Part 1 of a 3-Part Series on Goal Setting
How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions?
If you are like most people, then you may have already abandoned your resolutions or simply forgotten about them.
Commit. Plan. Take action.
Part 1 of a 3-Part Series on Goal Setting
How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions?
If you are like most people, then you may have already abandoned your resolutions or simply forgotten about them.
Don’t be duped by a Nigerian prince. You can materialize your dream home with or without the money. A little research and innovativeness are all it takes. [Read more…]
I feel like I’ve heard just about every single one of my millennial-aged friends say this at some point in our lives. “Why didn’t anyone tell me” (fill in the blank here). My thoughts about this are generally two things:
At the same time, there have been moments in my adult life I have been totally ill-prepared for, especially when it comes to finances. For me, it wasn’t that no one told me adulting was this hard, but no one really taught me how to manage being one.
Chances are, they did. What they didn’t prepare you for was the specific life crisis you’re going through right now. After all, your parents and mentors can only prep you for what they have been through, for what they know. No one goes through life having the same exact experience as the next person.
That being said, when it comes to “adulting” and why you weren’t prepared, you should also realize the environment we’ve been living in is vastly different from that of our parents. It is even different from the generations just a few years younger than us. A lot of the advice and tips your grandparents and parents bestowed on you is no longer relevant in many ways, especially when it comes to your finances.
It doesn’t make their advice or what they have to say less valuable. Many of the same things apply in today’s world, but you’ll need to alter it to fit your needs. Remember, doing what is best for you comes first and foremost – no matter what mom and dad always said you should do.
When it comes to your finances, your health, your home, your family, and just adulting, doing what is best for you is always the right decision. Keep your blinders on, try not to pay attention to what other people are doing, and perform what works for you instead of looking to others for direction. There is no “one size fits all” to anything – finance, life, or pants.
Lastly, don’t ask that annoying question “Why didn’t anyone tell me adulting was going to be so hard?” Life has its difficult moments, it always will. How you adapt, push through, and persevere is what counts.
As my birthday approaches, my husband has been asking more about what I’d like as a gift this year. Now, since my birthday falls so close to Christmas, I don’t usually expect much of anything. This year, I asked for his help in creating a relaxing space in our home where I can wind down and feel at peace.
After a while, I thought more about it. People don’t invest enough time or money into creating a home that brings them peace. Usually, they are trying to create a home that looks Instagram-ready (or even just company ready). However, investing in a relaxing space in your home and putting more stock into utility than looks can go a long way.
When it comes down to it, many of us work from home these days. It can be hard to escape from your desk and whatever work you might need to get done. Even if you don’t work from home, having a relaxing space that is meant just for you can make a world of difference.
As a mom and a wife, it is hard to feel like anything is just mine. I wind up sharing my water, my food, my bed, and my space. People living in homes with their families often feel that way too. So, again, having that space set aside for JUST YOU can be amazing.
Think about what you would put in this space and consider how much you’d need to do to make it relaxing for you. For me personally, I’d love a big comfortable chair with an overhead tall reading lamp. A side table with a few books within reach and a yarn bowl would complete it. It’d also be ideal to have that spot near a window in our home.
Overall, it will probably cost less than $500 to put together, especially if I stick to Facebook finds. The price will be well worth the peace it will bring me. Not to mention, I’ll be less tempted to run out and spend money if I have an amazing space to curl up in with my books.
All in all, I suggest utility over cosmetic desires when it comes to buying things for your home. Think about how you want your home to serve you and buy furniture, electronics, appliances, etc. that further that purpose.
This goes for everything from investing in your relaxing space or getting what you need for your kitchen. Buy what works for you and don’t pay any mind to what’s trendy.
Similarly, buy things even if they aren’t pretty, especially if they’ll fix a problem for you. Baby proofing is oftentimes ugly looking, but it is extremely useful when you have a one-year-old wanting to explore everything. A shoe rack might not meet the eye well, but it holds all of your water bottles so you don’t have a pack sitting on the floor somewhere. Things like that can make a huge difference in your day-to-day life.
At the end of the day, investing in a relaxing space and investing in making your homework for you is always worth it. You’ll look forward to crossing the threshold every day.
Barbara Friedberg and I had a chance to sit down and have a chat recently. Usually, when I talk to people about their finances they are sharing some inspiring and amazing debt freedom stories. What is most inspiring about what Barbara had to say is that she never really had any debt, to begin with. For her, the idea of accruing debt never occurred to her. (Why couldn’t I have had that mindset, right?)
Here’s a look at the highlights of our discussion and the full video below.
