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Characteristics of Debt-Free People to Adopt

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<p>As a millennial, I feel I've grown up around people who would rather say "I wish I could do that" than work for what they want. I've heard plenty of people say they aspire to be wealthy or aspire to be debt free. Why keep on dreaming when you can make small changes in your life today?</p>::Pexels
As a millennial, I feel I’ve grown up around people who would rather say “I wish I could do that” than work for what they want. I’ve heard plenty of people say they aspire to be wealthy or aspire to be debt free. Why keep on dreaming when you can make small changes in your life today?

Generally it just takes a few consistent changes in your life to start working towards a goal, such as becoming debt free. This has been a goal of mine for quite some time and I’m always wondering if there is more I could be doing to ease my path to financial freedom.

Five Characteristics of Debt-Free People

When I started to think about it there was only one thing I needed to change in order to start working towards becoming debt free and living my life as a financially free adult. My attitude towards finance has been melancholy (something I truly couldn’t afford). So, I decided to identify some characteristics of people who are debt free.

They Are Goal-Driven

Most people who become debt free are goal-oriented. After all, paying off your debt and becoming financially free isn’t something you can do without having visible and manageable goals. If you want to become debt free you will have to establish goals for yourself and being goal-driven will help you obtain your debt free status.

Debt-Free People Are Frugal

A lot of people who don’t have any debt can come off as cheap or frugal. This is because they know that debt is not a tool. You don’t use money that you don’t have to pay for things you don’t need. You also wouldn’t pay full price for something when you can get it much cheaper elsewhere. Having this mentality keeps them debt free.

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People Who Are Debt Free Are Patient

Paying off debt takes a lot of time and patience, therefore, debt free people are usually very patient. Nothing with finance will happen overnight (unless you hit the lottery and even that takes time) This is one of the many characteristics that helped them become debt free in the first place so it is a great one to adopt for yourself.

Debt-Free People Are Not Materialistic

If your end goal is to be debt free you cannot place much value in materialistic things (unless you have the cash to pay for them). Many people go into tremendous amounts of debt because they want to have nice things. Instead of applying for store credit, buy the item(s) you can afford. Living lavishly won’t lead to financial freedom.

They Are Always Willing to Make Sacrifices

Lastly, people who have become debt free are always willing to make sacrifices. If they can’t afford to do something, they don’t do it. They will also likely turn down an outing if they have a small amount of debt to pay off so that they may be debt free again sooner.

Obviously not all of these are characteristics that can be adopted by everyone but if you attempt to be a little more frugal and pay close attention to your finances you may be able to become debt free some day too!

 

What Do Brad Klontz’s ‘Money Scripts’ Say About You?

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<p>There is no doubt that money can cause some problems. Financial stress is something practically everyone deals with at some point in their lives but what do we know about how finance impacts your psychosis? How do people think about and act towards money and does it have an effect on their financial lives?</p>::Pexels
There is no doubt that money can cause some problems. Financial stress is something practically everyone deals with at some point in their lives but what do we know about how finance impacts your psychosis? How do people think about and act towards money and does it have an effect on their financial lives?

Dr. Brad Klontz believes so, which is why he came up with the “money scripts.” He hopes that these scripts will help individuals identify how they approach money and be able to better manage their finances.

What are the Money Scripts?

Klontz’s money scripts are broken down into four separate categories (avoidance, worship, status and vigilance). Each of these categories describes how a people thinks about money and, therefore, how they may act towards finance-related problems and topics. Here is a break down of each category in the money scripts:

  • Money avoidance – People that fit within this money script tend to think that money is bad. Those who fit the money avoidance category will also think that the rich are greedy and that they don’t deserve the money that they have.
  • Money worship – This money script refers to people who think that money can solve all of their problems. They also think that money can bring both power and happiness.
  • Money status – The money status script fits people who like to have the best and newest of everything. Having these nice things, to them, displays that they are wealthy (even if they bought it on credit).
  • Money vigilance – This is likely the least damaging of the money scripts. Those who fit into the money vigilance script place emphasis on saving and being frugal. They also make sure that no one knows how much money they make or have.

Knowing what the money scripts are won’t help you unless you know what they mean though. So, how can you use money scripts to your advantage?

