I wanted to share with you some ways this stay-at-home boy mom has been able to get re-focused, reach some goals, pay off debt like a champ, and Dream bigger while living with less! I will give you 7 tips as well as some in-site on how these have been working for my fam and I. Enjoy!
#1: Make a Budget
I REALLY wanted to ATTACK DEBT this year. Like PUNCH IT IN THE FACE type of attack. I decided to use the EveryDollar App. Here I am able to create a monthly Budget of ALL our income and expenses. It really helps you see where you are financially. So far we have paid off $5809.96 just this year towards debt and are now completely Credit Card DEBT free! We still owe on our remaining student loans, but have come up with a Game Plan to Attack that Debt this year! Atleast, that’s the goal. So $15,000 to go!
#2: Create A Game Plan
At the beginning of the year I knew I needed to make some changes. I didn’t know what my resolutions would be right away but towards the end of that month I “knew” what those goals were. So First and foremost, I wanted to get healthy. I had a 3 month old and most of my weight was from holiday eating not even the baby. I actually gained more after he was born. I figured I needed to learn more about diet and nutrition, and wanted to be healthy not just try to get to a certain number.
Another one of my goals was to drink more water. I now understand that it’s not just a good idea, but it is literally what fuels us. Most of my “sluggish moods” was due to my dehydration. Living in Florida, it is absolutely a must to drink enough water. Now whenever I feel “off” I take in consideration my water intake. If it’s low, that’s why I do not feel “on.” So I try to always drink 20 sips of water each morning.
I also make monthly goals based on what I need to get done and wish to accomplish. This helps me stay focused on what is ahead of me. I also am able to stay away from opportunities that try to pop up and distract me from our family goals. For example if some one wants me to join a business where there a lot of starter fees I will remember my goal to become entirely debt free and will know immediately that it’s not a good idea right now. However, if there is an opportunity to join a neighborhood yard sale, that actually aligns with my goals, so count me in! Perhaps extreme examples but distractions come on the daily! SO BE TOUGH at saying no to things that will keep you from meeting your goals!
#3: Get Rid of STUFF or SELL IT
This is where Everything REALLY started. I started to get rid of stuff in 2015. I decided to try the Posh Mark App. I realized I really enjoyed Selling things! I then started using a few other Apps depending on what I was selling. Here are the top 4 resell apps that I use.
I have had the most success with these 4 selling sites. Now I won’t lie, there is definitely work to using these sites. You’ll have to learn how to use them, the do’s and don’t, and what sells well and what just wont. There are things that sell faster than others, just like certain brands are more popular and will pretty much guarantee a quicker sale. It’s all up to how much work you want to put into it. You can take your items to Goodwill, there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you’re like me and you still owe on some debts, it would be wise to try and make something on them. I have included links to each site. some are affiliate links that will give you $5-$10 if you decide to sign up and make a purchase. Feel free to click on them and see which sites you like best!
#4: Eat out Less
If you have been following along I changed to an all vegan diet at the end of January. Now that I am 6 months in, I am practical as I can be. My diet is mostly vegetarian, but closest to vegan. I just want to make it clear that there are slip ups here and there mainly with ingredients when cooking for my fam. For example, I made tacos the other night with meatless meat and my friend realized that there was traces of milk in my taco seasoning after I had already sprinkled it onto my plant based meat. Although I do not tend to consume milk, I allowed myself to move forward and I just wont be buying that seasoning again. It’s better to create your own seasonings and recipes anyway!
Changing to Vegan actually meant more money in our wallet. Now I pretty much ONLY eat at home. We do have a couple fav vegan restaurants, but mostly we make our own meals. To save even more, we decided to stick to a $400 a month budget and only shop at Aldi. It is the only place nearby that helps us stick to our budget. I buy mainly produce and pretty much cook with veggies all week. We snack on fruit. (my kid just had me refill his bowl with more blue berries as I’m here trying to type.) We add rice, beans, and good fats for heavier meals. We joke often how we might just eat rice and beans for a year to save more! Not sure about that! We decided for the month of June we would not eat out. I put aside some money for fathers day, but other than that we spent $0 on restaurants. This allowed us to pay a total of $2755.55 towards our debt in June!
#5: Punch Debt in the Face!
Let me just share one annoying thing about our credit card debt. You see we weren’t actively using credit cards. In fact we hadn’t used them in about 4 years. We just had freaking HIGH interest and paying the minimum payment gets you NO WHERE! One way I was able to get focused was to read others stories on how THEY were doing what I longed to do. I started listening to Dave Ramsey’s Radio Podcast last month. I got the app, and I listen to it daily. I felt like I was learning so much when I heard how other people were attacking their debt. I learned about the “baby steps” and realized we kind of did things a bit out of order. Just to give you a glimpse I will add a few of the steps for you to read about.
