Debt Free Life Hacks: Managing Money Like a Boss

The end of the year is near! It's a great time to make final contributions, finish up challenges, and reflect on your money journey. Did you save as much as you wanted to save? Did you spend more than intended? What challenges did you face? What unexpected expenses threw you off track? Were you able to get back on track? Did you pay off one or more debts? What stands out? As we plan and set goals, we must be reasonable and flexible. Life happens, that's just a fact. Recognizing what went well and what did not allows us to plan for the future. If this year car troubles hit the budget hard, it may be time to budget more for future repairs and maintenance or even create a savings plan for a new car. As mentioned in a previous post, I took part in the 52-Week Money Challenge for the second year in a row. I've made my final payment and have successfully reached this year's goal. It's so rewarding to set a goal, work towards reaching that goal, and finally reach...

Are you doing all that you can do to secure your financial future? It’s all too easy to put off saving as if you’ll get to it another day. What we must realize is that time is not on our side when we wait. The magic of compound interest ( think interest on interest ) happens over time. The longer your investments have to build and grow, the bigger your nest egg will be! So what can you today? Act! Act now! Don’t put off saving any longer. If your company offers a retirement plan, contribute. If your company does not offer a retirement plan, find an investment company to open one with. Research! Do your homework.   If you already contribute to a company sponsored retirement plan, consider opening another individual retirement account (IRA) such as a Roth IRA. As a new employee with my company, I currently am unable to contribute to the retirement and must wait a year. What to do in the meantime? Something I’d put off for some time; I opened a Roth IRA and contributed th...

Saving is great and should always be the goal. Sometimes there are everyday items that we must purchase or pay for that don't come with any real savings. As consumers, we must keep our eyes open for opportunities to save (big and small). Coupons Coupons are a great way to get discounts on all sorts of things. Coupons can help you save on car repairs, on groceries, on household items and more. One does not have to be an "extreme couponer" or fanatic to benefit from the use of coupons. It doesn't hurt to do a quick check for a coupon prior to making a purchase for something you want or need. If you were going to buy it anyway, a savings (big or small), never hurts.  Recently, I picked up a coupon next to the security desk at work for a FREE carwash. It was a new carwash at a local gas station. The card had 4 coupons total. With two cars in the household, we were able to both get free car washes which ended up being one less expense for the month. With a car was...

They only person you should be outdoing is yourself! Too often, people get caught up in what other people have or what others are doing. It's those social pressures of the world that make some people rush into marriages, rush to have babies, rush to buy houses, rush to buy fancy cars...you get the picture. What's the rush? Why do you think you have to keep up with your friends, family, and neighbors? Who made those rules? As comedian Kevin Hart jokes in a comedy skit, "stay in your lane". If more people did this, there would likely be less debt. That's a bold statement, yes, but think about it. More Debt - Rushing to buy a fancy house and car because that's what "everyone" around you has will likely lead to mortgages and car payments that are higher than what you can afford at the time. Only once you can accept your current financial position and only make purchases that reflect your true values will you find peace. Trying to keep up with ever...

Have you ever heard someone say they're going to drive their car until the wheels fall off? While we know good and well that it's just a figure of speech, it makes great sense. Automobiles are non-negotiable for most of us; we need them to get from point A to point B. That doesn't mean we need new ones every couple of years. A car note does not have to always be a part of one's life. According to Edmunds ,  On average, a new car loses 11% of it's value the moment you leave the lot. How crazy is that? So while some may consider their car to be an asset, in all actuality it is nothing more than a huge liability that loses it's value every day. The value of a car almost in all cases depreciates rather than appreciates. This means we must appreciate our cars for just what they are, a necessary expense. This means it's important to be selective and thoughtful when making a car purchase. Look for a reliable vehicle, that has what you want and need, that...

As we near the end of the year, the season of even more extreme consumer marketing is here. Already we've begun to receive mailers and emails about holiday savings which is the equivalent of holiday spending . RESIST!  The holidays should not be a race to spend all of your hard-earned money. Instead of money, try spending time with with family and friends. Make it about creating special memories together. Skip the lines and instead play games at home, cook and eat together, take pictures, tell jokes. Resist going store to store or shopping online to buy things you don't need or want just because it's on sale. The advertisements will be convincing, persuading, and call for quick action. Do not be fooled by the gimmicks. If you must shop, have a budget and stick to it. Shopping during the holidays isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just be sure to remember to spend wisely. Beware of the holiday marketing. Always manage your money like a boss especially during the ...

