I’ve always been a planner. I love organization and knowing what’s next in life for me. Oh, and I’m a writer so I prefer to write things out. I work online for a living, but for some reason, physically writing things down makes it all feel more official for me.

As you can probably tell by now, this is why I’m obsessed with planners. I’ve been using planners for several years now. I started by purchasing a random $1 planner at the dollar store out of frustration. I had so much going on at the time and felt like my life was an absolute mess.

Some days I had no idea what I was doing, when I was doing it, what I was going to eat that day, or what my overall goals were. It was frustrating to go through life feeling like a hot mess. So I started with the cheapest planner I could find.

Each year, I got a new planner and they kept getting better and better. But it wasn’t until I bought the Living Well Planner last year that I became obsessed.

I purchased the Living Well Planner during a holiday sale and it’s one of the best purchases I’ve made to date. I’ve used the planner every day this year and it’s pretty much changed my life. I don’t write a ton of reviews on this blog, but this Living Well Planner review is much needed even if it can help one person get organized and gain clarity on their life.

In this Living Well Planner review, I’ll cover:

• What the planner includes
• What makes it different from ANY other planner I’ve come across
• How to use it
• Bonus extras you don’t want to miss out on
• What I like about it
• What I don’t like about it
• Who the planner is best for

Why This Isn’t Just Any Old Day Planner

The Living Well Planner was designed by Ruth Soukup who is a popular blogging and organization guru who runs the site Living Well Spending Less. She’s also authored tons of books including one of my favorite, How to Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul.

If you have a blog, you’ve probably heard of Ruth as she is a top authority figure in the blogging space. I mention this because Ruth’s expertise shines through with the Living Well Planner.

She’s a super successful blogger and businesswoman who’s figured out how to juggle multiple responsibilities all while still prioritizing family, health, and financial security.

Here are just a few categories on her blog that demonstrate how she helps women make their lives simpler, richer, and more organized.

Another thing that helps this planner stand out from others is the fact that it’s geared toward helping you reach your goals. Goals are exciting to set in the beginning, but they are often hard to stick to over time.

Other planners simply help you organize and plan out your day. The Living Well Planner does this and more because it comes with goal planning worksheets to use each month. This planner is different because it helps you:

• Get organized
• Plan out your goals and prioritize them
• Improve your overall life

I’ve used these worksheets to plan ideas for my business and life that eventually came to fruition throughout the year.

What the Living Well Planner Includes

The planner definitely gives you a lot to work with for your money and the way I see it, the more features, the better.

First, you have your typical calendar view pages for the year and the month. You can preview dates for the current year as well as future years. There’s also space to store important information and phone numbers and to jot down important dates to remember each month.

There’s also a classic Notes section at the end of each month – a must for me because I love to jot down random things throughout the week and need a space to do it.

Core Features:

• Year at a glance
• Monthly goals section – set your top three goals along with goals to achieve in different areas of your life like personal growth, health and fitness, financial etc.
• Goal Crushing Worksheet for each month
• Project Planning and Brainstorming worksheet for each month
• Monthly Budget Pages
• Weekly planning section where you can break down your schedule by the hour
• Space to plan out your meals for the day  – no more wondering what’s for dinner!
• Thoughts and Thanks – a space to record reflections and gratitude

How to Use the Living Well Planner

So, now that you know all the features and pages that come with the planner, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Don’t be.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the planner came with a warm welcome from Ruth along with instructions for how to best use the pages to get organized and have an amazing year.

I’ve used the planner to meet so many goals this year. Some of which included:

• Planning and executing my first webinar
• Reading 10 books whereas I couldn’t find the time or motivation to read just 1 during previous years
• Decluttering my apartment and actually buying our first house! – planning that move was a beast!
• Saving $15,000+ in 10 months (for our house and to top off my emergency fund)
• Losing 15 pounds
• Practicing intuitive eating
• Creating my course, Love Your Budget in just 2 months
• Going on a cruise with my husband to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary
• Completing a 13-week class at my church
• Partnering with a youth organization to speak to high school students about entrepreneurship
• Teaching my son how to ride a bike over the summer
• Getting my life insurance broker license (which required passing a state exam) in just 1 month
• Attending 2 conferences
• Crossing a major bucket list item off by seeing my all-time favorite artist in concert in California
• Rebranding this blog
• Creating new 2 new freebie offers for blog readers
• Writing my first fiction ebook

Related: How We’re Avoiding Becoming House Poor

Why and How to Create an Annual Budget

How to Make Money With a Blog or Niche Site

Writing all of those things out was a pleasant surprise because I didn’t even realize I’d accomplished that much this year. I simply just flipped through my planner and viewed my monthly goal sheets to gather all of these accomplishments.

I’ve improved my life in so many different ways from professional and huge milestones to personal growth, health and fitness and finance.

This is another reason why I love the planner. When you use it correctly, it’s difficult to feel like you didn’t make any progress for the year. So how do you use it exactly?

How I Use the Planner

I start at the beginning of the month with the Monthly Goal worksheet. I jot down my top 3 goals for the month and sometimes this requires some thought because I need to narrow down my ambitions. Then, I categorize smaller goals into various different areas of my life.

Next, I narrow down a top goal and get straight to work.

I often use the Goal Crushing Worksheet if I’m going after a goal that requires a lot of work or determination. If I’m planning a project for my business, I use the Project Planning and Brainstorming sheet as well.

• I don’t use the Monthly Budget sheet much as I use my own budget worksheets since I find them more versatile, but I do like that this is an option.
• I use the Month at a Glance page to plan out my month and highlight important dates. This is more of a general section so I don’t get too specific with anything on this page.
• The section that I use the most is the Weekly Planning section. This is where I write out my daily schedule. There is space to plan out your day by the hour which is one of the top things that attracted me to this planner. I love to be intentional with my time because time is a valuable resource that we can’t get back.
• With planners I used in the past, sometimes I’d get frustrated at the small space allotted to list out your tasks for the day. Once I filled in the white space, I was still confused because I didn’t know what to do first.
• With the Living Well Planner, I take advantage of being able to plan out my day by the hour so I know what I’m working on in the morning, when I’m taking breaks, and why I transition to another task. Below the hourly planning section is a space where you can list your top 3 priorities for the day. Below that, there is space to plan out your meals.
• Using the meal planning section when I was trying to lose weight was helpful because knowing I had food prepped and ready to go helped me avoid the temptation of eating unhealthy stuff.

Bonuses

I can’t finish this Living Well Planner review without sharing some of the bonuses that even most people who use the Planner don’t know about.

The planner comes with Weekly Wizard and Daily Do It sticky notes FREE. I got these last year with my planner and they are helpful for people who really want to narrow their focus down and accomplish one major thing for the day or focus on meeting a deadline.

For example, let’s say you were racing against the deadline for open enrollment (which just ended by the way). These sticky note sets would be great for organizing what you need to do in order to lock in the healthcare plan you wanted in time.

Ordering this planner also gives you access to a private Facebook group along with video and email content providing you with more instruction to help you get the best use out of this planner.

I love that Ruth provides this instead of just selling the planner and expecting you to make it work. She really wants you to use this planner to help you succeed.

What I Like About It

Here are some of my top pros for the Living Well Planner:

• Fun and colorful appearance
• Structured and organized – it comes with plenty of instruction to make sure you use it properly
• Goal setting worksheets to help you stay on track – encourage you to improve every area of your life
• Can plan your days by the hour for better daily task management
• Available space to prioritize your goals and plan out meals

What I Don’t Like About It

There are a few things I wish could be improved about the planner, including:

• The size – I use my planner every day and take it with me but sometimes the size of it has been inconvenient as I can’t fit it into a smaller purse, so I have to carry it or keep it in my car. It’s not heavy at all but it’s about the same size as a notebook so probably not travel size friendly.
• The calendar weeks start on Monday – This actually doesn’t bother me much, but it may throw some people off if you’re used to Sunday – Saturday weekly planning
• You have to set the planner up yourself – The planner comes as a blank slate. You have to use the stickers and labels provided to create markers for the months, and you must write in the dates on the monthly overview and weekly planning pages. Again, I don’t mind this given all the pros, but it can seem tedious to do this every month so you may want to just fill out the dates and months for the entire year in one sitting.

