One of the very real fears people have is that of spending money.
This is especially true after you have been in a frugal mindset for a long period of time.
When you are so used to pinching every penny, it’s common to become scared to start spending more money.
While this isn’t always a bad thing, it can contribute to a scarcity mindset and prevent you from taking full advantage of your financial resources.
A year ago, I took the plunge and quit my job to be a full-time freelancer. It was a bold, scary move considering I was and still am in debt.
Of the many reasons I chose self-employment, flexibility and increasing my income were paramount in my decision. I believed I could make more money on my own since I worked low-paying nonprofit jobs for the bulk of my career, making roughly $30,000 per year. I’m happy to report I’ve accomplished that after a year, and more of that income is going towards paying off debt too.
Although I’ve reached my goals and have more balance and am earning more, it’s not been without trial and tribulations. I feel like I’ve been on an accelerated learning curve the past year, navigating the uncertain waters of freelancing.
Here are the top things I learned in my first year as a full-time freelancer.
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Warm weather, combined with recent rain, finally has my lawn green and growing. I’ve dropped my first application of fertilizer, pulled my lawn mower from the shed, and generally gotten ready for another season of lawn care. Soon enough, my lawn will need to be mowed regularly.
I love being outside and mowing the lawn, but I’m a busy guy — and the two hours it takes to cut the grass and trim around the house is sometimes hard to find.
That being said, I have a teenage son who is looking to earn some extra money. He’d like to get a part-time job, but getting one at age 15 is difficult, because most business require applicants to be at least 16.
Mowing the lawn would be a perfect way for me to save some time, and for him to earn some money. But here’s the question:
How much should I pay him to mow my lawn?
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One of the most important things you can do is to save enough for retirement. Unfortunately, many Americans aren’t saving anything for their future.
According to a survey from GoBankingRates.com, it looks as though about one in three Americans has absolutely nothing in their nest egg. This is a concerning number since it indicates that many people aren’t preparing for their financial future.
Here are the results of the survey, indicating how much money the respondents say they have saved for retirement:
Many times when people ask me what I do, I get mixed responses when I explain that I’m a stay-at-home mom. Some people are a little put off by it (which is totally fine), while others look at me as if I have stumbled upon this lucky coin in life. “I wish I could stay at home with my babies too, but we need my income”, is usually the response I hear.
For some individuals, staying at home is not a choice because they do need the extra income. However, when another mom tells me how lucky I am, I can’t help notice that they have a nice iPhone, new and trendy clothes, as well as a pricey SUV. None of these things are bad, but my point is that staying at home and living on one income does require a bit of sacrifice. That lucky coin is not be attributed to luck after-all.
Here are the two questions I asked myself when I wanted to stay at home with my kids, and still make sure the bills were paid.
When I first became interested in personal finance, I felt as though I was learning a new language. I started learning new terms related to budgeting, saving, paying off debt, and investing.
I learned the difference between the snowball and avalanche methods for debt repayment, I became educated on the various complexities, terms, and abbreviations that come along with investing, and have at least two or three methods of budgeting under my belt (my favorite is the zero-sum budget, which gives every dollar a job).
A few months after I started my unofficial education, I started seeing another foreign term being thrown around: FIRE.
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