Debt Free Life Hacks: Managing Money Like a Boss

Have you been building your emergency fund? Is that money in your account ready to take action when needed? That's a huge accomplishment! Celebrate! 👏 I have a few more questions. Is your emergency fund separate from your everyday expense account?  If not, consider opening a savings account to hold those funds. Separating these accounts is a good idea to avoid the temptation to use emergency/rainy day funds for non-emergencies.   Does your account grow even when you're not contributing?  So you have been putting your emergency fund in a savings account. Great! Now what? Is this account growing even when you're not contributing? If you're earning interest at laughable rates such as what you see below or any percent starting with 0.0 (i.e.,.01),  it's time to make a change.  😒 😒 My savings account earned literal pennies on the dollar for many years. It's one of those things that hurts to even think about 😢. We will not dwell on the past. I encourage ...

  A popular approach to paying off debt is something called the Debt Snowball. The idea is that you would make a list of your debts from lowest to highest and then begin to pay down debt starting with the smallest debt and working down the list. This is an excellent way to pay down debt when you need a little extra motivation to push you to achieve your debt payment goals. Those small wins along the way can help give one a sense of accomplishment and hopefully encourage follow-through.  Use the Snowball for Savings I think this approach could be helpful with savings too! A widely used rule of thumb is that we should have an emergency fund that will cover 3-6 months of non-discretionary living expenses. These are expenses that are fixed and would have to be paid even in a situation where you have a loss of income. Think mortgage/rent, car notes, credit card bills, insurance ( life, health, auto, home/renter's ), food, taxes, and utilities.  Saving for a 3-6 month emergency...

The most obvious topic right now is inflation, but everyone's talking about inflation so I'll just move right along.  I recently watched a documentary about a major collapse in the financial banking industry that happened many years ago. When the company filed for bankruptcy, a lot of people lost their jobs and potentially even more. One of the former employees said something in the interview that sort of hit me. She said that amongst all the things that she lost, her vehicle had been repossessed because she could no longer afford to pay the note.  Now alone, that may not seem like that big of a deal - this happens to people sometimes.  But she went on to say that it was the first car she had bought for herself and she only had four months left on the note. That part, to me, was the devastating part; I mean could you imagine? To come so far and then have nothing to show for it. Ouch!😭 Pay it Off If You Can Now I know that every situation is different so I will not assume...

Saving is hard. Especially if it isn't something that you're used to doing.  Maybe you don't have much to save, don't know how to save, or don't see the point in saving. All of these things can make it even more challenging or make it seem impossible. Let's address each of these reasons one may choose not to save. I don't have much to save: Guess what? It is okay to start small. If you're barely making ends meet, you may have to get creative to save, but it is not impossible. Look at your budget and spending and determine what a reasonable savings goal could be. Maybe you'd start off by saving an extra $5 each payday. If you get paid once a week, that's about $20 a month, which adds to $240 a year.  I don't know how to save: I get it; sometimes, we're lucky to just have something left over after paying all the bills and taking care of responsibilities. At that point, if you have something remaining, you may be inclined to go ahead and ...

It’s tax season and for different people, this means different things. For some, tax payments are due😞. For others, a tax refund is owed😊. Hopefully, you’re in that second group. If you are, you are in luck! Proceed with caution though,  it is important to have a plan for the money so that you do not squander it all. The same holds true if you were to receive a stimulus check ; proceed with caution. Recently, I was watching an episode of Shameless. Upon receiving a tax refund check, one of the characters was immediately tempted to spend the money. He felt like it needed to be spent and needed to be spent immediately. Unfortunately, his ideas were to spend the money on wasteful things like the lottery, casino, etc. This is a prime example of what not to do.🤑 There are many ways that you may choose to spend any extra income, and of course, you know your situation best. Below are some ideas to get you started. 10 Ideas on what to do with a tax refund or stimulus check: ...

In times of uncertainty, we can sometimes become anxious and begin to panic. This is one of those times where a lot of things are happening all at once. Businesses are temporarily shutting down, schools closing, some are facing layoffs, the stock market has hit record lows. There are a lot of moving pieces, but we must remain calm, work together and get through this.