If you’re interested in money scripts you may also enjoy: 

What the Money Scripts Can Teach You

Depending on what money script you identify with most you can determine what trouble you may have with money. Each money script poses a problem…

  • Money avoidance – Someone who fits into the money avoidance script, for instance, may not make as much money as someone else because they don’t think money is important. This can lead to some hard financial times though (especially if you don’t negotiate regular cost-of-living pay raises).
  • Money worship – Money worshippers will most likely have trouble with never having enough money. These people will likely be workaholics and find very little joy in spending time relaxing. Those who fit into this category will also likely have health issues like high blood pressure.
  • Money status – Those who fit into the money status script will likely have a lot of nice things but may struggle with debt. Money status people like nice things and tend to buy them (even when they don’t have the cash). This can cause huge financial trouble.
  • Money vigilance – Those who fit within the money vigilance script are more prone to relationship issues. People who are financially conscious can sometimes come off as cheap, which makes others not want to hang out that much.

If you look at the money scripts and find which you fit into you can better prepare yourself financially for the future. You can also notice when you are being financially destructive and prevent yourself from digging a hole.

No matter what money script you may fit into you can improve yourself financially. Check out these Three Radical Debt Reduction Steps.

What money script do you best identify with? Is it holding you back? For more information, check out the video below: 

Photo: Seer Interactive

Use The 365 Day Money Challenge to Start Your Savings

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Just a few years ago it seemed like different challenges were popping up all over the internet. If you want to lose weight, there is an internet challenge for it. If you want to drink more water, there’s a challenge for that. Similarly, people who want to save money have internet challenges as well.

The first few money challenges that came out were designed to help people begin saving or add to their existing savings. One of the very first, the 365 Day Money Challenge, helps those who take the challenge save one penny at a time.

 

What is the 365 Day Money Challenge?

In short, the 365 Day Money Challenge is a fun way to save money. It was designed by internet users to help others save and create a community of people with similar financial goals. Like other money challenges, the 365 Day Money Challenge helps you save money by giving you a structure and set amount to save each day over a year (365 days).

How to Do The 365 Day Money Challenge

Every day you add more money to savings with the 365 Day Money Challenge. On the first day you save $0.01; day two, $0.02; day three, $0.03 and on the 365th day $3.65 (as illustrated in the photo below). After the year is over you’ll have saved $668.

<p>The 365 Day Money Challenge is a great way to add some additional cash to your savings or kickstart your savings. Many people have also used the money challenge to teach their children about saving. Either way, it is a fun way to go about saving. Click here for a downloadable version of the 365 Day Money Challenge.</p>::Pexels
The 365 Day Money Challenge is a great way to add some additional cash to your savings or kickstart your savings. Many people have also used the money challenge to teach their children about saving. Either way, it is a fun way to go about saving. Click here for a downloadable version of the 365 Day Money Challenge.

 

Other Money Challenges

If the 365 Day Money Challenge doesn’t appeal to you but you like the idea of a money challenge there are plenty of others to try as well. Below are some of the most popular challenges you can try:

  • 12 Week Money Challenge – Taking a money challenge for an entire year can seem a bit overwhelming. Scaling it down to 12 weeks can make it a bit more manageable. You can save $1,000 in just 12 weeks with this challenge.
  • 30 Day Money Challenge – An even shorter challenge is the 30 Day Money Challenge. The challenge lays out a structure that helps people save $500 in one month.
  • $5 Bill Challenge – The $5 bill challenge is a bit different. Instead of contributing money to savings every day, week or month you contribute every time you receive a $5 bill in change. Each time you do the $5 goes to savings.
  • 52 Week Money Challenge – The 52 Week Money Challenge is similar to the 365 Day Money Challenge. Both take a year. However, the 52 week challenge helps people save about $1,400 throughout the year.
  • Reverse 52 Week Money Challenge – The Reverse 52 Week Money Challenge is the same as the 62 Week Money Challenge but in reverse (as the name suggests). You start out saving $52 in week one and only $1 on week 52.
  • Bi-Weekly Money Challenge – Many people get paid bi-weekly so contributing to savings every other week works better for some people. This still takes a year and you’ll save $1,400 (like the 52 week challenges) but you can schedule it with your pay schedule (if you’re paid bi-weekly).
  • Money Challenge for Couples – Couples and finance can be rough. Trying a money challenge together can bring you closer together. There are many different challenges for couples to try, including daily, weekly and monthly saving structures.
  • Money Challenge for Kids – Teaching kids to save with a money challenge can be fun as well and you’ll be teaching them something they’ll use forever. There are multiple different challenges available for kids out there, most involve small amounts of money.
  • Money Challenge for College Students – A lot of college kids have to learn to save pretty quickly. Using a money challenge for college students can help them get a kickstart.