Who Is This Planner Best For

Overall, I’d still give the Living Well Planner a 10 out of 10. That’s because I feel it’s the best planner I’ve ever purchased and that could be because I’m the right type of person for the planner.

So who would best benefit from using this planner?

I’d say it’s someone who’s goal-orientated, but has a lot going on. Perhaps you’re tired of setting goals you never reach, or you’re just overwhelmed with your daily schedule and need direction.

This planner is also best for creatives (bloggers, entrepreneurs, side hustlers) and people who like to plan out projects and go after huge milestone goals.

I can also see busy moms getting good use out of this planner. You can plan out every aspect of your day, meals and even your personal development and leisure goals to create a well-rounded lifestyle.

There are always sales going on for  the Living Well Planner if you’re interested in grabbing one for yourself or a friend.

I asked my hubby to get me another one for Christmas This particular planner is also the priciest one I’ve ever purchased but it’s worth it for the results I got. I used it every single day of the year so that averaged out to just $0.10 per day for the value.

Are you using a planner for the new year? Why or why not?

The post How to Use the Living Well Planner to Meet Your Goals first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post How to Use the Living Well Planner to Meet Your Goals appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

I can’t believe I’ve been working from home full time for almost 5 years now. In 2019, I started going to a local coworking space once a week. Then, when the pandemic hit, I was back to working at home all the time along with tons of Americans.

According to FlexJobs, at least 41% of Americans continued to work from home as of December 2020. Working from home can produce a ton of distractions – like having unlimited access to the kitchen for example. However, I find it best to create a designated space to work or even a home office to help you stay motivated and focused.

I thought it would be fun to share my home office on a budget and some latest additions. My set up is definitely not Instagram-worthy, but there are a lot of great finds I’ve come across to create functional a home office on a budger.

Remember, You Don’t Need an Actual ‘Office Space’

I’ve never had an actual home office in an enclosed space. We have a small home and need all of the bedrooms so instead, I opted for an office nook in an open are of the house. It works for me because while my husband is at work and the kids are doing school, the house is pretty quiet anyway.

This just goes to show you that you don’t need a ton of space to have a functional home office. In fact, keeping the space concise can help you save money since it’s much less to furnish.

As you can see, my space is pretty simple, yet everything serves a purpose in helping me focus on the task at hand and get more done each day.

I chose to spend more money on bigger items like my laptop, monitor and writing desk. We all know computers are expensive. I purchased my Macbook Pro from Best Buy during a Black Friday sale a few years ago. Yes, it was pricey, but it’s worked pretty well over the years. Plus, since I run an online business, I was able to deduct this purchase on my taxes. In fact, what I spent on most of these items was tax-deductible since I run a blog and freelance writing business.

Here’s a breakdown of how much I spent on some of the other things in my affordable home office.

Home Office On a Budget

Monitor – $159

I purchased a white 23-inch HP monitor from Amazon last fall and it came with an HDMI cord used to connect it to my laptop so I can have two screens. Right now, this monitor is listed at a slightly higher price, but Amazon’s prices often fluctuate and sometimes they even offer coupons and discounts on certain items.

Triple Docking Station – $109

I purchased this multi-function docking station from Best Buy in order to connect my monitor to my MacBook. This is a USB Type C with two HDMI ports, a microSD slot, mic and speaker port, and a lot of other capabilities. You can check it out here.

Desk – $184

I use the See Jane Work Writing Desk that I got from Office Depot a few years ago and I love it. I eyed this desk for several months before buying it and waited for a good sale so I don’t believe I actually paid the $184 that it is listed for now.

The desk is very sturdy and great for small offices. Keep in mind that you don’t always have to buy your desk brand new. You can always look for a sturdy gently-used desk online or at your local resale shop. I actually found a nice desk for my son to use for homeschooling for free in our neighborhood. Someone was throwing it out so we grabbed it and took it home. Then, I sanded it down and repainted it in a beautiful sky blue color. You can see what it looks like in this video where I’m walking through our homeschool set-up.

Gray Recliner – $149

This gray recliner chair sofa is from Yaheetech and it’s so comfortable and perfect for a small office space. I can definitely see myself using this chair to read or work while taking a break from my desk. Sometimes I’m a little hesitant about having furniture delivered from an online store, but this chair actually arrived pretty quickly and was easy to assemble since it came in just two main pieces. Yaheetech also sells other office chairs, living room furniture, and other home items as well for affordable prices.

It took my husband and our foster son only 5 minutes to set up.

Wall and Desk Decor

I got a lot of my decorations for cheap from places like Dollar General, Five Below, and Hobby Lobby. Some things were also gifts too which was nice. My main idea was not to make it too cluttered but to also add some nice wall decorations, motivational sayings, candles, etc. to really get my energy up when I sit down to work.

One of the best small purchases I made for this set-up would also be my dry erase board. I got it from Target for around $10 and I like it so much more than a calendar because I can update my daily and weekly tasks pretty easily and make changes whenever I want.

File Cabinet – $95

My file cabinet sits on the other side of my desk and I got this one from Wayfair for $95 when it was one sale. Just like Amazon, Wayfair offers some really good sales and discounts from time-to-time so it’s best to keep an eye on the items you’re considering on the site.

This file cabinet is perfect for helping me organize contracts and other forms while keeping paper clutter to a minimum.

Wrapping It Up

My home office on a budget didn’t come to fruition overnight. It took time to add things slowly and shop around – but you can totally do this as well! Whether you have a full room to utilize or a smaller space in your home, having a designated space to work can do wonders for your productivity and your sanity while you work from home.

Do you work remotely? If so, have you thought about creating a home office?

The post Fixing Up Your Home Office on a Budget first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post Fixing Up Your Home Office on a Budget appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

I remember telling myself that once I got through that, I needed to become more committed to slowing down and taking better care of myself. Then Covid-19 hit and changed everything. I’m sure so much in your life has changed too.

Validating Negative and Positive Feelings

This year hasn’t been a walk in the park, and I have no intention of making it seem like it has. Last week, I sat down with my family and asked them what were some of the negative impacts of Covid-19 that have affected them. The rules were to complain as much as possible with no guilt and to share even the smallest inconveniences of this pandemic.

I was especially interested to hear my son open up about how he was tired of wearing masks everywhere (even though he understands why it’s necessary) and not being able to see my friends. It was important for me to make sure that his and my husband’s feelings were validated and that it’s okay to feel icky sometimes about this whole thing.

When 9/11 happened, I was still in school and I remember my teacher allowed us to sit in the dark for weeks afterward and discuss our thoughts and feelings about the terrorist attacks. It was much-needed therapy…and we made it through that hardship.

So know that if you’re still standing now, you will make it through whatever you’re going through as well. That said, I wanted to share some things that I’m super grateful for each year. Of course, dealing with the hardships of Covid-19 would have been 10 times harder had I not had these things and people impact me so I’m truly thankful.

My Family

Family is so important to me and I feel truly spoiled to have such an amazing family. My husband is so supportive and has taught me so much about love and respect. The fact that he managed Pinterest for this blog for a few months during the shut down just proves how awesome he is. He doesn’t even like Pinterest or know the first thing about it but would do anything to help me out and share my posts so they reach more people.

My son has created so much light and joy in our household since he was born but especially this year. A day hasn’t gone by where I didn’t laugh at something he said or did. As a child, he’s been so thoughtful and understanding through this whole pandemic (something I couldn’t even imagine going through as a 10-year-old).

I’m also super thankful to be so close to my parents and siblings. My mom is a modern-day superwoman who’s been fearlessly facing Covid-19 head-on while working in the nursing field. I’m grateful that my siblings and I are so close. We talk all the time and would do anything for each other.

A Flexible Business

“Aren’t you so glad we started this years ago?” One of my friends said this to me over a Zoom call back in April. It’s crazy to see how successful some of the people are who started their blogs around the same time as me.

To answer my friend’s question, yes, I feel extremely grateful to have a flexible business that allows me to work from home. I know this is a privilege that not everyone has. However, not a day goes by that I take for granted all the hours I spent building my online business, getting up at 5:30 am, researching SEO and marketing, and writing tons of articles.

If you’re like to learn more about how I created an online business that I enjoy working in every day, check out some of the links below.

