you, and
What to do if you want to get out of debt but feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start

Melanie has an inspiring story that I think anyone struggling with debt needs to hear, and she shares it all in this interview. So here is my interview with Melanie Lockert from deardebt.com. Enjoy!

Thanks again to Melanie for sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly about getting out of debt with us!

[bctt tweet=”How a side hustle helped Melanie Lockert (@DearDebtBlog) break up with debt” username=”MonicaRLouie”]

I hope you pick up her book, “Dear Debt: A Story About Breaking Up with Debt.” I know it will help you break up with debt once and for all.

I encourage you to check out Melanie’s blog at DearDebt.com and consider writing your own Dear Debt letter to break up with debt.

For others that have got out of debt check out these articles.

How Alice and Scott Paid Off $200,000 of Student Loans in Less Than 7 Years
From Credit Card Debt to Loving Her Money with Sarah Li Cain
How Lauren Greutman, The Recovering Spender, Paid Off $40,000 of Debt

Now I’d love to hear about you!

What did you learn from Melanie’s story? Have you started a side hustle yet so you can break up with debt? Please share in the comments below.

Have you joined our free community yet?

Join me in our private Facebook group called Your Debt Freedom Family, where we’ve got an awesome community of people who are breaking up with debt so they can break free and live life on their terms.

Click here to join the fun!

I’d love to see you there!

Keep moving forward toward your goals. You really can live the life you dream about!

What Happens to My Credit Score When I Pay Off All My Debt?

March 21, 2024 | 10 Comments

What happens to my credit score when I pay off all my debt?

This question came up in the Our Debt Freedom Family Facebook group recently, and I know a lot of people have the same question when getting out of debt.

So in this article we’re going to be answering the following question:

“How does being debt free affect your credit? We’ll be paying off our debt soon. When we do, we’ll keep our credit cards open, but what will my credit score look like when all the other loans are closed?”

A similar question was asked last year about how your score is affected when you close out one of your old credit cards. I wrote an article in response, and in that article, I went into great detail about how your credit score is calculated and how closing out the card affects your score.

To summarize, the most commonly used credit score is calculated using software created by the Fair Isaac Corporation, also known as FICO. Your FICO® score is determined and weighted by the following five factors:

Payment history — approximately 35%

Amounts owed — approximately 30%
Length of credit history — approximately 15%
New credit — approximately 10%

Types of credit in use — approximately 10%

If you close out all of your cards, pay off all of your loans, and never use credit again, eventually, the reporting agencies won’t be able to provide a score for you.

However, if you leave your cards open and use them once in awhile and keep them paid off, your credit score is likely to be very high.

In fact, I recently interviewed Christine Odle who paid off $500,000 worth of debt (house and everything) since 2009. She said that she has one credit card that she pays off several times each month, and her score is over 800.

My husband and I also have one credit card that we use and pay off each month (in addition to our mortgage) and our credit scores are over 800, as well. We’ve definitely seen our credit scores increase as our debt total has decreased over the past few years.

My question to anyone else concerned about their credit score is this —

Once you’ve paid everything off, do you plan to use credit again in the future? If not, then it probably won’t have much affect on your life. But if you do, it might be worth using a credit card and paying it off every month to keep that good payment history on your record.

Don’t Pay To Check Your Credit!!!

You used to need to pay to check your credit score. Don’t do that!! Instead, get your credit score for free. Here are four completely free ways to check your credit score.

Annual Credit Report. Federal law says the three credit reporting bureaus must provide customers with a free credit report once per year. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com and sign up.

Chase’s Credit Journey. Chase will not only provide you access to your credit score, but also gives you a set of great tools to improve your credit score. It is 100% free to sign up.

Lexis Nexis. Another way to get a free credit report is to get your Lexis Nexis file. The report will have personal information gathered from public records and third party sources. You can get a copy of what information about you they have on file by sending in an application with your ID.

Creating Multiple Income Streams with Affordable Real Estate Investments

March 21, 2024 | 8 Comments

Have you thought about what to do with your money after you’ve gotten out of debt?

What should you do with that extra money that’s not going toward debt payments?

Of course, there are numerous options: [Read more…]

Debt-Free Homeowner? 5 Tips to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early

March 21, 2024 | Leave a Comment

Owning a home is one of the greatest goals to achieve in one’s lifetime. More interestingly, home loans have helped many people achieve this American dream faster than it would have taken to accumulate sufficient savings to purchase with cash.