There's a great saying that I learned from my mother,   Treat yourself don't cheat yourself .  I'm all for this, and I enjoy a treat when well deserved. An important question to ask is, are you doing too much treating? People work hard and I believe that when you work hard, one should also play hard.  In this light, there is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for accomplishments or reaching major milestones. The key is to make sure your rewards are reasonable and fair. Reasonable and Fair? You just successfully completed a challenging night course and to celebrate you decide to treat yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant. That's a reasonable and fair treat. If you went out and leased a brand new car to reward yourself, that purchase is not as reasonable and is more a trick than a treat. The trick is you'll have payments every month, higher insurance, and more debt. Rewarding yourself once has now become a reoccurring expenses.  That exam...

You ever heard someone proclaim, "the more you make, the more they take"? Most likely they were talking about a paycheck and the amount of taxes taken out of it. Perhaps you worked overtime or received a bonus and was expecting a pretty nice check only to have your bubble popped when you realized that taxes have too taken its piece of your pie. What can you do? Gross Pay vs Net Pay Gross pay is what you earn before anything is taken out (deductions, taxes, etc.).  Net pay is the amount you're paid after taxes and deductions.  Gross Income could be $4000 while the net or take-home pay is $2800. There are a number of factors that contribute to the amount taken out of a check. In this post, we're looking at how to fully take advantage of pretax deductions to hopefully lose less to taxes. Why taking more out before taxes is a good thing... We're all responsible for paying our share of taxes, but there are ways to lower your overall tax burden. ...

Many people are not strangers to the challenges of health and wealth.  People often struggle in one or both of these categories.  How Health and Wealth Compare When it comes to health, oftentimes we know what we should or should not be doing. We know that we should be eating a healthy balanced diet and staying physically active. We know that we should not be eating lots of fast foods, processed foods and that we should not be inactive.  When you think of it that way it's quite simple.   Health = Eat Right and Exercise Yet, so many of us struggle with it. Why is that? The same is true when it comes to dealing with finances. We know what we should or should not be doing. We know that we should live within, if not below, our means, that we should save more and spend less. We know that we should not be overspending, spending wastefully, and we should not be increasing our debt.  So just like health, when it comes to money, the concept is simple.  ...

As I mentioned in a recent post, last week I started Financial Peace University (FPU). Ever heard of Dave Ramsey? He is the creator of FPU. FPU is a course that teaches participants how to budget, how to pay off debts, how to save and give.  While not in debt, I knew the program still had lots to offer and that I could only benefit from participating.  The course follows 7 "Baby Steps". While familiar with the program and the baby steps from the books and podcast, I still learned some new things. One thing was that no matter what your financial situation there is always room for growth and room for improvement. I've become even more determined to build wealth and do what is necessary to protect said wealth, once accumulated (when, not if 😁). I went home immediately trying to think of ways to grow my emergency fund (Baby Step 3) and then focus on Baby Step 3b, which is to save 20% for the down payment of a new home. Another thing that I was introduced to wa...

When it comes to expenses, there are things we have control over and others we do not. The key is eliminating unnecessary expenses whenever possible. Unnecessary expenses are those that we do have control over and that we bring on ourselves. I knew someone who would rent movies from the Redbox and forget to return them. She'd end up having to purchase them. While renting the movies is somewhat inexpensive if you keep them longer than the agreed-upon time, you could end up with some hefty fees. For each day that you keep a rental, you are charged an additional daily rental rate plus tax(if applicable). There is a maximum rental period for each type of rental. When you reach the maximum rental period, you're then charged the maximum charge.  This means that a $2 rental could end up costing you up to $70 dollars ($29.75 for a DVD, $34.00 for a Blu-Ray Disc, and $69.00 for a game). Yes...you read that right. Talk about unnecessary expenses! Just think if you had multiple rentals ...

The Credit Score... There are a number of factors that come into play when it comes to the credit score. While I won't go into much detail, I'd like to briefly touch on a few things. There is a lot of importance placed on the credit score, and there's plenty of reasons for that. I argue, however, that one should not be obsessed with their credit score. As long as you're managing your money like a boss, there is nothing to worry about. The score(s) tend to fluctuate and vary depending on where you look and when you check. Often times there is no need to worry.  While the image displayed above shows an increase by 9 points, 8 days later it showed a 2 point drop.  It's important no get worked up over these minor changes.  Good financial habits such as those below often lead to higher scores: Keeping Balances Low -  This means you're not carrying large balances from month to month. You're paying bills in full or paying more than just the minimum.  Cr...

Check out this week's video post on zero-based budgeting. 