Related: How to Make Money with a Blog or Niche Site

Side Hustles Explored: How to Become a Freelance Writer

How to Start a Successful Money-Making Blog in 10 Days

Crucial Steps to Take Before Taking a Leap of Faith and Quitting Your Job

This Community

As always, I’m so thankful for the online communities that I have including this one. When I started this blog, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just wanted to share my debt payoff journey and what I was experiencing as I learned more about personal finance.

I’ve enjoyed connecting with so many people on here over the years and hearing your stories. I enjoy the community Facebook group I started for My Debt Epiphany readers as well as the communities of financial bloggers I’ve been a part of. It really makes me feel like I’m not alone and I’m grateful to be able to interact with people who get it.

Debt and Financial Hardships

Let’s be honest. Being in debt and facing financial hardships is not easy and it’s not something I’d wish on anyone. Still, I feel like struggling with finances years ago allowed me to learn how to overcome those obstacles and get better with money. Had I never gotten into debt I’m not sure that I would have started this blog in 2014 which is hard to imagine.

Over the years I’ve learned so much about how to save, stretch, get creative, and find contentment with where I’m at in my financial journey.

Overall, I’m thankful that I went through my debt repayment journey because truly knowing how it feels to struggle with money gives me a much better appreciation of how far I’ve come.

Related: Life After Debt; Remembering Your Why

Staying Motivated During Your Debt Payoff Journey

What are you thankful for this year?

Giveaway!

December 2020 marks my 6th year anniversary of running this blog and I always love to celebrate with a giveaway. This time around, I’m giving away a $100 Amazon gift card to one lucky person. I hope it helps someone who may need help getting gifts for loved ones this holiday season. You have until December 9th to rack up as many entries as you can, then on December 10th I’ll notify the winner. Good luck!

The post What I’m Thankful For… first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post What I’m Thankful For… appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

I planned for this week to be very different and had a YouTube video scheduled to go up about creative ways to cut your spending. A week or two ago, I could never have imagined what my family would wake up to see on the news. Nor could I imagine protests and seeing communities destroyed and looted during riots.

I don’t have the privilege to stay silent or neutral on the issues that are affecting the black community in this country – and to be honest, I don’t want to.

Racism is America is an issue that affects all of us – and it will keep affecting us until something is done about it. It affects people, communities, the economy, etc. and people are tired of it. Racism is divisive and it doesn’t always appear on the surface so it’s not always easily identifiable.

What happened to George Floyd breaks my heart, and he has unfortunately been added to a long list of black victims of unlawful police brutality. This is not a political issue at its core in my opinion so I see no need to add politics in.

I do see that protests and riots have brought this topic to most of our neighborhoods and doorsteps which has fostered a lot of conversation about what’s right, what’s wrong, what people should do, and what they shouldn’t do.

Let Me Stand Firm in My Truth

Black people are tired. We’re tired of seeing our sons, fathers, uncles, and brothers getting killed and having to fear for their lives. I myself have held my breath and experienced anxiety when being pulled over by an officer in my own area. Not because I was afraid of getting a ticket, but because I was afraid of something going terribly wrong. I say a prayer under my breath that God would keep me safe and that this officer would be law-abiding and not racist.

This is not a reality that I’d wish on anyone yet it’s something my community has had to endure for as long as I remember. No innocent person should have to get pulled over by the police and contemplate the thought that their life may be ending soon. Yet, this is a reality that brings me to tears.

If anyone remembers Sandra Bland’s story from 2015, it really devastated me. Sandra was my age when she died and she was arrested after being pulled over during a traffic stop.

If you’re upset and frustrated about what’s going on in your community right now, I’m there with you. But I also understand that people are going through a lot of trauma right now. While I don’t agree with looting, I’m sure many can see now that just as one or two bad protestors can spoil the entire bunch, one or two bad cops can do the same to the police force in our communities.

Racism and injustice is nothing new in our communities, but people are tired, weary, and feel misunderstood and out of options.

I had a long conversation with my dad the other day and he told me many stories about how blacks would not get served at some Denny’s restaurants in the 1990s (when we lived in Indiana) and had to file a class-action lawsuit.

He told me how a white woman wouldn’t let him into her home when he worked for a residential blinds installation company. She wanted a white installer to come instead. He shared how he tried to apply for a business loan before I was born and despite qualifying for it, was not granted one. He also told me how a cashier would try not to touch his black hand when returning his change at a store – when she clearly didn’t mind touching the hand of other patrons that were before him in line.

These are stories from just the past 30 years about racism in America. My parents both grew up in inner-city Chicago and my dad grew up in the projects. I feel like my parents did their best to try to shield my siblings and I from the hatred in the world, but we still had to grow up knowing the reality that our skin was black and this was a problem for some people.

To Top It Off

There is no denying that black men (and women) are often targeted by police. There are certain areas of this country that I can’t drive through freely. Even as an adult, I’m warned by my family about which areas are likely racist and ones that I wouldn’t be welcome in.

I can’t just move anywhere in the U.S. I like living in a diverse community but also don’t have the option or privilege to move to certain areas of the country due to racism.

A Brief History Lesson – How This Ties Into the Socio-Economic Oppression of Blacks in the U.S.

I feel like many schools talk about the same topics during the month of February – if they discuss anything at all. For example, this past year, my son’s class did a project where they had to pretend that they either a soldier from the North or the South during the  Civil War. Completely offensive and not necessary in my opinion.

Maybe you know some of what I’m going to outline below or maybe you don’t. Regardless, it’s necessary to gain the full context of what’s going on in this country right now and how it continues to affect us all.

I’ve seen people make horrific comments on social media claiming that blacks don’t have insurance on their businesses and are ruthlessly tearing up their own neighborhoods. These comments don’t make me angry. Instead, they reveal that there’s a level of ignorance or simply a lack of regard for the true historical facts. Let’s not make up stories based on stereotypes and fiction movies. Instead, let’s look at the core facts when it comes to black wealth and oppression.

• Blacks were not able to legally build wealth until 1865 – because they were slaves and treated as property, not people.
• Between 1882 and 1968, at least 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States – 3,446 of these lynchings were black and conducted as an effort to oppress and control black people.
• In 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma’s Greenwood District, known as Black Wall Street went up in flames after a black man was accused of raping a white woman. Some whites could not wait on justice so they took to burning 35 city blocks – 300 people died and 800 were injured. While many prosperous black businesses were destroyed, homes were also looted and burned as well.
• Up to the 1950s and 1960s, blacks were not educated nearly as well as whites were. Schools were segregated. Black schools had fewer materials and were ran for only half the time that white schools were in session. Mind you, this was AFTER President Truman ordered integration in the military in 1948. Meaning at the time, blacks were able to fight for a country that they had little to no rights in – a country that their children could not even be properly educated in.
• The Jim Crow laws continued segregation in the South until around 1954. These laws detailed what jobs black people could take and how much they were paid. On top of that, they restricted blacks in many other ways including where they could live and which neighborhoods they could go to.
• If you want to learn more about what it took to desegregate schools in the South, watch the movie Ruby Bridges  – I think it’s on Disney Plus. Watch it with your kids too and look this woman up. She is only 65 years old today.
•  Even today, when it comes to building wealth as a black person, we are sadly at an extreme disadvantage
• Today in the U.S. black women are expected to be paid anywhere from $0.47 to $0.67 for ever $1 paid to a white, non-Hispanic man.
• The median net worth of a black family in 2016 was $17,100 while a median net worth for a white family was around $171,000
• You may also be surprised to know that it costs more to get a mortgage for the same house if you’re black or Latino.

It’s important to understand that racism is not just a cop-out or a tool for blacks to pull out of their pocket whenever they see fit. It’s a system of laws, policies, and circumstances we must deal with day in and day out. It’s a burden a lot of us have silently carried as we try to build a normal life in this country and ‘pull ourselves up by our bootstraps’ as so many people claim blacks should do.

We’ve come a long way, in a short amount of time. However, one thing we can’t ignore as a unified nation is the unlawful murder of innocent black citizens OR those who have committed petty crimes that do not deserve death on the streets of their communities.

I also can’t ignore the racial wealth disparities and how they affect my community.