However, home prices have been increasing faster than income over the years. This has resulted in the need for higher loan amounts to purchase homes. With the average mortgage term hitting 30 years, repaying your home loan may feel like forever.

For every problem, there is a solution ― these ten(10) tips will help you lower the debt and pay off your mortgage early.

But before you try them, it is essential to note that a mortgage lender may include a prepayment penalty in the loan term.

A mortgage loan prepayment penalty is a fee a mortgage lender charges when you repay all or part of your loan before the agreed loan term ends. The loan comes with interest rates; the more the years, the higher the chance of charging more interest.

Hence, early payment implies the lender will be getting a lower interest in total; therefore, the prepayment penalty is a cushion.

Contact your mortgage lender and ensure you reach an agreement before you start executing plans to pay off your mortgage early.

Another important thing to mention is that while repaying your mortgage, ensure you have enough funds budgeted for your roof inspection and other home maintenance.

Ways to pay off your mortgage early

1. Cancel mortgage insurance premium

Many lenders will mandate borrowers to get Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) if the down payment is less than 20 percent of the home’s purchase price. The insurance protects the lender in case you stop paying.

It costs between 0.5 to 2.25 percent of the entire mortgage loan annually and is repaid as part of the monthly mortgage payment.

For context, if you purchase a home worth $350,000 with a 1.5% PMI fee, in addition to your mortgage, you will be a PMI fee of $5,250 annually or about $438 each month.

Some lenders automatically remove the PMI once you have 22 percent equity in the home. But you can request it to be removed once you have 20 percent equity in the home.

The PMI fee can then be redirected into repaying your mortgage loan.

2. Lower your housing cost

You can reduce your home maintenance cost and use your savings to repay your mortgage.

Consider reducing your energy bill by using energy-efficient appliances. Always turn off your tap and repair any leaks as soon as possible to reduce the water bill.

For general home maintenance, check those you can DIY and others you can achieve on a budget.

Also, cut your cable and internet costs, especially if you do not usually use them. Cancel any subscription you are not using and take advantage of discount offers whenever available.

Likewise, avoid impromptu purchases. Only buy what you need and not what you want. You need all cash you can squeeze to hasten your mortgage repayment.

If you can save $500 by cutting unnecessary costs and using DIYs for some repairs, that is about $6,000 yearly. This can significantly reduce the number of years to repay your mortgage loan.

3. Earn passive income

Increasing your monthly income can help you increase the extra payment for your home loan.

You can work overtime if your company permits it or take a part-time job for your free hours and days. Rent out unused spaces in your home, and invest in dividend-paying stocks or bonds if your finance permits.

Depending on your skills and career situation, you can leverage online freelance opportunities.

If you are an expert in your field, consider writing a book, consulting for startups, or organizing paid webinars.

Blogging and vlogging are other ways to share your experience and, at the same time, generate passive income.

4. Increase your payment

Split your monthly mortgage payment into two and make biweekly payments. Understand the number of days and weeks in a month varies. Therefore, if you do this, you will end up paying 13-month worth of the loan in a year.

Another method is increasing the principal each month or annually. If your lender agrees, this does not only help you pay off the loan faster; it may also reduce the total interest over the life of the loan.

5. Refinance your mortgage

Refinance your mortgage into a new one with a lower interest rate and better loan term. This can be a good option if you have a bad credit score when you get the first mortgage. Now that your credit score has improved, you may be qualified for a better interest rate.

Invariably, a loan with a lower interest rate can be repaid faster than another with a higher interest rate.

Self-Care is Crucial to Maintaining Financial Wellness

March 21, 2024 | Leave a Comment

If there is one thing postpartum taught me is that you have to occasionally unplug and just take care of yourself. I’m someone who has always been on the go. Seriously, I look for new projects in my spare time. However, I recently realized that this kind of lifestyle and attitude is hurting me. In fact, it may even be harming my finances.

Why Self-Care is Important

Self-care is one of the most important investments you can make for yourself. There is a laundry list of potential benefits to practicing a regular self-care routine. It can help reduce and even eliminate anxiety, which we’ve talked about on the blog a lot recently. Practicing regular self-care can also improve your concentration and energy while reducing depression, frustration, and anger. Here are a few more perks…

Ambition: You will want to do more to reach your goals if you take time to unplug.
Mental health: It will improve your mental health and improve your outlook on life.
Finance: Regular self-care makes you less likely to splurge and more motivated to reach financial goals.