Whether you’re looking to start saving, add to your savings or save for a specific purchase trying a money challenge like the 365 Day Money Challenge can be great. Will you try one?

Photo: The Stingy Saver

No More Debt, 3 Radical Debt Reduction Strategies You Can Do

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<p>You know the saying, "When you hit rock bottom the only way to go is back up." I'm sure that this is where many of us begin our journey to becoming debt free. This is when you truly want to live a life with no more debt. What does rock bottom look like to you? Maybe you don't really know how much money you owe in total because you are in denial about the whole thing. Every month you are making the same amount of money but you are short every single time. You are stressed out to the max that you are moody and snappy at everyone around you. Maybe you haven't had a good night sleep in months because all you can think of is how you are going to pay all the bills. You wonder how the heck got to this point in the first place.</p>::PexelsYou know the saying, “When you hit rock bottom the only way to go is back up.” I’m sure that this is where many of us begin our journey to becoming debt free. This is when you truly want to live a life with no more debt. What does rock bottom look like to you? Maybe you don’t really know how much money you owe in total because you are in denial about the whole thing. Every month you are making the same amount of money but you are short every single time. You are stressed out to the max that you are moody and snappy at everyone around you. Maybe you haven’t had a good night sleep in months because all you can think of is how you are going to pay all the bills. You wonder how the heck got to this point in the first place.

It seems so easy to get in these types of situations, yet so tough to get out of. That is why it takes drastic and radical changes to begin to dig yourself out of the hole that you created.

Here are 3 radical ways to dramatically reduce your debt.

1. Liquidate

Have you ever gone to a store liquidation sale? This is exactly what you need to do with your life. In this day and age, you have countless ways to try and sale items. If you have nicer items you can post on Ebay, apps like Poshmark, and even local Facebook groups. For everything else, you can have a huge garage sale and even try to sell to consignment shops too. Not only will this put major money in your pocket, but this will help clear the clutter from your life and give you more breathing room. Go through your house with the entire family. If you think you have a lot of “junk” guess again. Sometimes the junk is what other people are most interested in at garage sales. It’s worth a shot to try and sell everything you don’t need.

Many people even take drastic steps by selling their vehicle/s that are not paid of. Buying something cheap with cash and putting the extra toward their debt. Sounds pretty lame, until you realize you won’t have that huge care note hanging over your head every month, your car insurance will decrease too.

If you are really overwhelmed with your debt. Consider selling your home and get in a rental. See what your local housing market is doing. If you have been in your house for several years, you might have some equity built up. Even if you are paying a couple hundred less than your mortgage now you also won’t have to deal with house insurance and any maintenance issues that can put a dent in your monthly budget. If you downgrade to smaller square footage your utility bill can reduce drastically and other expense can decrease as well.

2. Cut Expenses to the Bone

Sit down and figure out all your bills you have for the month. What can be cut out? Cut cable completely or downgrade package, cut pest control maintenance. Monthly subscriptions are very popular. If you are signed up for several monthly subscriptions like razor clubs, IPSY, bark box, any magazine subscription, as well Netflix and Hulu. It’s time to cut them all. Even if they seem relatively inexpensive they do add up so serious cash. Don’t forget to cut out that gym membership as well.

If you have anything set up under a contract consider calling each of them and asking what the cancellation fee amount is. If it’s not worth to cancel and pay the fee ask them if you can drop your package deal to anything else less expensive until you can cancel. Call you credit cards to see if they can lower your interest rates. Lastly, this is also a great time to call your insurance company and shop around to see if you can get a better rate for home and car insurance rates.