So where do we go from here? A lot of conversation needs to continue and we all do need to come together. We need to restore basic human rights across the board for all races and place a higher regard on human life regardless of skin color.

We also need to empathize with those who may be going through something we may never understand, and start to hold each other accountable.

What You May Want to Stop Doing

You can do and respond however you wish. However, some people have openly and privately asked how they can help make things better so I have highlighted some things people may want to stop doing at this time. Keep in mind that I say all of this with love – but there are a lot of things I’m seeing people do that aren’t actually helping right now.

• Stop posting those same imagines of MLK talking about his peaceful protesting IF you haven’t protested yourself or you aren’t willing to die for this cause. Martin Luther King Jr. was hated for his work, his house was bombed, and he ultimately died in the hope that what’s still happening today would not continue. About 2 years ago, I had the privilege of hearing MLK’s sister-in-law speak live and there is so much more to the story and a lot of people didn’t grow to respect or understand MLK’s mission until he was murdered for it.
• Stop saying All Lives Matter in opposition of Black Lives Matter if you truly want to help. Of course all lives matter. But the current issue is that black lives are not being valued as equally as all lives in this country. Would you run to a breast cancer fundraiser shouting ‘lung cancer matters too!’? I believe that everyone’s life matters but this stance really makes no sense in light of what is going on.
• Driving around the country trying to create chaos in other cities. Is anyone I know really doing this? I sure hope not. Protesting in your own states and communities should be the focus if you want to evoke change. It starts at home first.
• Spreading misinformation online. Be sure to check your sources and your own level of mental health before spewing false information and hate online. It’s extremely damaging and distasteful.
• Making this a left or right thing. We are one nation and people’s political views are going to differ. The Right Wing and Leftists will fight about any and everything but there should be no disagreement that people shouldn’t be denied basic human rights.
• Pretending like nothing is happening. I know this is hard on everyone, but it’s not going to go away. The issue of racism has gone on long enough and the negative effects are spreading to communities all over. I know some people don’t know what to say or are afraid of reacting in a way that would offend someone. One thing you can always do is get behind someone who is speaking up and making sense to you.

What You Can Start Doing

• Check your privilege. We all have privilege to a certain degree – racial privilege is only one form of privilege but it’s crucial to understand if you want to better understand how this nation can improve. Here’s a checklist that you may find helpful but this is such a complex concept that I know it will take time and research to fully grasp … My friend Lindsay also shared this graphic recently and I found it extremely eye-opening as you may want to challenge some of your existing beliefs.

• Check in on your black friends, colleagues and neighbors. Many of us are not okay. All of us are going through something right now, but some of your black friends and neighbors may have stories, experiences, and pain that stems back to childhood, young adult, and workplace experiences along with pain and struggles that their ancestors have endured. I appreciate the friends who have reached out to my husband and I to check on us. Yesterday I had a meeting with my friend Kayla and the first thing she did was ask me how I was doing/feeling. I appreciate the fact that she didn’t gloss over current events and try to pretend like nothing was wrong to avoid any potential awkwardness.
• Educate yourself and your kids. Kids notice our actions as well as our words. While no one can know the private conversations you’re having at home and lessons your kids are learning behind closed doors, it will shape and impact who they become and how they behave out in the world. What you know will shape and impact what you go out into the world and do. I’m am working diligently with my son to understand racism and respect all people. So watch a video, read a book, and get information from quality resources.
• Speak up if you feel comfortable. Let’s use our social platforms and right to protest to use our voice to speak out against injustice. Call out racism when you see it and hold people accountable. Staying silent or simply saying you don’t agree with racism will not do much to evoke change.
• Find an organization to support. Put your dollars and time toward a cause that will help resolve these issues in our country. You can find a lot of resources in this anti-racism guide, BUT you can also get into contact with lawmakers in your city and hold police precincts accountable for properly training officers and reforming their systems to flesh out prejudice officers.

I hope this has been helpful to you and as the title of the post states, this has to be said. In an effort to be completely honest and transparent as I’ve always been, it’s important to let people know where I’m coming from and where I stand.

I know it’s hard to empathize with others sometimes especially in a society where self-promotion is all we often see and as human beings, we are naturally wired to be prioritize ourselves and our own experiences.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to agree entirely with what I’ve written here. Feel free to continue the discussion in the comments or to reach out to me directly with any questions, comments, feedback, or just want to vent. I’m here for you.

The post This Has to Be Said… first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post This Has to Be Said… appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

I never thought I’d quit my job to start working for myself, but I never felt like I fit in at other jobs. I never felt like working for someone else was the right fit for me. I started my blog in December 2014 on a whim. It was either a personal finance blog or a resume writing blog and business. Did I ever openly share that? I didn’t think so.

Needless to say, this little blog was one of the best things that ever happened to me. In unlocked a new passion and purpose along with a more fulfilling lifestyle and career.

It hasn’t been all roses and unicorns, however. Here are 5 lessons about self-employment that I learned in the past two years.

1. Working For Yourself Isn’t the Key to Happiness

I find it hard to convince myself that I fun a small business. Sure, I freelance and some people may say that’s not a business, but it basically is. It requires so much work just to stay on top of everything. Plus, I manage a small team to help run me this blog which I treat like a business.

There’s this big push for people (especially millennials) to chase their dreams and start a business. We see people sharing their best highlights of entrepreneurship on Instagram. I can’t go on Facebook without seeing an ad from a successful “guru” who is offering a free training to do this and that.

They all promise or imply the same thing: that you will be happy, fulfilled, and experience true freedom when you take the leap from your boring and mediocre 9 to 5.

This isn’t necessarily true so don’t get your hopes up if you’re considering full-time self-employment. In the past 2 years, working for myself has only made me about 25% happier overall.

That happiness stems from the fact that I no longer feel anxiety on Sunday nights because I don’t have to drive to a job I hate in the morning, along with being able to do meaningful work that I love and the ability to be more present in my son’s life.

I can take field trips with him, pick him up from school each day, and spend more time with him now that I set my own hours.

However, I still work and I still have bad days just as often as the good days. Entrepreneurship won’t bring total and complete happiness in your life. If that were the case, successful business owners wouldn’t be identifying with depression and heads of big brands wouldn’t commit suicide, unfortunately. Money and the freedom having a business provide doesn’t solve all your problems.

Happiness is a choice, and it’s already inside of you. Last year, I read The Happiness Dare which has some spiritual elements to it, but it’s a must-read for anyone who’s trying to consciously focus on improving their level of happiness.

2. It Can Get Lonelyyyyyyyy

Being able to work at home in my pajamas is wonderful, but it can get lonely. After two years, I don’t miss office politics, but I do miss interacting with more people on a regular basis.

It’s so easy to get caught up with work and talking to my online entrepreneur friends that I forget the whole day has almost passed and I haven’t even left the house. Sometimes, my saving grace is knowing that I have to pick my son up from school.

About a year ago, I started a meetup group for local bloggers, but it was more like a mastermind and it was difficult to get a consistent schedule and attendance.

Now, I know I just need to focus on getting out and being around people more often. If you’re self-employed, you need to try coworking, meetups, or simply hold yourself accountable for taking the time to hang out with friends, and other people. Don’t let deadlines run your life. There will always be something to do in your business.

I will probably be trying another coworking space in the near future.

3. Time is Money

If you want to become self-employed and be successful at it, you’ll need to become great at time management. Time is money but this is especially true when you start working for yourself.

If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. It’s up to me to generate streams of income to keep my business afloat. When I want to take time off, I need to make sure I’m still meeting my minimum income requirements.

There’s no one to monitor me to make sure I get a certain amount of work done or stay on track. This puts more pressure on my to focus and be productive.

I’m not going to lie, sometimes I fail at this and have super unproductive days.

I often view my success in terms of time. I’ve learned to cut out distractions, set working hours and say no to requests that occur during those hours. Just because I’m in control of my own schedule doesn’t mean I can drop what I’m doing at 11 am and run an errand for a family member.

I thrive when working during mornings and daytime hours so I now know that lost focus and lost time often translates into lost money.

4. Set Your Income Goals High to Create Consistency

I’m sure everyone wants to make more money when they transition from 9-5 to self-employment. I’ve read income reports before where people talked about wanting to make HUGE amounts of money. Now, from one perspective, that may make them seem greedy, but I totally get it.