Reset: Sometimes we just need a reset to focus on what’s important and carving out time for self-care does that.

The problem most people have, myself included, is seeing the return on self-care. Any time I take a moment to unplug and take care of myself I feel like I’m losing money or missing out on new opportunities.

After reading more into the benefits of regular self-care though, I know it is the exact opposite. Without the chance to perform regular self-care, I’m likely missing out on opportunities because I’m burnt out or just staying afloat with my current workload. So, where is the balance?

Self-Care and Money

When it comes to your finances, the “treat yourself” mentality can be dangerous. What many people don’t consider is that self-care doesn’t have to be an expensive spa day. Self-care can simply be hitting the gym, going on a walk, unplugging to read a book and take a bath. Whatever your heart desires! It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

Your self-care can also look like going over your budget and taking the time to organize your finances. If it reduces stress/anxiety in your life, DO IT. This is the meaning of self-care. You are unwinding, reducing stress, and making your life a little easier/better. No matter what way you look at it, practicing a regular self-care routine can make all the difference in the world.

All of this above is said to remind you to be easy with yourself and make sure your needs are being met. If you start taking better care of yourself, everything else will fall into place, including your finances.

Readers, how do you practice self-care?

3 Straight-Forward Budgeting Methods That Actually Work

3 Free Printable Debt Free Charts and Trackers to Help You Reach Financial Freedom

March 21, 2024 | Leave a Comment

We are looking forward to establishing some awesome New Year’s resolutions for our finances at the end of this year. I’ll be updating you all with that in no time, but it got me thinking about the tools people can use to help them reach their financial goals. Doing some looking around, I found some amazing debt free charts and other ways to stay motivated while tracking your progress.

Debt Snowball Chart

A debt snowball chart helps you manage your debt payoff method. Snowballing your debt means you take any additional money you have and put it towards paying off one of your accounts. You do this in order from smallest to largest amount owed. As you can see below, to organize this debt payoff method, you list the debts in order, along with the minimum payment due and your debt snowball payment.

Using this method of tracking can help you see how quickly you are making progress on your debt freedom journey and keep you motivated. Download an editable worksheet here or print a PDF version.

Color-In Debt Free Charts

If you think tracking the numbers might get boring for you, consider using a color-in debt free chart. You can print these online in various places and use them in various ways.

Savings Charts

While it isn’t a debt-free chart, per se, having a place to track your savings can be helpful too. There are a number of savings challenges on the internet that provide charts for helping you track your savings. Saving Advice is a hub of said challenges, including the 365-day money challenge, the 52-week savings challenge, and the 12-week savings challenge. Each of these can be tracked through a chart, like the debt snowball chart above, or you can use the color-in method to track your savings goals.

How to Create Your Own Debt Free Charts

Creating your own personalized debt freedom chart is fairly easy too. If none of the charts above suit your needs, simply follow these steps.

Decide what your long-term goals are for your finances. Before you create a debt-free chart or any other finance tracker you’ll need to decide what you are tracking. Is it savings goals? Debt freedom goals? Investing goals?
Determine how you want to break down the process. Then, once you know what you’d like to track, figure out how you are going to break it down. If you are tracking a debt-free goal, it may be best to track it by every $200 paid off (or whatever increment you decide).

Figure out how you can stay motivated. If you know seeing the numbers will keep you motivated, consider something like the debt snowball chart above to track. Others may be more motivated by seeing a coloring sheet filled in. Whatever motivates you is what you should use.
Start tracking. Once you decide on what will work best for you, start right away. You’ll put yourself that much closer to your financial goals by just biting the bullet and getting started.

No matter where you are in your journey, finding ways to stay motivated and track your progress is important. Consider printing out one or more of the debt-free charts above.

Readers, how do you track your progress? Share your ideas in the comments below!

What is Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth? Key Income Details

March 21, 2024 | Leave a Comment

<p>From her humble beginnings as a self-taught baker to becoming a household name in the world of digital media, Rosanna Pansino’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. While she may be best known for her successful YouTube channel, Nerdy Nummies, Pansino’s accomplishments extend far beyond the kitchen.</p>::Pexels

Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth: Unveiling the Wealth of a YouTube Baking Sensation

From her humble beginnings as a self-taught baker to becoming a household name in the world of digital media, Rosanna Pansino’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. While she may be best known for her successful YouTube channel, Nerdy Nummies, Pansino’s accomplishments extend far beyond the kitchen.