Why do you want to cut all this out? Because you will be too busy doing step #3.

3. Bring in More Cash

After cutting out all items that you don’t need you’ve made a little bit of breathing room. Now, to really get the progress rolling you need to bring in more income. Many people opt for a second job or even start a profitable side business. Many people opt for a part time gig in the evenings and weekends like a grocery store, delivering pizza, clothing store, or a restaurant. If your family is keeping you from going out to the work force in the evenings and weekends you can also look into part time stay at home jobs. Just be sure to do your research before signing up for any jobs online. Make sure they are legit and that the company is legit. Also, keep in mind with some of these businesses the income is not immediate.

Another way to bring in more cash is to reduce your expenses.  A classic way to do this is to refinance your debt. There are a number of reputable companies which might be able to help.  A lot of these are pretty new, but they might be worth your time.  Here is a short list.

Lending Tree – Is a loan “supermarket” type of exchange.  The business pretty much links up borrowers and lenders in a single platform.  Its bigger than most of the lenders out there and can offer loans for all needs and credit levels.

SoFi Loans – SoFi is a newer company, but they’ve been sucking up a lot of business due to having good rates and a low fee model.  These guys are definitely work checking out.

Many times we try to look for quick fixes or to “cheat” our way through paying debt off faster. Yes, you can pay off debt fast, but it will be hard grueling work and require a lot of sacrifices. Not only sacrifice from you but from your family as well. Once you get some momentum and get the debt pay off rolling it will all be worth the sacrifice once you can live free from the shackles of debt.

Our Best Articles

If you want more practical resources for getting out of debt, consider our most popular articles:

Yes, You Can Pay Off Debt When You’re Behind On Your Bills
Ron and Thu Paid Off $137,000 in 7 Years
In Just 7 Years Alice and Scott Paid Off $200,000 In Debt
Save a Ton of Money With Paribus

What about you? What is the most radical thing you’ve done to pay off debt?

Contact Lenses: Where to Buy Them to Save Big Money

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<p>Contact lenses are those items that you need but hate to buy because of the price. Every time I buy them it hurts, especially if I can get them cheaper elsewhere! My husband and I both wear contacts and our vision insurance covers our yearly eye appointment and one of the following: up to $300 for glasses or up to $130 for contacts. Because of the better deal, we always opt in for using the insurance for glasses when our vision changes. So, that means we are paying out of pocket for contacts for the entire year.</p>::PexelsContact lenses are those items that you need but hate to buy because of the price. Every time I buy them it hurts, especially if I can get them cheaper elsewhere! My husband and I both wear contacts and our vision insurance covers our yearly eye appointment and one of the following: up to $300 for glasses or up to $130 for contacts. Because of the better deal, we always opt in for using the insurance for glasses when our vision changes. So, that means we are paying out of pocket for contacts for the entire year.

My husband wears the 1-Day Acuvue contacts because he has a lot of allergies year around and his eyes are really sensitive. Before switching to the 1-Day Contacts from the 30-Day he would have to get prescription eye drops as well.

We normally order his contact lenses from the eye doctor and they were costing around $170 for a 3-month supply. Ouch! About 2 years ago we began ordering them through 1-800 Contacts and they normally run around $145.00 ($72.25 per eye) with free shipping.

After researching Walmart.com and Walgreens here is what I found:

Contacts Comparison

Store

$ Per Eye

Shipping

Additional Steps

Misc. Information

Local Eye Doctor

 $90 Pick Up Order on-site N/A

1-800 Contacts

 $72.25 Free Shipping Submit Prescription Price match guarantee and you can also get a discount when you buy larger quantities. ($61 for 4+ boxes)

Walmart.com

 $66.00 Free Shipping Submit Prescription Can get a discount if you buy larger quantities. ($56 per box for 4+ boxes)

Walgreens.com

 $49.50 Free Shipping Submit Prescription Currently offering 25% discount on any contact order.

Walmart.com always has very competitive prices on almost any item they carry. I also found that Walgreens.com in now selling contacts as well. Walgreens always has promo codes to add to online orders and they have been having a 25% promo code for the last 2 months on contact lenses. Their contacts were originally $66 per eye, but after 25% off it came down to $49.50 per eye!