When you work for yourself, you basically have to make more money than you think you need. There are tons of expenses you may have to cover to keep your business running. Plus, taxes are higher and you’ll need to cover your own benefits like health insurance, retirement, and time off.

Since your expenses will likely increase, your income needs to increase right along with it. It sounds crazy, but for someone who’s self-employed and has a family, $8,000 a month ($96,000 per year) may or may not be a sustainable enough income.

If you set aside around 25% of your earnings for taxes, that’s $2,000 you’d need to put away. Then, say your business expenses are around $1,000 per month. That already brings you down to $5,000 total profit. If your rent or mortgage is $1,500 per month, that leaves you with $3,500 left. You see how it goes from there.

Also, it’s important not to forget that your income will fluctuate all the time when working for yourself. To keep things consistent, it helps to set your income goals high so you can save some of the surplus for slower months. I’ve gone without having a checking account buffer or savings stash and it can be stressful when my monthly earnings come in lower than expected.

Related: Why I Left a Stable Paycheck For an Uncertain Income

5. Narrowing Down Your Niche Is Important

When I started playing around with the idea of becoming self-employed, I just wanted to make money and prove to myself that it was possible. I said yes to everything and tried to serve anyone and every with this blog.

It took a long time, but I finally came to the realization that I need to niche down in order to reach my long-term business goals.

I just came back from a conference last month and that was the most important lesson I learned there. I stumbled over my pitch when meeting others and eventually realized that I just sounded confused and generic. I knew that after blogging for almost 4 years, that shouldn’t be the case.

It sucks that it took me years to realize that, but now that I know, I’m looking forward to niching down with this site and my freelance work.

If you are thinking of becoming self-employed, choose a specific niche or two that you want to focus on. You may think this will limit your capabilities, but it will actually do the opposite. When you are clear on who you serve, you can start to become an expert in your field and offer more value to your target audience.

Those are just 5 of the key lessons about self-employment that I’ve learned in the past 2 years.

Did any of these things surprise you? If you’re self-employed, did you also find some of these lessons to be true?

The post 5 Lessons Learned After 2 Years of Self-Employment first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post 5 Lessons Learned After 2 Years of Self-Employment appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

I know that being a homeowner is more than just a status symbol. It’s going to require sacrifice, a lot of hard work, and solid finances on my part.

One thing I don’t want to become is ‘house poor’. House poor is when your housing expenses exceed a large portion of your income creating a financial burden. When you’re spending too much on your housing and related expenses, it becomes difficult to pay your other bills and live comfortably.

It’s a pretty sucky situation to be in actually. Even though I still have a little debt and being a homeowner will cost me more money than renting, there are a few things my husband and I are going to do to avoid becoming house poor.

Purchase a Smaller House

I’m convinced that having a smaller house will help us spend less money overall. The home we’re looking at now is just under $1,400 sq ft so it’s perfect for my small family. While buying a 2,500 sq ft house sounds tempting, you have to factor in the extra money you’ll spend in monthly housing payments, utilities, repairs and maintenance.

As first-time homebuyers, it was important for us not to take on more than we could handle.

Fixed Loan Rate

Having a fixed loan rate is something I’m not budging on. A fixed loan rate means the interest for the mortgage won’t change over time. If you want to refinance in the future if rates go down you can, but you won’t have to worry about your rate going up.

We’re going with a conventional loan and I like that we’ll have a fixed loan rate, and a fixed amount going toward the principal and interest each month. We can also throw extra money on the mortgage each month without any penalties.

The only way our mortgage could increase would be due to taxes, but it’s nice to know we don’t have to worry about a variable interest rate driving costs up.

Keep the Mortgage Below 30% of Our Take Home Pay

As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to keep your housing costs below 30% of your take-home pay if you want to avoid becoming house poor. This is the single best thing you can do to ensure your mortgage and housing expenses don’t dominate your income.

It’s really tempting when buying a house because your lender may pre-approve you and tell you how much you can afford. However, in reality, you know how much you can truly afford to spend on a house so you should make that final call.

Buying a smaller house is definitely helping us keep our mortgage as a reasonable rate. We sat down and mapped out our budget to see how much we’d feel comfortable spending on housing each month. Then, we made sure we settled for something below that amount just to be safe.

DIY and Cash Flow Maintenance and Repairs

Something else that people don’t factor in that can lead to becoming house poor is paying for maintenance, repairs, and other general costs related to moving and enhancing your home.

It’s easy to get excited about fixing up your new space and think about ordering new Tvs, furniture, decor, etc. We actually have a lot of work we want to do on our home to make it our own and there’s nothing wrong with that.

What I’m NOT willing to do is take out a loan to fund these costs. Instead, we plan to pay cash for as much as we can and save up cash for some of the expenses that are less of a priority.

I’m actually getting rid of a ton of my furniture when we move but I’m not stressing out about furnishing the new house. My secret (no so secret) weapon is to check out the Facebook marketplace for deals on furniture and slowly bring things in when we find them.

A few weeks ago I found a sectional sofa that was just like new on the Facebook marketplace. It was only priced at $300 (normally would cost anywhere from $800 – $1,000+) and the problem was that the seller lived over an hour away from me. Luckily, it was not too far from where my dad lives so I wired him the money and had him pick it up and hold it for me.

I’m looking forward to snagging more furniture deals and DIYing whatever we can especially when it comes to painting, the locks on the house, and small improvement projects because I know this will save us thousands.

Build Up Emergency Savings

Finally, building up emergency savings is going to be the key to avoid a house poor situation. Homeowners are always going to have planned and unplanned expenses. This is why saving enough funds to lean on for a rainy day can help protect your cash flow.

Related: Why You Need a Full Emergency Fund

How to Save Your First $1,000 This Year

I can’t say how much you should have in your emergency fund, but I think saving up 6-8 months of expenses would make me feel super comfortable.

If your mortgage and housing expenses are eating up all your disposable income, it’s time to make a change. It’s a dangerous place to be in and will hold you back from getting ahead financially. Use any of these 5 solutions to get back on track or even consider making some extra money or renting out a room in your home to increase your cash flow.

Have you ever felt house poor? What did or would you do to avoid it?

The post How We’re Avoiding Becoming House Poor first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post How We’re Avoiding Becoming House Poor appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

Now that I’ve been budgeting for a few solid years now, and have been able to pay off my student loans, dive into full-time entrepreneurship, and start saving for a home, I want to help others love their budgets as well.

Introducing the Love Your Budget Course!

I know I’ve dropped a few hints and updates here and there, but I am so excited to share that my budgeting course is finally LIVE and ready for enrollment.

It’s called Love Your Budget and it’s packed with over 4 hours of video content, helpful worksheets, and spreadsheets, along with tutorials to help you learn how to love and embrace budgeting.

I realized that budgets are often either undervalued or overlooked in the personal finance space but they are the key to your success.

Just like money, your budget is a tool that will help you improve your life all around if implemented correctly. Too many people set themselves up for failure making common budgeting mistakes that make them feel deprived.

Not me. I’ve lived a pretty blessed and prosperous life. I’ve been able to:

• Pay off $30,000 of debt
• Build a solid emergency fund
• Start saving for a house
• Quit my job to work for myself
• Travel with my family
• Indulge in my values

All while living on a budget. The trick has been controlling my money and not letting it control me. A budget is just a spending plan and I create the rules according to my comfort level.

If your budget has been making you feel like a prisoner, or if you have absolutely no idea what’s going on with your money, this course is going to help you turn things around.

Life Wasn’t Always This Good

Long-time readers know my finances were a hot mess a few years ago. I struggling through college as a single mom and so broke that I couldn’t even wash my clothes. I was so financially strained that even my caseworker in the welfare office wondered how I was getting by.

I worked a few part-time jobs and increased my skills so I could make more money. However, all along I had convinced myself that budgeting wasn’t an option for me and wouldn’t work.

When I finally laid out my finances and created a realistic spending plan, I felt a huge sigh of relief. I wasted so much time and energy hiding from my true financial situation and avoiding the real numbers.

Then believe it or not, big things started to happen for me in the money department. Go figure! I was finally able to make progress instead of feeling like I was never going to get ahead.

