Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
One of the more interesting trends emerging from COVID is homeschooling. After all, we all got a taste of zoom classrooms and while many people had a hard time dealing with kids at home while trying to get work done, others like not needing to shuttle the kids around town multiple times a day. With the end of the school year in sight, I’ve been thinking about this issue quite a bit. There’s no way I’d ever homeschool my son, but I can understand why some parents feel it’s right for them. I know several families that homeschool, including some in my extended family.
For some, it means a better lifestyle – and saving money. Here’s what I mean:
The Homeschooling Lifestyle
Many of the families I know choose to homeschool because it fits their lifestyles. Just like your personal finances are individual, so is your lifestyle. Fitting it to your needs makes sense, however you decide to do it. [ continue reading… ]
Juggling working at home while having two little ones underfoot is an extremely hard thing to do. On one hand, you are lucky to get the opportunity to work at home while still taking care of your children. On the other hand, little ones, whether you have one or more, require constant attention and love. It’s not an exaggeration to say that having kids can easily derail your business goals. How do you balance both?
Get Real Expectations
The first thing you have to do when trying to achieve balance in your work-at-home schedule with young kids is to set realistic expectations. You cannot really think you will be able to work through nap time every day. My first child has always been a strong sleeper (12 hours straight at night starting at eight weeks – I know, amazing!), but she still experienced sleep regressions, teething, and sickness every once in a while. Now add another kid or two into the mix, and nap and sleep schedules become quite unpredictable.
Set goals for your business each day, but also be prepared when life steps in the way. What will your plan B be if you can’t work during nap time or bedtime? Being realistic with yourself will help you to take on the right amount of workload that won’t stress you out. I cannot tell you how many times I allowed myself to get stressed over missed deadlines. Don’t make that mistake. [ continue reading… ]
So you’ve made that very difficult first step and decided it’s time to do something about your debt. Maybe you’ve reached the end of your financial rope. Perhaps you signed up for a money management program, enrolled in a debt relief plan, or maybe you’re doing it all on your own.
You’re excited about the prospect of finally getting your finances on track and starting down the path to achieving this thing called financial freedom that you’ve heard so much about. But before you take the plunge, there’s one prerequisite to getting started.
Years ago, I had an elderly patient I loved to visit. She had a huge personality, a quick mind (and tongue), and a sense of humor that would leave you gasping for air. She was just one of those people that others loved to spend time with. She also had the worst case of diabetes I’d ever encountered. She was taking huge doses of four types of insulin and needed to check her blood sugar six times a day. During one visit, I made a call to her doctor to discuss her steadily rising blood sugars. “I can’t put her on anything else,“ he said. “She’s going to have to exercise to help bring it down.” Well, for most folks, a little exercise isn’t such a big deal. But for this gal, even getting to the bathroom was a chore. She was blind, severely obese, and had difficulty breathing to boot.
I broke the news to her and told her we’d do it together. We started small, mostly because we had to. We started by taking three steps every time I came to see her. We ventured outside on nice days to pull weeds out of her flowerbeds for 10 minutes. She did the pots; I did the beds. It wasn’t much, but we keep at it every day. [ continue reading… ]
Becoming a homeowner is the American dream right? Unfortunately, too many people rush into this dream – only to find themselves in financial despair and facing foreclosure. This could’ve easily happened to me.
After getting divorced a year ago, I thought about purchasing a home of my own. I was working two jobs and sharing a bedroom at my dad’s house with my two daughters. I was desperate to be out on my own again.
To keep a long story short, I did make a few offers on houses. Unfortunately, all of the offers fell through for one reason or another. After this disappointment, I smartened up and decided to wait until I was financially stable to buy my own home. Instead of thinking about houses, I focused on keeping my expenses low and my savings high. I took out a small loan and bought a trailer to live in.
I’ve now realized how important it is to have your ducks in a row before even thinking about homeownership.
Here are three ways to financially prepare for future home ownership: [ continue reading… ]
Depending on which personal finance gurus you follow particularly closely, you may have seen advice that you should sell some of your skills on the side to bring in more income. This can be good advice whether you’re trying to put more into savings each month or you’re trying to reduce debt, but just telling you that you should turn your skills into a side business probably isn’t going to help you accomplish the actual deed.
Especially if you’ve never started any sort of side business before, you’re going to want to read up on the mechanics of the process a little bit. Here’s what you need to get started. [ continue reading… ]
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