After much research, I ordered my husband’s contacts through Walgreens. I submitted his doctor’s name and fax number. Walgreens was able to verify the prescription that same day! I ordered his contacts on Monday afternoon and we got his contact in the mail that Friday and saved about $45 compared to our last contact purchase from 1-800 Contacts! That means we will be saving $180 a year on my husband’s contacts alone!

1-800 Contacts has a price match guarantee and you can also get your contact lenses cheaper via rebate if you buy 4 or more boxes. I normally don’t purchase more than a 3 month supply for my husband’s contacts because they are so pricey to begin with. Also, if I don’t have to deal with rebates to get the best deal I gladly decline. The price match guarantee also seems like a lot of trouble. Especially if you are in a hurry to order more. It’s always important to read the fine print with these.

When it comes to saving money I don’t mind going the extra mile in getting the prescription verified as long as I order ahead of time just in case there is any delay. $180 is a lot of money to save in a year on a product you can buy somewhere else and it’s the same brand. Right now ordering our contacts through Walgreens.com is a no brainer!

For more ways to save check out these great articles.

8 Ways to Save Money at Target
Save Money at the Grocery Store with this Quick Tip
52 Week Challenge: Save $1,404 By Saving No More Than $52 a Week!

What about you? Do you wear contacts? If so, where do you purchase them? do you know of any other places that have great deals?

Our Monthly Debt Freedom Progress Report — October 2015

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“What gets measured, gets improved.”

If you haven’t seen my debt freedom progress reports before, each month I bring you a recap of the previous month’s progress on paying off our debt.

This serves two purposes — to keep my husband Mike and me accountable to our financial goals and to give you a look behind the scenes of our strategy for paying off our debt.

[Read more…]

Will We Ever Get to Buy a Home?

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<p>If you have been following the news at all recently, you know that the housing market is on fire. Many millennials like us are scared that they won't ever get to buy a home (if they haven't already). A few of our friends were lucky enough to buy homes during the height of the pandemic when prices were low. However, since then, the prices have just continued to climb.</p>::Pexels

If you have been following the news at all recently, you know that the housing market is on fire. Many millennials like us are scared that they won’t ever get to buy a home (if they haven’t already). A few of our friends were lucky enough to buy homes during the height of the pandemic when prices were low. However, since then, the prices have just continued to climb.

A Look at the Housing Market

There is some good news for people looking to buy a home. The housing market is finally starting to cool off. Yahoo Finance recently reported that if you’re like us and have been priced out of the housing market you may be in luck soon. It may mean relocating for some folks though. Cities that saw big jumps in the price of housing over the last few years will be the ones to decline the most. Here’s a look at the cities where they are expecting the number on the price tag of homes to go down:

  • Austin, TX
  • Boise, ID
  • Nashville, TN
  • Phoenix, AZ
  • Sacramento, CA

That being said, the price drops won’t really start happening until 2023 some time. So, if you were planning to buy a home this year, it may still be too soon.

Time to Save

The good thing about the market being so crazy right now is that it gives you more time to save money for a down payment and work on your credit score. Go through and pay off everything that you can and save as much money as you can with sinking funds for your down payment. With FHA loans, you will only need to put 3.5% down. Where conventional mortgage loans, good rule of thumb is to have 20% to put down so that you don’t have to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance).

Taking a look at the housing market here in N.C., the median listing price is around $254,000. With that in mind, we need to save about $50,000 to have 20% to put down. Honestly, there aren’t many places cheaper than that anywhere else we’d like to live either. So, that is our goal now. By the time we have that saved and a good chunk of our debt paid down, the housing market will likely be cool. If not, we are happy to wait for our turn to buy.

Extend Your Plans

Anyone feeling like we do right now and wondering if they’ll ever be able to buy a home, breathe. The market will eventually calm down. Now is the best time to practice the flexibility that we’ve leaned on so much over the years. Be flexible with your plans and long-term goals. It’s possible that you may have to put off buying a home for another few years. The same goes for any goal that was thrown off by the pandemic or the impending financial collapse. Patience is key. You will reach your goals, but give yourself some grace. Just about everyone is having a tough time right now.

Readers, have you had to delay any of your financial goals due to the housing market and economy?

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