It took some trial and error to come up with the right plan for me, but I created this course to help you streamline this crucial process. This course isn’t one-size fit-all instructions which is why it works for the masses.

What You’ll Learn and What’s Included

In the Love Your Budget course, I’m literally giving you everything I’ve learned about budgeting and taught my coaching clients. The material is filled with proven methods and strategies that you can adjust to fit your lifestyle.

The main course includes 4 main educational course modules. There are several video lessons within each module.

Module 1 – Setting a Foundation

In this module, you’ll learn how to overcome past struggles with budgeting, change your mindset, set solid goals and track your spending to ensure budgeting success

Module 2 – Choose Your Budgeting Style

In module 2, I walk you through a variety of effective budgeting methods and provide examples so you can choose a core strategy behind your next budget.

Module 3 – Creating Your DIY Budget

Module 3 is all about creating a winning budget that meets all your wants and needs. You’ll learn how to budget by setting yourself up for success and I’ll walk you through my step-by-step tutorial while sharing some of my favorite tools for successful budgeting

Module 4 – Making it Stick

The final module is all about making your budget sustainable and long-lasting. There’s no point in going through the course if you’re not going to make your efforts stick. You’ll learn how to genuinely love your budget along with earning more, spending less, and maintaining your spending plan long-term.

Bonuses:

I created a few bonuses for the course that you will have access to depending on which package you sign up for. Some of the bonuses include:

• One-on-one financial coaching with me
• Course workbook with forms, worksheets and more
• Secrets of Successful Budgeters Video Series – 4-part series where I sit down to chat with REAL people living well on a budget to get insight on how they make it work and thrive financially. This video series is great for those of you who want to see specific budgeting styles in action!
• 5th learning module – If you need more advanced training, I have an extra course module available to teach you how to budget for debt payments, budget for savings/retirement, and more!
• Budget Beyond Your Paycheck Worksheet Bundle (7+ custom worksheets to help you stop living paycheck to paycheck)

Learn How to Budget and Change Your Mindset…

When you change your mindset, you change your speech, which changes your actions, which changes your results.

This course starts by helping you change your mindset surrounding budgeting. Then it equips you with the knowledge and tools you need to be successful. Then, students learn how to tie it all together and stick with a long-term budget plan that makes them feel awesome and in control.

Ready to Learn More and Get Started

You can find additional details about the course here to see if it’s right for you. You owe it to yourself to understand how money works and enjoy managing your finances.

The post Learning How to Embrace Budgeting (The Love Your Budget Course is LIVE) first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post Learning How to Embrace Budgeting (The Love Your Budget Course is LIVE) appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

Our lease is up in June so we got the ball rolling and got pre-approved a few weeks ago! It was exciting especially since I was nervous about the bank being hard on me since I was self-employed.

I hear it’s difficult for self-employed people to get a mortgage but I provided two years of tax returns and perhaps my husband’s 9-5 job income helped so no issues there.

I thought I’d share some updates on our journey so far because I feel like I’ve been so behind with everything lately. Since my husband works long hours, I do most of the communication with the real estate agent and our lender. I have to be available for showings, scan paperwork and answer calls and texts often which has made it difficult for me to keep up with my work and this blog so I apologize if I’ve seemed distant lately.

I haven’t really had much time for social media (outside of my reader Facebook group) and I’ve just been keeping my head down and trying to take things day by day.

I thought it would be interesting to explain the how the process in this type of market has been for us so far since it can be helpful for anyone else looking to buy a home in the near future.

A Brutal Seller’s Market

We’ve been pre-approved for a bit and it’s been such a rough, draining, and emotional process looking at houses.

I’m not real estate expert, but I’ve been watching the market closely during the past 2 years and it’s definitely a seller’s market in my area right now.

Houses are going like hotcakes so you can see something you like on the market one day, and it could be contingent the next if the seller accepts an offer and earnest money so you have to move FAST.

Plus, there are ridiculous bidding wars for most houses because there are too many buyers and inventory is only slowly trickling out.

On the bright side, home values are going up which is great. On the other end, a small part of me would just rather rent than overpay for a home but it could get worse as interest rates are already creeping back up.

Choosing a Real Estate Agent Carefully

If you are looking to buy a home soon, the number one piece of advice I can give you (other than to get your finances organized and prepared) is to choose a real estate agent CAREFULLY.

Don’t try to go into the process by yourself without an agent because when you call to get information on properties the agent will either ask to talk to your agent or ask to become your agent.

I called to check on a foreclosure property one day and the woman who answered the phone was very rude and basically hung up on me after telling me to have my agent ask those questions. Maybe I’m being dramatic but it’s almost like everyone has vowed to take an oath of silence to everyone outside of their little club.

Nevertheless, an agent is going to be that one person who will look out for your best interest and help you find a home. You don’t pay them a dime since they earn commission from the seller once you close on a home.

They will take you to showings, call and check up on properties and negotiate with the seller’s agent to help you submit your offer on a home you like.

When it comes to selecting your agent, be sure to do your research and ask people you know and trust for referrals. Make sure your agent has a proven track record and ask them important questions about their experience and request to talk to references.

My husband and I did none of this when choosing our agent. We simply walked into an open house last year and met him there. We took his card and decided to ask him to help us find a house when we got ready because we had a “good feeling” about him and figured he would look out for our best interest.

While I really like my agent as a person and do honestly feel like he will look out for our best interest, he has dropped the ball quite a few times while working with us and it’s been frustrating.

From being late to showings to not placing certain calls on-time, there have been a few hiccups that made me upset during the beginning. However, I took a step back and realized real estate agents are people with families and other responsibilities. Yes, us buying a home is a super important milestone but everyone is human and so far he has stepped it up a few notches and helped us find some really nice places.

If you feel like your agent isn’t working out for you, however, you can always switch which is something I don’t want to do in the future but would consider if things don’t work out.

Flop #1

The home buying process can be stressful and draining – and this is before you even get to the loan processing portion.

About a week after we got approved, our agent showed us a beautiful 3-bedroom 1-bath home. It was a little on the smaller side but it was completely updated, in a great neighborhood and within our budget.

There was even a gala apple tree in the backyard

The house was $168,000 and we eager to put an offer in on it. Here is a picture from the actual listing below.

That same night, our agent invited us to see another home first before heading back to the office to submit our offer.

This house was in our neighborhood and just went up on the market. It was built in 1996, had an open concept and 3 spacious bedrooms and a bathroom on the main floor.

As we went downstairs to check out the basement, we were pleasantly surprised to see a fully updated and finished basement with a bonus bedroom, another bathroom, an office nook, and even a full gym room. This house was listed at $179,000 which was at the top of our budget.

We figured the second house had everything we were looking for so we decided to put an offer on that one. On the way to the office, our agent called the seller’s agent and gave them a verbal offer of $183,000 asking for $3,000 in closing costs.

The agent said the seller accepted the verbal offer and there wouldn’t be any more showings.

The next day however, the agent called ours to hell him that the sellers wanted to show the home during the weekend, and eventually, someone beat out our offer.

What sucked was that we wasted time believing we would get that home and missed the opportunity to put an offer on the other home due to that confidence. As a result, we lost out on 2 great properties.

Flop #2

A week later, a new house popped up on the market about 5 minutes away from where we currently live. It was a cape cod style for $159,000 and looked like it could’ve needed some TLC from the outside as you can see from this exterior photo.

It didn’t have a garage and the driveway needed to be redone. There were no pictures online but it was listed as a 4 bed 3 bath so I was interested in checking it out.

After our agent told us that there had been 8+ showings for that day alone, we almost didn’t want to see it and get caught up in a bidding war but for some reason, we saw it anyway.

I was thankful we went because the home was STUNNING and completely redone inside. There were 3 floors, a spacious yard, laundry room, finished basement, and pretty much nothing left to but move in.

We put a bid in for $173,000 asking for $3,000 in closing costs. Surely, no one would outbid us if we agreed to pay $10k over asking price right? Wrong! In this seller’s market, the agent came back and told us someone had actually beat our offer but we seemed like more qualified buyers so she wanted to see if we could submit a higher offer and agree to close on a specific date.

We agreed on the closing date and decided to offer $173,000 with no closing costs included. The seller accepted the offer, yay!!