Rosanna Pansino Growing Up

Rosanna Pansino was born in Seattle Washington on June 8, 1985. Her name “Rosanna” translate to “Rose of Grace” in Italian, and she is of Italian, Irish, German, and Croatian heritage. As a child, she always had an interest in the culinary arts and specifically banking, often helping her grandmother in the kitchen. Although she never had formal training , Rosanna’s passion for baking continued to grow as she got older. After high school, she then move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

Rosanna worked as an actress and appeared in several commercials and TV shows. She still enjoyed baking and would experiment with different recipes in her spare time and share them with her friends and family while in LA. But little did she know that her passion would make her a multi-millionaire and one of the highest earning Youtube content creators today.

Youtube Channel & Nerdy Nummies

To share her love for baking with the world while adding a twist, Rosanna launched “Nerdy Nummies,” a channel dedicated to creating delicious treats inspired by anime characters, video games, and other pop culture references.

She launched “Nerdy Nummies” in 2010 at age 25 after being persuaded by a few of her Youtube celeb friends and her grandmother. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. She was given an ultimatum by her agent; acting or Youtube. She went with the latter and the rest is record breaking history.

Her channel now consist of over 1200 videos, 4.2 billion views, and 14 million subscribers.

What is Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth?

You may be wondering how much does Rosanna Pansino make.

As of 2023, her estimated net worth is $20 million. This impressive figure is a testament to Pansino’s entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen.

Pansino’s net worth and salary is a result of various income streams. Her YouTube channel alone generates over $5 million per year through ads, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. Additionally, Pansino has authored several best-selling cookbooks, further boosting her income. She has also collaborated with major brands, creating custom recipes and promotional content that aligns with the Rosanna Pansino.

But Pansino’s success is not solely measured by her financial achievements. She won the Shorty Award for Best Foodie in 2013, Kikkoman Breakout Foodies of the Year 2013, and received five Streamy Award nominations for her Nerdy Nummie content. Her “Nerdy Nummies Cookbook” also has a 5 star rating on Amazon, a rare feat.

Diversifying The Rosanna Pansino Brand

As Pansino’s popularity grew, she recognized the importance of diversifying her brand. While Nerdy Nummies remained at the core of her content, Pansino expanded her reach by creating additional series and content formats. She started incorporating challenges, collaborations with other YouTubers, and even began showcasing her everyday life through vlogs.

By diversifying her content, Pansino ensured that her audience remained engaged and interested. She recognized the importance of adapting to changing trends and evolving audience preferences. This flexibility and willingness to experiment allowed her to stay relevant in the ever-changing digital landscape.

How Tall is Rosanna Pansino?

Although she’s know for her “larger than life” bubbly personality, Rosanna’s height is 4′ 10″ (1.47 m).

How Old Is Rosanna Pansino?

Rosanna Pansino was born on June 8, 1985. As of September 2023, she is 38 years old.

Is Rosanna Pansino Married?

No. However, she is in a long term committed relationship with Mike Lamond.

Conclusion

Her recipe for financial triumph includes a perfect blend of talent, creativity, hard work. Whether you’re a fan of Pansino’s delightful creations, an aspiring content creator, or a budding entrepreneur, let her journey serve as a reminder that with the right ingredients, you too can create a recipe for success that’s worth noticing.

Cash App Glitch 2023: Is the Free Money Glitch Real?

Now Is The Time To Prepare A Summer Spending Plan

March 21, 2024 | Leave a Comment

It may seem a bit early to you, but I’m ready to start prepping our family’s summer spending plan. Generally speaking, the warmer months tend to be more expensive for us. We go out more. This year, we may even get to take a day trip or two to the beach. Not to mention, the cost of cooling our home in the South can be shocking at times.

So, now that spring is officially here and warmer weather is on its way (it’s 85 degrees and sunny today), I’m ready to start plotting out some of our plans for the summer.

How Does Summer Impact Spending?

As I briefly mentioned above, the summertime tends to bring along some additional expenses for my family. Nobody wants to stay inside when it’s a beautiful warm day. So, there are often additional expenses that pop up.

Namely, our electric bill usually goes up to about $200/month from $100 or less during the winter months (we have gas heat). On top of that, it is generally a time of year when we take more trips, have more day adventures, and living is easy. We simply don’t always pay as close attention to our finances as we should from June to September.

That being said, we started tackling a summer spending plan a few years ago that helps us map out necessary expenses as well as things we’d like to do during the warmer months.