Baby Step #1: Save $1000
“In this first step, your goal is to save $1,000 as fast as you can. (And not just “fast.” We’re talking as fast as you can!) Your emergency fund will cover those unexpected life events you can’t plan for. Without an emergency fund, most people feel like they have to go into debt to cover surprise expenses like a busted pipe or medical bills. But not you! You’re not doing debt anymore.” – Dave Ramsey
We actually used our savings to pay off debt, so now we are working to build that back up. His next step is to Attack DEBT! Which we are doing! Now we have to save that $1000 before paying off MORE DEBT. But once we do, we are ready to start the battle once more!
Baby Step #2: Pay off DEBT!
PAY OFF ALL DEBT (EXCEPT THE HOUSE) USING THE DEBT SNOWBALL.
“Now it’s time to pay off all that nasty debt. Start by listing all of your debts you owe on outside of your mortgage. The cars. The student loans. The credit cards. The store cards. The gas cards. (Yikes, that’s a lot—but don’t stop now!) Put them in order by balance from smallest to largest. Don’t worry about interest rates unless two debts have similar balances—then you’ll list the debt with a higher interest rate first. This is called the debt snowball method, and you’ll use it to knock out your debts one by one. ” –Dave Ramsey
Like I said above we still owe on student Loans, so once we build that savings, we will be able to use what Dave refers to as the “snow ball” to clear away existing debts.
Baby Step # 3 SAVE 3–6 MONTHS OF EXPENSES IN A FULLY FUNDED EMERGENCY FUND.
“You’ve paid off your debt! Way to go! But don’t slow down now. It’s time to take that money you were throwing at your debt and build your full emergency fund to cover 3–6 months of your expenses. We know that sounds like a lot of money, but it should be! You want this to protect you against life’s bigger surprises like the loss of a job or your car breaking down. With that much cash saved up, you won’t have to slip back into debt to cover these emergencies.” – Dave Ramsey
This will be something we focus on AFTER we Pay off our Debts. Our goal is to be able to clear out all our student Loans by December, so that we can start saving for the future! One of the things we were doing backwards, was investing. We actually pulled out our stocks so that we could pay off debt and plan to re-invest once we have things in order. Investing is part of Dave’s 4th baby step. Feel free to check his stuff out with the links I have above.
#6: Make Money Doing Something you LOVE
I write all this to show you that it’s possible. It’s not to brag or just to create good writing content….Honestly, it’s to spark some hope. Last September I lost both my jobs. I was pregnant, and I was praying in general that God would mix things up in our lives. I was exhausted. We were working to pay off debt back then, but nothing in comparison to now. Our mindset is different, and WE now have clear goals. It’s crazy to think that we could be debt free a year after I was let go from those jobs. I decided that this was my opportunity to make my own dream become reality. So both doors closed big time last September, Red tide really hit Florida hard, both companies I worked for were in a place that they no longer could keep me, plus they probably saw me having a baby the next month as a good time to let me off nicely. Things were just shifting in all our lives. I wasn’t upset, I wasn’t afraid. To me I had been promoted. I knew I was ready to get re focused about my life.I knew God was nudging me to get healing, and move forward to new and more fulfilling things. So my Husband and I started our very own Business. It’s what got us started with this Blog. It’s more so an outlet for me, but it really has allowed us to have vision for our family. We examined our lives, looked at what we loved to do and went from there. My husband used to work as a fitness specialist and is now a carpenter. I am a dancer and an artist who loves to connect with people and write. Together we decided that we really enjoy making old things new. Whether it’s inspiring others to be healthier and live more fulfilling lives or finding something old and refurbishing it. We Are Sojourners, Made for More. We believe that all old things can be made new. Even me and you.
#7: DREAM BIG
It comes down to the clarity of YOUR goals. Put them to paper. TALK about them. Stop letting TIME pass you by! Start doing the things you LOVE. Not by faking it till you make it, but by being content with what you have so you do not get yourself into money messes again. I can’t expect my debt to stay away if I start buying things outside of my wage. It doesn’t mean that I can’t have those things ONE day. It just might not be TODAY. You can chase those dreams all you want just like our family. You just need to know upfront that it will be HARD! But let your dream fuel you. It was hard to stay home at times, and hard to tell friends I couldn’t do this or that. But our DREAM is worth it, and so is your my friend! So 7 months into this year and I’m feelin pretty good! Can’t wait to continue to update you guys with what’s happening next! Feel free to leave your goals and dreams in the comments! Let’s do this FAM!
-Sarah Clerval
We Are Sojourners, Made for More.
We Are Sojourners 