We started scheduling the home inspection which has to be completed within 5 days of getting an offer accepted and we transferred $1,000 in earnest money from savings. (This is commonly referred to as “good faith” money that you give to the seller to express your interest in the property while they hold if for you pending an offer approval. If all goes well, your earnest money can go toward your down payment when you close on the house.)

We were super excited and I told my son Jordan since he fell completely in love with the house during the showing.

About two days before the inspection, I was at the gym when I checked my phone and saw my husband forwarded me an email from the seller’s lawyer. It looked like a bunch of gibberish to me but long story short, the seller had canceled the contract for reasons “other than the purchase price”.

I felt my heart sink once I realized what the email meant.

We called our lawyer and she said the seller could legally do that within a certain time frame. We were pretty crushed, and I was kicking myself for telling Jordan about the approval.

There were some other issues that went on with the seller and that particular situation and it really crushed us. Throughout our communication and experience with the seller and her agent, they were very unethical and seemed to take advantage of the position they were in.

Deep down, I feel the seller went with an offer that was even higher than ours and it’s understandable that they’d want to get more profit on their home. My main problem was the fact that they accepted our offer giving us false hope, wasted our time, and almost screwed us out of the earnest and home inspection money.

Moving Forward

Those few flops were pretty hard for us, but I’m trying to separate emotions and getting ahead of myself from the logistics of everything even though it’s difficult.

It’s hard to not get emotionally attached to a home you’re going to buy and want to enjoy living in. It’s a huge investment but things fall through all the time and the bidding wars can really stretch your finances.

I’m grateful for this experience however, since it’s been fun seeing houses as a family but I learned my lesson to keep my mouth shut and not to tell my son anything until it’s time to close.

So far it’s has been a roller coaster but I know it will be worth it in the end. When we do find the one and I share the news, just know it took a lot to get to this point.

Have you ever experienced buying a home in a buyer’s market? Do you have any tips for not getting emotionally attached to properties when going to showings?

I’d also love to hear from any sellers because I know it can be just as overwhelming. Any difficulties when trying to sell your home?

The post Buying a Home in a Brutal Real Estate Market first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post Buying a Home in a Brutal Real Estate Market appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t involve sleeping in or laying on the couch, eating bon-bons and watching television all day until my son gets home.

During my last day in the life post, I shared my crazy busy schedule and I’m still hard at work even though each day can be extremely different.

My Typical Tuesday

4:45 a.m. – My alarm goes off and I wake up. I never hit snooze. I get up at this time Tues-Thurs in order to get my exercise out of the way for the day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to a kickboxing gym that’s across town about 25 minutes away.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I go to a regular fitness center about 3 minutes away from my house for group classes. Since Tuesday is the longer stretch, I hop out of bed, brush my teeth, get dressed, grab my water and boxing gloves, warm up the car etc.

Kickboxing has really been a great outlet stress reliever for me and I’ve even lost 8 pounds already which is a nice perk. It’s expensive, but with my membership I get unlimited classes so I could go seven days a week if I wanted or multiple times a day.

5:10 a.m. – I try to leave out by this time or 5:15 a.m. at the latest. There’s usually no traffic in the morning which is nice, but it’s winter so I need to take the road conditions into account too.

5:35 a.m. – I arrive at the kickboxing gym. I greet two of my smiling instructors and wonder how they can be up so bright and early with so much energy. Maybe they’re coffee drinkers. I don’t really consider myself a coffee drinker even though I will have a cup rarely like once or twice a month.

Remarkably, coffee doesn’t do much to wake me up in the morning and I could go without the extra sugar so I usually don’t drink it.

After I greet the instructors and chat for a bit, I put my stuff away in the locker room and start stretching and getting prepared for class.

5:45 a.m. – 6:45 a.m. – Class runs for about an hour. It starts with a gruesome workout then some fun kicks, jabs, and hooks. I challenge myself, sweat a lot, and always estimate how many calories I’ve burned throughout the hour. My instructor usually says we burn about 750 calories on average during that hour. Not a bad way to start your day before the sun even comes up.

6:45 a.m. – 7:15 a.m. – I leave class and drive back home.

7:15 a.m. – 7:25 a.m. – I usually arrive back home with a few minutes to greet my son and talk with him before my husband drops him off to school. I usually ride along for the morning school drop off every day except Tues./Thurs.

7:25 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. – I shower, get changed again, make breakfast and talk with my husband when he gets back from dropping our son off at school around the corner. If I have time, I may even work on cleaning the kitchen (hopefully).

8:00 a.m. – I usually start working. I’m eager to start working as early as possible because I know all my energy for the day lies in the morning. I can’t really do anything super productive in the evening which is why I save cleaning the house for later in the day because it requires less brain power.

I may mess around on Facebook for a bit and interact in some of the groups I’m in but my goal is usually to finish at least one article by 9 when my husband leaves for work.

Today, I decided to stay home but some days I go to a coffee shop or the library if I don’t feel like spending any money. The library doesn’t open until 9 so on those days I’d start work later or just start at home and pick back up at the library. I’ve found quite a few coworking spaces in my area but have been hesitant to drop the cash to become a member and use the space regularly. It seems like a luxury to me.

From this time until lunch I try to knock out as much of my to-do list as possible whether it’s client work, responding to important emails, meetings etc.

12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. – I break off for lunch whenever I get hungry but it’s usually around noon. I try to eat at home for the most part so I’m not spending more money on expensive restaurant meals.

Sometimes my mom stops by to bring me food too which is pretty funny. My mom got a little too excited when I told her I’d be working from home and since she works mostly during the weekend and lives pretty close, she tries to call or stop by around my ‘lunch break’ and will bring me food she’s cooked or just something random.

Today though, I just watch my favorite YouTube channels while I eat like Clevver News for celebrity gossip. Don’t judge me, lol!

12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. I pick back up with working and try to power through my food coma.

2:00 p.m. My favorite part of the day! I pack up and get ready to leave out to get my son from school. The school is so close, but I have to drive during this time of year because it’s super cold so I leave out a bit earlier to get a good park.

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – My son and I get home, I make him a snack and we talk about stuff. He always has a good story for me whether it’s about school, his friends, or one of the many mysteries of life. We also do homework during this time which is super easy. I love first grade homework! I’m not looking forward to the confusing math work he’ll have in a few years.

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – This is our down time during the day to relax. My son will usually watch one of his favorite shows, play on his tablet or play in his room. If I don’t have extra work to finish up and if we don’t have errands to run, I clean up a little bit, read, watch T.V. with my son or nap.

5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. – I cook dinner. It usually takes anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour to prepare dinner depending on what I’m making and if I’m intentionally making enough for leftovers so I won’t have to cook the following day.

5:45 p.m. – 6:05 p.m. – We eat dinner, then get ready for my son’s Boy Scout meeting.

6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. – We stay at the Boy Scout meeting. Meetings are only once or twice a month on Tuesdays and sometimes it’s tricky because I have a call with a client every other Tuesday from 7-8 p.m. Sometimes schedules conflict but for the most part they don’t which is good.

7:35 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. – We get back home and my husband is now home from work finishing up his dinner. He gets back around 7ish most days. During this time we try to do a family activity since we put our son down for bed on week days.

Tonight we play video games together for a bit. Some of the games we like playing together include Plants vs. Zombies and Injustice. Other nights it’s board games, books, or whatever.

I get my son ready for bed and tuck him in around 8:30 p.m.

8:30 p.m. – I finish up any chores I have, then my husband and I talk and hang out. We usually watch a T.V. show together. We finished watching the second season of Empire, so right now we’re watching The Fosters which is in its 4th or 5th season right now I think but I recently found out about.

I did some binge watching a few weekends ago so I’m on season 3 while my husband is still on season 2 but I don’t mind re-watching some of the episodes. As long as we’re spending quality time together.

9:30 p.m. Lights out for me. I have to wake up at 4:45 a.m. the following morning and head to the gym!

Some Noticable Changes

Now you know what a typical day is like for me now that I’ve quit my job to work for myself. If you read my last day in the life update, you probably noticed that I was tied down at work until around 5 p.m. or sometimes later most days and I relied on my husband more since he got off work earlier.