According to Barbara, the secret to wealth has been hustling. There has never been a time she and her husband didn’t have multiple jobs or hustles at once, she said during our interview. Here are a few more of the highlights of the discussion…
Have a listen to the full chat below.
I enjoyed getting to talk to Barbara. Her mindset and ideas about money are something to be looked to for motivation. No matter where you are financially, you can hustle and make your goals happen and succeed.
As far as the secret to wealth or success in your finances, I think Barbara was right in many ways. You have to be willing to be a little uncomfortable to truly improve your situation. No good change comes from being comfortable. Paying off debt is uncomfortable. Living frugally to meet savings goals can be difficult. Hustling to get by or meet your investing goals can be nerve-wracking.
In the end, though, it is all worth it. Your financial freedom will be your reward. For every uncomfortable moment during your journey right now, infinite comfort awaits once you are free from financial worry.
Have you ever looked back at an investment or a business decision and realized it was driven by emotion, rather than strategy? This is far more common than most entrepreneurs would care to admit. [Read more…]
Despite its small size, Massachusetts is the third most densely populated state in the entire United States. It’s now home to nearly seven million people, with 80% of the population settled in Boston. There are many reasons why people love this state- its rich history and excellent education system are some that top the list. [Read more…]
Imagine no longer having to wake up at 5am by the annoying BEEP, BEEP, BEEP of your alarm.
Think about what it would be like to set your own schedule and not have to work the normal 9 to 5, or more often these days, 7 to 6?
Am I right?
What if instead of getting stuck in rush hour traffic both on your way to work AND on your way home from work, your commute was as short as walking from your bedroom to your home office?
Let’s talk about making money from home!
Whether you’re home with little ones (like me) or simply prefer the convenience of working in your pajamas on your own schedule, as technology advances, securing a work at home position is becoming more and more appealing and more and more attainable.
Today, I’m going to share three ways that you can bring home the Benjamins without leaving your home.
From nurses to call center agents, transcriptionists and even teachers, there are growing opportunities to work from home for a reputable company. Companies like BabyCenter, 1-800-Flowers, and even the Hilton, will pay you to work from home. You may have to stick to a certain schedule and follow the rules of the company you work for, but you’ll have the convenience of working in your own home.
The sky is the limit when it comes to the type of jobs you can do as a freelancer. You can be a writer, graphic designer, virtual assistant, or video editor. Whatever skills you have, you can use them to create a side income or even a full-time income. With freelancing, you are your own boss so it’s on you to find the work, but when you do, you usually sign on for one project at a time. Check out websites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Hire My Mom that can help you find projects or ongoing positions. If you want to get out of the house, consider becoming a Tasker for TaskRabbit, where people can hire you to hang pictures, do their grocery shopping, or even stand in line.
Imagine getting a ding on your phone, and someone wants to pay you $25 to drive them to the airport! Well, you can make that happen by becoming a local driver for Uber or Lyft and get paid to drive people around town. And don’t forget about Craigslist! As you likely know, Craigslist is a free forum where millions of people post items to sell, places for rent, and job opportunities. But you can also post on Craigslist if you’re looking for work. List your skills and specifically what type of work you’re looking for, and you might be exactly the person that someone is looking for! It’s completely free, and free is definitely worth a try!
Becoming an entrepreneur is only limited by your creativity. It’s similar to freelancing, but entrepreneurship is where you focus more on creating a sustainable business rather than performing one-off projects. For example, as an entrepreneur, you can sell new or used physical products, on websites like Craigslist, eBay, Amazon, or Etsy. You can either create the product yourself or sell an item you purchased for a higher price. If you find a company whose products you love, you can often get them at an extreme discount or even for free by selling the products to others who may love them just as much as you!
Do you have a message that you want to share with others? Do you have something you can teach others how to do?
1. You can sell digital products, such as eBooks or online courses and programs. It’s now easier than ever to become a self-published author by uploading your eBook to the Amazon Kindle store and gain access to their hundreds of millions of customers. Alternatively, you could potentially charge higher prices by selling the eBook on your own website.
Websites like Udemy and Teachable, make it easy to create and sell self-study online courses. You create the course, customers purchase the course, and you get paid.
2. In line with that is to become a coach or consultant. Do you have a skill that people keep asking you to teach them or help them with? Are you an expert in marketing, gardening, nutrition, or fitness? If you make it known what you can help people with, you can find clients that will pay you to coach them. For example, my husband and I paid off $120,000 of debt in two years on a single, middle-class income, and now people pay me to help them create and implement their plan to get out of debt!