Start yourself off with a clean slate, start each month with a clean slate. $0 Balance Due It's a new day, a new week, a new month. How's your slate looking? Are you carrying a lot of debt over from month to month? 😢After paying your rent do you still have lots of expenses crying for your attention?🙋 Today's post will share a technique I use to start of each month debt-free.  I keep a monthly budget; using zero-based budgeting(Put simply this is you telling your money what to do: Current Month's Income - Current Month's Expenses/Spending = $0 ). I typically update my spreadsheet weekly (sometimes biweekly...trying to do better) with the recent purchases and payments. This helps keep me on track and lets me know how much I have left to spend in each category.  If I see that I've spent 75% of the grocery budget and it's only week 2 of the month, there is a problem and I need to carefully watch my spending in that category for the rest of the month...

When you know better you do better! First, I would like to commend you for visiting this blog and reading this post. Why? It says a lot about who you are and your interest in your finances. A big part of " Managing your Money Like a Boss " and being debt-free is knowledge. If you're reading this, that means you're actively learning and growing or reinforcing the knowledge you may already have. Have you ever heard the phrase "Knowlege is power"? It's true. Now, knowledge without action/activity is somewhat useless, but acquired knowledge gives you the power to make informed decisions.  When it comes to managing your money, you want to be knowledgable and in power. The best way to do this is to learn as much as you can about finances, budgeting, money management, debt management, investing, etc. No one expects you to be an expert in all topics, but knowing a little something can take you far.  Here are some ways to increase your financial know...

Do you live to work or are you working to LIVE ? Are you living or just existing?  I work to live. I enjoy work and my contribution to society and the world, but work is not all there is to life. Life is for living and it is important to live life to the fullest.  Few of us are fortunate enough to have the option of not working. Work is just a part of life, but I argue that work should not be life. While a job pays the bills, there truly must be a balance.  If the budget is tight or money management is not great, one can get into the "I need my job " mindset.  This is a dangerous mindset because everything you do becomes about the job and survival. Individuals begin to put work first at the detriment of themselves, their health, their families, their relationships and more. While I am grateful for every job I've held and while the income earned allows me to provide for myself, not once have I ever felt tied down by any job.  The point I'm making is that ...

Traveling shouldn’t break the bank... While recently watching a movie, a husband and wife were taking a trip to Europe. The wife asked her husband if they could afford the trip and the husband responded that they could, reminding her that he would be getting raise later that year. 😮 That’s not the ideal approach to travel. Have you ever heard the saying, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch”? That’s a prime example of spending money before you have it. In the past, I’ve been promised a nice sum of money for services rendered and never received it (ouch...still hurts😐); had I already spent this money, I would have been in quite some trouble. Traveling should be fun and exciting, and it doesn’t have to break the bank.  Ideally, prior to traveling you would have had an opportunity to save and budget for your trip, but even so,  that doesn’t mean you should be reckless with your hard-earned dough $$. Coming home with some extra cash is NEVER a bad thin...

I'm sure we've touched on this in other posts, but this week I want to talk about the importance of having an emergency fund. Trying to save money when you're drowning in debt is unlikely, but once you can start putting money away, you want to make that a priority. Show me what you're working with. Are you living within your means?  First review your expenses. Do you know what your total expenses are each month?  Next, calculate your net income. How much are you bringing home?  Now, do the math. Subtract your expenses from your income. Do you have a positive or negative balance?  If you have a negative balance, it's important to carefully examine your expenses.  If you have a positive balance, that's great. There still may be room for improvement, but you're definitely on the right track.  Track your spending for a few months. This will help you get a clear picture of what's going out to what is coming in. Create a budget - Once you ...

Got a big bonus? Bills lower this month leaving you with some extra cash? Money burning a hole in your pocket? Wait just a minute!  As consumers, we are constantly bombarded with advertisements, sales, deals, and ways to spend our money. It's easy to get sucked into the moment and go spend crazy... especially when you have some extra money floating around.  Who doesn't love a great deal? I know I do. What is important is knowing when to buy and when to walk away. Sales come and go (SERIOUSLY), but with many advertisements crying "last chance", "lowest price of the season", and other calls to action, it makes it somewhat hard to resist.  The truth is, no matter how good the deal is, if it's something you did not want/need or wasn't on your infamous wish-list, it's still money unnecessarily spent.  I was once the person who received a coupon and just HAD to use it. I would sometimes force myself to find something to buy just to use the coup...

Should have, would have, could have…often these sayings are just a waste of energy.    In life we have choices and for every choice we make there are consequences. When we do things and consider the intent, it really can make a difference in how things turn out.   When you pull up to the drive-thru and order the super-sized, double bacon cheeseburger and then get home and say I “should have” gotten a salad, you’re not being true to yourself. You understood the consequences but made that choice anyway.   We   must   learn to live without regrets,   decide   and then fully commit. If there is doubt, then rethink your decision before committing. If you want a burger, but you’re really committed to los ing   weight (your intent)…DECIDE not to get the burger. Trust your gut and don’t get blinded by what sounds good in the moment.   What does any of this have to do with me saving money?    If you...