Now, he’s the one working longer hours so it works out well that I have more flexibility to be at home. My typical day may seem more dull now, but like I said, no day is ever the same and I love that. Plus, I can choose whether I want to have a laid back dull day or a more eventful one thanks to my flexible schedule.

While I don’t have actual coworkers to bounce ideas off or keep me company throughout the day, I have some great local friends plus my family nearby, as well as all my online entrepreneur friends from the FinCon community.

It makes me feel great to know that I can interact in Facebook groups with people who are experiencing the same things that I am each day or hop on a quick call with someone to ask for advice or catch up.

My schedule has improved so much over the past year and while I may still be juggling, I feel like I have more control and balance. I can’t wait to see how my typical day will look a year from now.

The post A Day in the Life of a Full Time Work-From-Home Mom first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post A Day in the Life of a Full Time Work-From-Home Mom appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.

The icing on the cake was that I still able to stick to my main goal of paying off as much debt as possible. My husband and I made a joint effort to pay off a huge chunk of our debt this year and we ended up paying off $14,354.81!

It wasn’t always an easy process especially since we don’t earn a ton of money. My husband has an entry-level job and before I left my day job, I was only making around $36,000 annually.

Before I share the best practices on how to merge finances after marriage, and how we managed to pay off more than $14k in debt while only earning somewhere around the average American household income. I wanted to break down our debt categories so you can get a clearer picture of our situation.

A Breakdown of How Much Debt We Had to Begin With

Longtime readers of my blog may be a little confused as to how much debt we started with. When I started my blog, I was only dating my now husband so I only reported my personal debt amounts which were around $30,000 back in 2015.

This debt included a $10,000 car loan and my student loans. I paid off my car loan completely in 2015 and started chipping away at my student loans.

This year, my husband and I got married in May and we didn’t manage finances together before then which meant we had separate bank accounts but still split a few living expenses.

By the time we got married mid-2016, we combined our debt and had about $40,000 together.

However, since I’m discussing how much debt we paid off for the entire year, only mentioning our progress after we got married would be telling just half the story.

So starting in January 2016 (when we were still engaged) we had about $44,983.14 worth of debt which included:

My Student Loans: $19.384.37

His Student Loans: $16,120.62

His Credit Card Debt: $2,776.11

His Auto Loan: $4,603.04

Our Shared Finance Purchase: $2,099

Here are the key things we did in order to crush our debt this year.

We Got on the Same Page

Getting on the same page was the first step. My husband and I made a joint decision to work toward debt freedom so we could live a life with less worry over finances and have more control over our money.

We hated making payments to lenders each month when the money could have been kept to line our pockets or invest or save.

We decided to start having bi-weekly ‘money meetings’ or ‘finance dates’. Sure, it doesn’t sound sexy but it was actually pretty fun to get together twice a month and discuss our financial situation and our goals. We chose to commit to the avalanche method of debt repayment which allows you to focus on paying off high-interest debt (that is costing you the most money each month) first, then work on low-interest debt after.

We bounced ideas around and held each other accountable which helped during uncertain times when it wasn’t so easy to make extra payments on our debt.

Related Blog Posts: Creating a Student Loan Plan of Attack
Have Debt But Want to Invest? Here’s What You Need to Know

We Committed To Living Like College Students

My husband and I both went to a state college and we’d never heard of college students living lavish or inflating their lifestyle. Thus, we decided to keep living like cheap college students even if we started earning more so we could maximize our debt payments each month.

Buying a house has been a long-time goal of mine but for now, we live in a two-bedroom apartment with our son and make the best out of it. Like most people do who are trying to improve their finances, we lowered and cut unnecessary expenses like cable, our cell phone bills, and dining out.

All the furniture in our home is from college and I picked up a few nice items at garage sales over the years. The T.V. in our living room was given to us by a friend but several pixels started going out over the past few weeks. The T.V. still works perfectly fine though.

We both take turns cooking at home in order to avoid the temptation of dining out all the time and my husband committed to bringing his lunch to work for the past two years straight.

We take really good care of our clothes and buy used or clearance items when we need them. Adopting this frugal ‘broke college student’ lifestyle may not be glamorous, but it makes us happy because we have more money to spend in other areas.

For people who don’t get that like my husband’s old boss who playfully made fun of him for bringing a home lunch to work all the time, we could care less about what they think.

Related Blog Posts: How to Save Money in Almost Every Area of Your Life
How I Save Money By Avoiding Expensive Work Lunches
When Moving to Save Money Becomes a Habit

We Increased Our Income

Since we don’t earn a large 6-figure income (yet), it’s not like we had a lot of extra money to throw toward our debt each month. Cutting out expenses and living like college kids was only half of the equation.

The other half was finding ways to earn more. Back when I worked for a traditional employer, I started freelancing and blogging on the side. Freelance writing was my main source of extra income which allowed me to make extra payments on my debt. I was also doing something I loved so that was an extra win.

At the end of August, I actually quit my job so I could be a full-time freelance writer. Yet and still, the fact that we had lowered our expenses so much allowed me to still be able to contribute extra debt payments even while being self-employed.

I talked to my husband about finding a side hustle too and he decided to start driving for Uber. He’s a people person so he loves it along with the fact that he has the flexibility to drive for Uber whenever he has extra time.

With our side hustle income, we set strict goals during our money meetings to use it to pay down our debt instead of succumbing to lifestyle inflation.

Related Blog Posts: How to Get Started With Freelance Writing
5 Reasons Why You Should Start Driving for Uber
How to Find the Right Side Hustle For You
Low Effort Ways to Make Extra Money

We Committed to Spending Based on Our Values

Finally, an important step we took was to prioritize our spending by spending mostly on the things we valued. I know to some it may sound like we were depriving ourselves by living so frugally, cutting cable, not buying new clothes or shoes, avoiding the iPhone craze, and being patient with our bulky T.V.

However, we didn’t find it that hard to make those decisions because we realized we didn’t value fancy cell phones, flat screen T.V.s, cable and other material things.

We focused on things we found fun and valuable like experiences. We went camping and to Wisconsin Dells over the summer as a family.

I started paying for a gym membership because my health is very important to me and I found that I didn’t have the discipline to commit to working out at home. We also paid for our son to participate in extracurricular activities that he loves like basketball and Boy Scouts.

Value-based spending has a lot of power. Instead of wasting your extra money on impulse purchases for things you think you want or getting caught up in the vicious cycle of consumerism just because ‘everyone else is buying it’, you can spend money on things you truly value instead and avoid overspending as a whole.

Related Blog Posts: How I Started Living Intentionally Without Even Realizing It
Frugal Ways to Entertain Yourself
How to Avoid Grief Spending

Embracing Frugality and Being Realistic About Debt Payoff

All in all, I’m extremely proud of the amount of debt we’ve paid off these over past 12 months. Embracing a frugal lifestyle and still holding onto our values has played a key role in our success so far.

Sometimes when you’re paying off debt the process can seem draining. While it’s important to hustle your butt off, it’s also equally as important to think about the present and find a balance between enjoying your journey and living consciously now as well.

Our debt payoff strategy may not work like a charm for everyone, but it’s allowed us to realistically measure and maximize our debt payments.

The hustle will continue as we hope to have the remainder of our debt completely paid off within the next 24 months or less.

Don’t Forget to Enter the Holiday Giveway!

This month marks my two-year blogoversary. To celebrate and say thanks to my readers, I decided to offer another holiday giveaway. Enter to win a $50 digital or physical gift card just in time for the holidays or to use for something else. The giveaway closes on 12/15 and I’ll announce a winner. Good luck!

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My Favorite Resources

Rakuten – This is my favorite and easiest way to earn cash back for regular online shopping. Rakuten partners with most online retailers to help you apply coupons to your purchases AND cash back. They pay me a nice check every quarter with my earnings.

Earn More Writing – Learn how to start freelance writing from a writer who went from $0 to $225,000 per year.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – Most bloggers I know are raving about this course and that’s because it’s awesome and really works if you want to make money from affiliate marketing.

The post How My Husband and I Paid Off $14,354.81 of Debt This Year first appeared on My Debt Epiphany.

The post How My Husband and I Paid Off $14,354.81 of Debt This Year appeared first on My Debt Epiphany.