3. And there are millions of bloggers, podcasters, and YouTube sensations who make a full-time living by sharing their message on the Internet! Usually, they earn money from advertisements or sponsorships, but they may also use the other strategies that I mentioned to create multiple income streams.
Gone are the days where the only way to earn a paycheck is by trekking to an office building across town, working for someone you don’t like with people you don’t care for.
Today, there are more opportunities to work from home than ever before. If you long for the convenience of working in your pj’s or you just want to bring in some extra income, then I encourage you to explore some of these options.
My husband and I haven’t ever really celebrated Valentine’s Day in the past. Early on in our relationship, our finances were an absolute mess and we were homeless together. While that’s thankfully no longer the case, we’ve always looked at it for what it was: a retail holiday. However, with our little one becoming more aware of holidays and other things, this year was a bit different. Honestly, this Valentine’s Day was great for our family and fantastic for our marriage.
In the past, as I mentioned above, Valentine’s Day was typically a day that came and went without any fuss. Of course, we’d both say “Happy Valentine’s Day,” give the other one a kiss and go about our days. That’s not any different from any other day throughout the year though.
Our reasons for this varied. We had a lot of past relationship trauma from previous partners that made the holiday hard to enjoy. Not to mention, there were several years when celebrating some in-between holiday was not possible. We were broke and there was no room in the budget for any of it.
On top of that, Valentine’s Day always felt like a big deal for nothing. I’m not something who wants to be showered in flowers or candy – neither is he. We both enjoy more practical gifts and don’t like to buy into retail holidays (unless we are cashing in on the sales afterwards).
This year was a little bit different though, all thanks to my husband.
The past couple of weeks have been tremendously stressful in our household. My husband and I are both working on multiple projects at our jobs. Our little one is cutting more teeth and, to top it off, our dog got very sick. After a few months of health issues myself, everything piling up made the world feel like it was on fire.
Being the man he is, my husband knew how to turn that around, at least a little bit. He snuck out of the house during the day, grabbed me some roses and grabbed our daughter a small present. We both got little Reese’s candies. Then, he revealed he’d planned to order dinner in so that I didn’t have to stress over dinner after a busy workday.
In truth, it was absolutely perfect. It was a nice pick-me-up from the weeks and months of stress piling up. Even more than that, the gesture brought a spark back into our marriage that I hadn’t realized fizzled to begin with.
All of this to say, if you’re against V-Day, I understand. But don’t let a single day go by without telling your spouse you love them or making some small gesture to brighten their days. Don’t go way out of your budget or do anything crazy, but the smallest things can make a huge difference.
We’re people that celebrate Valentine’s Day now. What about you? Do you celebrate?
We have less than two weeks before our baby arrives and things are falling into place. As mentioned in some of our recent posts, the main focus for us has been saving and preparing for the new arrival. That doesn’t mean we’ve stopped paying off debt by any means, but it hasn’t been a hyper-focus of ours in a few months. We are preparing to shift our focus back to paying off debt. Before we do, here’s a quick snapshot of where we stand.
This year has brought some MAJOR changes for our family. First, my husband started pursuing a new career. He is freelance writing for several websites and is doing a phenomenal job! He has quickly caught up to my salary with what he is able to produce each month with his writing, which is fantastic. This takes a lot of the financial burden off of us and will make it easier to pay off debts and reach our goals.
Speaking of debts, it has been a while since I provided a numbers update. Here’s where we stand:
We are continuing to take the federal student loan payment break during this time. Once payments resume, we will attempt to tackle that debt in a similar way that we plan to pay off the car (see below).
There are some things changing in our finances over the next few months. Of course, we are having a baby. So, household expenses may be a bit higher than they have in the past. Additionally, we will need to add our little one to the health insurance. We are also looking into purchasing life insurance just in case something was to happen to one of us.
On top of those additional expenses, our rent is also going up by $110 per month. This is to renew it another year. If we were to renew for two years, it would go up another $140. Neither of us wanted to make a two-year commitment to renting here, so we are going with the one-year renewal. So, our rent is going from $1,495 to $1,605 (plus the $25 pet rent). Hopefully, within a year, we will have some savings and enough debt paid down to look at buying a home.
Our car payment is another big monthly expense we are hoping to trim down. The car still has under 75,000 miles and we will drive it for several years. However, the $488 monthly payment can be crippling. So, we are hoping that my hubby’s additional income will help us pay it off sooner. We hope to double the monthly payment and get it paid off within the next year or so.
Outside of that, we are going to continue trucking along our financial journey with our new baby. We can’t wait to keep you updated on our progress!