Our Summer Spending Plan

I haven’t written out our summer spending plan in its entirety yet, but I know we are planning to do a few things…

We would really love to take our daughter to the beach. She hasn’t been yet and both of us would love to be able to do that this summer. We live within a 3-hour drive of several great beaches here, so that is doable on a budget. If necessary, we wouldn’t even have to stay overnight.
Another small pool needs to be purchased for the backyard. Last year, we bought a baby pool for the backyard and, even though it cost about $10, it provided our little one with countless hours of fun!

We need to adjust our monthly budget to account for the increased electricity and water costs for our home during the summer months.
Our little one is also going to need new clothes. We don’t have any spring or summer clothes that fit her currently.

Right now, we are working on nailing down what our budget for the summer needs to be and how much money we will need to save for certain holidays, trips, etc. For instance, Father’s Day falls in June, we will budget a little extra money for the holiday and find something my husband would like to do.

We are still hashing out the details, but these are the four things impacting our summer spending plan right now. Readers, do you construct a different budget or spending plan for different seasons? I’d love to hear about how you manage it.

Our 4th Wedding Anniversary Reflections

March 21, 2024 | Leave a Comment

Our fourth wedding anniversary was on Saturday. Normally, your fourth anniversary is celebrated with flowers and fruit. We had planned to have a few baby-free hours, grab some lunch, and maybe head to a strawberry patch where you can pick your own fruit and flowers. Unfortunately, I came down with a bad cold Thursday and wasn’t on the mend. So, we had to stay in. However, when has anything gone perfectly to plan? It suited us well.

Despite being down for the count for a few days, I’ve taken some time to reflect on our first four years of marriage. Wow, have we come a long way!

How We Celebrated Our Wedding Anniversary

As I mentioned above, our plans didn’t exactly work out. I caught a pretty bad cold and didn’t feel up to going out. So, we improvised, which has gotten us where we need to be in life so far.

There was a UFC fight airing at a normal time on Saturday. Generally, the fights don’t start until way after my bedtime. However, Saturday’s fight was over by 8 p.m. My husband is a pretty big fan of the sport, so we decided to spend the money to watch the fight here at home.

Additionally, we ordered takeout so I didn’t have to worry about cooking food and spending energy I didn’t really have. We stayed on the couch and I read bits of my book in the commercial breaks. While it was far from what we had planned, it seemed to be the perfect way to spend the day.

Reflecting on the Last Four Years

Even though our initial plans didn’t wind up happening, we still had a perfect (for us) celebration. It always seems to work out that way for us, honestly. No matter what happens, we always have what we need.

When we got married, we’d actually planned a huge ceremony in November. Instead, my husband wound up getting a job offer in Atlanta. We got married in March and high-tailed it down 85 South to whatever waited for us in ATL. Unfortunately, things were pretty crazy there. The job my husband was offered was essentially a scam, the house we were supposed to stay in had holes in windows (and ghosts), and we weren’t sure what was going to happen next.

Things worked out though. We found a high-rise apartment, my husband found new work, and we kept things afloat. When life threw us more curveballs, we always seemed to find a way to hit it out of the park. Our first Christmas together married we had bed bugs in the building. Our first anniversary together was the day everything was shut down in the U.S. due to COVID-19. Despite that, we found ways to rise above everything and still celebrate our love.

All of this to say, I hope that you find someone in your life whose love truly conquers everything else. It is nothing short of being magical.

Readers, do you have any advice for us on our fourth wedding anniversary?

Creating A Personal Finance Calendar

Affordable Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season

Now I’d love to hear about you!

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Don’t Pay To Check Your Credit!!!

More Of Our Popular Articles

Ways to pay off your mortgage early

1. Cancel mortgage insurance premium

2. Lower your housing cost

3. Earn passive income

4. Increase your payment

5. Refinance your mortgage

Why Self-Care is Important

Self-Care and Money

Read More

Debt Snowball Chart

Color-In Debt Free Charts

Savings Charts

How to Create Your Own Debt Free Charts

Read More

Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth: Unveiling the Wealth of a YouTube Baking Sensation

Rosanna Pansino Growing Up

Youtube Channel & Nerdy Nummies

What is Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth?

Diversifying The Rosanna Pansino Brand

How Tall is Rosanna Pansino?

How Old Is Rosanna Pansino?

Is Rosanna Pansino Married?

Conclusion

Read More:

How Does Summer Impact Spending?

Our Summer Spending Plan

Read More

How We Celebrated Our Wedding Anniversary

Reflecting on the Last Four Years

Read More