You and I both know that getting out of debt and reaching our financial goals is WAY MORE than just scrimping pennies and slashing our spending as much as we can.
Right?
Commit. Plan. Take action.
You and I both know that getting out of debt and reaching our financial goals is WAY MORE than just scrimping pennies and slashing our spending as much as we can.
Right?
A few years ago, Sarah Li Cain found herself jobless, broke, and in $9,000 credit card debt after a breakup with her boyfriend.
Today, Sarah is debt-free, married, and living a happy life with her husband and spirited toddler.
Sarah is a freelance writer and illustrator. She believes in the power of storytelling and wants people to share their money stories to remove the stigma around money. An avid traveler, she believes that the way to a happy and productive life is to love your money and be compassionate when it comes to your finances.
I am so excited to share Sarah’s story and introduce her brand new book, Cha Ching! A Money Coloring Book.
In the interview, Sarah shares:
Thanks again to Sarah for sharing her debt-free journey and her new coloring book with us! [bctt tweet=”How @sarahlicain went from credit card debt to loving her money.” username=”MonicaRLouie”]
Sarah’s brand new coloring book, “Cha Ching! A Money Coloring Book” is available by clicking here.
You can find out more about Sarah at HighFivingDollars.com.
What did you learn from Sarah’s story? Have you been in a relationship that put you into debt? If so, how did you handle it? Please share in the comments below.
Join me in our private Facebook group called Your Debt Freedom Family, where we’ve got an awesome community of people who are kicking debt to the curb so they can break free and live life on their terms.
I’d love to see you there!
Keep moving forward toward your goals. You really can live the life you dream about!
This is part 2 of 2 of our summer update. If you haven’t read part 1, click here to catch up.
In our disappointment, we scrambled to figure out what to do.
Our agent put our house back on the market, and we planned to have an open house that weekend so that we could encourage more lookers.
We had already locked in our rate with our mortgage broker so we only had a couple of weeks to find new buyers if we wanted to close on time and avoid being penalized for the transaction falling through.
And then something unexpected happened —
An emergency fund is something we all know we need, but unfortunately, a lot of us don’t have any savings.
And if we do, we don’t know if we have the right amount.
Have you ever had a personal loan from a friend or co-worker?
I sure have.
It’s a situation a lot of people have been in, and it has the potential to destroy relationships.
It has been a little while since I posted a debt update on the site. As mentioned in my blog post “Is Your Outlook Holding You Back?” we’ve been able to pay down a significant amount of debt over the past year or so. Most of this has been done by snowballing our debt (to the best of our ability). Here’s a debt update with detailed numbers…
The major three things that have happened since our last debt update on the blog are…
Altogether, these three things will free up around $800 per month to go towards paying off other debts and saving.
On top of paying those three things off, we have decided NOT to pull out a loan for my wisdom tooth extraction. Instead, we’ve decided to save and pay in cash for it. With the additional $800 or so per month (starting in August), we should have the money to pay for that in the early fall.
Other “wins” when it comes to our debt freedom progress have been paying down the amount on my husband’s tool bills. Each of them has been paid down significantly each month. We should see them disappear in less than a year (nearly $600 per month). Now that a few other items are paid off, we should be able to reallocate the funds to get these paid off faster.
We’ve both been searching for ways to make additional money as we continue snowballing our debt as well. My husband has been picking up quick mechanic jobs within the community for extra cash (i.e. putting in a battery on the weekend, or jumping someone’s car).
I’ve been looking for things around the house to sell and picking up a freelance project from time-to-time. More recently, I discovered an old coal bed warmer we’ve had collecting dust. Online it says these can go for between $250 and $1,000. I’m hoping to visit an antique store and sell that soon. That extra cash will go directly into paying for my wisdom tooth extraction.
All in all, our debt update for June is looking pretty good. I’m happy about it and can’t wait to see how it progresses in the future. Of course, I’ll keep you all updated here.
Readers, do you have any easy side hustles that have really helped you decrease your debt? Let me know in the comment section below!
What were we going to do?
It hadn’t even been two months since my last day of work, and we saw that our savings we had built up to prepare for me to stay home was starting to disappear.
I have a very special video to share with you! And I am offering my first giveaway on the blog!
I’ll tell you how to participate in the giveaway in a moment, but first, let me tell you about the video.
I’ll be the first one to admit that when I think about having all of my debt paid off I start to think about the things I’ll be able to do, things I’ll be able to buy, etc. If you’re thinking the same way, stop! You won’t ever be able to stay debt-free if you’re constantly thinking about what you’ll spend your next bit of money on. So, how do you stay debt-free?
As a part of becoming debt free you probably had to create a budget. The best way to create a budget after becoming debt-free is to set a zero-sum budget (where all your income is spent one way or another at the end of the month). The money not being spent will go into savings (or debt payments if you still have them). Once you’ve set a budget, don’t waiver from it. That will only open a window for debt to get in.
Once you’ve created a budget, automate the rest. Set your bills to automatically draft from your account so that you won’t encounter late fees or credit score drops. You can also have your savings withdrawn from your paycheck instantly so that even saving money can be effortless. If you have to think about your finances less you’ll be less likely to create more debt.
This is a huge point on the list of things you need to do to stay debt-free. Most people wrack up debt by living outside their means, buying things they cannot afford. If you continue to do this once you’ve become debt-free you won’t remain without debt for very long.
Holding yourself accountable is another big deal. You may not realize it but if you have a lackadaisical approach to finance your finances may suffer. If you find yourself having trouble holding yourself accountable for financial decisions, chat with a friend you can trust and have them remind you have why you want to stay debt-free.
Other “Our Debt Free Family” readers also enjoyed:
Another great way to stay out of debt is to cut out temptation. For example, if you have multiple credit cards consider cutting the ones you don’t need/don’t use. This will prohibit you from being able to use them for an unnecessary purchase.
If you’re searching for more support on your debt-free journey, join a debt-free community. The Saving Advice forums is a great place on the internet where many people collaborate on various personal finance topics, including being debt-free. There are a number of other great debt-free communities on the web as well.
Those trying to stay debt-free have likely already paid off a tremendous amount of debt. Keep a reminder of the absolute agony that was paying off your debt. To do this, some people have framed loan payments, loan amounts, statements, etc. You can also simply keep a reminder somewhere you look often (like a desk drawer).
Lastly, if you’ve paid off a lot of debt and are living a debt-free lifestyle you deserve to celebrate sometimes. To maintain a debt-free lifestyle you need to allow yourself some wiggle room from time to time, so remember to enjoy yourself! A bit of comparison shopping or finding a good deal will also make you feel great and reinforce the savings process.
Are you maintaining a debt-free lifestyle? What’s your secret?
Can you imagine what it would be like to pay off $500,000 of debt?
Well, our guest today did just that!