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3 Money Horror Stories That Will Keep You Up At Night

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<p>As you know, we have been on our own debt-free journey for some time now. My husband and I have come a long way, but before we got together (and even for a while afterwards), we’ve made some pretty awful money mistakes. Here are three stories from my past that still keep me up at night.</p>::Pexels

As you know, we have been on our own debt-free journey for some time now. My husband and I have come a long way, but before we got together (and even for a while afterwards), we’ve made some pretty awful money mistakes. Here are three stories from my past that still keep me up at night.

That Time I Cosigned For A Car

Let’s go back nearly a decade to 2013. At the time, I was living with my boyfriend. We’d been together several years and we combined some of our finances to pay the rent as well as other bills. However, we maintained separate bank accounts and still supported ourselves, for the most part.

That was, until his older car broke down and he needed a new one. His car being out of service hindered me quite a bit – I worked full time and commuted to college, so sharing my car was difficult. So, he went to see about buying something new and I went along with him.

Of course, his credit wasn’t approved for the car and he asked if I’d consider cosigning. Without thinking, I did it. Two years later, after he failed to make payments, the car was repossessed and it remained on my credit for several years. It made it hard for me to get a car on my own and even made it difficult to get approved for housing.

Never again! It still haunts me.

Paying For My Books On Credit

Another past financial decision that I’m occasionally reminded of is applying for an Amazon Credit Card in college. It was a horrible idea. I bought all of my school books on credit through Amazon, but not only that. I was buying anything and everything I could with that credit card. I maxed it out and neglected to pay it on time.

Eventually, my mom helped me pay it off, even though the account was closed. I think about how much debt I was happy to rack up at that time and it’s insane.

Ignoring Bills Until They Go To Collections

At one time, I used to ignore bills that I couldn’t afford and just let them go to collections. It got so bad that, at one time, I had more than $5,000 hanging out in collections. Crazy, right?

Now, I’ve changed a lot of my own personal finance habits to make sure none of these things happen ever again, but…

They still do keep me up at night sometimes.

What are some of your financial horror stories? Share them in the comments below!

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What Happens to My Credit Score When I Pay Off All My Debt?

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What happens to my credit score when I pay off all my debt?

This question came up in the Our Debt Freedom Family Facebook group recently, and I know a lot of people have the same question when getting out of debt.

So in this article we’re going to be answering the following question:

“How does being debt free affect your credit? We’ll be paying off our debt soon. When we do, we’ll keep our credit cards open, but what will my credit score look like when all the other loans are closed?”

A similar question was asked last year about how your score is affected when you close out one of your old credit cards. I wrote an article in response, and in that article, I went into great detail about how your credit score is calculated and how closing out the card affects your score.

To summarize, the most commonly used credit score is calculated using software created by the Fair Isaac Corporation, also known as FICO. Your FICO® score is determined and weighted by the following five factors:

  • Payment history — approximately 35%
  • Amounts owed — approximately 30%
  • Length of credit history — approximately 15%
  • New credit — approximately 10%
  • Types of credit in use — approximately 10%

If you close out all of your cards, pay off all of your loans, and never use credit again, eventually, the reporting agencies won’t be able to provide a score for you.

However, if you leave your cards open and use them once in awhile and keep them paid off, your credit score is likely to be very high.

In fact, I recently interviewed Christine Odle who paid off $500,000 worth of debt (house and everything) since 2009. She said that she has one credit card that she pays off several times each month, and her score is over 800.

My husband and I also have one credit card that we use and pay off each month (in addition to our mortgage) and our credit scores are over 800, as well. We’ve definitely seen our credit scores increase as our debt total has decreased over the past few years.

My question to anyone else concerned about their credit score is this —

Once you’ve paid everything off, do you plan to use credit again in the future? If not, then it probably won’t have much affect on your life. But if you do, it might be worth using a credit card and paying it off every month to keep that good payment history on your record.

Don’t Pay To Check Your Credit!!!

You used to need to pay to check your credit score.  Don’t do that!!  Instead, get your credit score for free.  Here are four completely free ways to check your credit score.

Annual Credit Report. Federal law says the three credit reporting bureaus must provide customers with a free credit report once per year. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com and sign up.

Chase’s Credit Journey. Chase will not only provide you access to your credit score, but also gives you a set of great tools to improve your credit score.  It is 100% free to sign up.

Lexis Nexis. Another way to get a free credit report is to get your Lexis Nexis file. The report will have personal information gathered from public records and third party sources. You can get a copy of what information about you they have on file by sending in an application with your ID.

More Of Our Popular Articles

Get financially fit and read our most popular articles:

Easily Save Money With Paribus
Ron and Thu Paid Off $137,000 in 4 Years
Read How In Just 7 Years Alice and Scott Paid Off $200,000 In Debt
You Can Pay Off Debt When You’re Behind On Your Bills

Keep moving forward toward your goals. You really can live the life you dream about!

How a Side Hustle Helped Melanie Lockert Break Up With Debt

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Have you considered adding a side hustle to help you break up with debt?

Well, in today’s video, we’ll learn how Melanie Lockert used a side hustle to break up with debt.

If you don’t know Melanie, she’s the personality behind the award-winning blog, DearDebt.com, where she chronicled her journey out of $81,000 in student loan debt. Through her blog, she inspires readers to break up with debt by writing their very own breakup letter to debt.

In 2015, Melanie (and her journey out of debt) was named one of the top five most inspiring personal finance stories of the year by Yahoo! Finance. She currently works as a freelance writer and event planner. Melanie and her work have appeared in Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! Finance, INC, and more.

After graduating from college with $23,000 in student loans, Melanie had the opportunity to attend her dream school, NYU, to earn her master’s degree. There, she incurred $58,000 more in student loans for a total of $81,000.

Upon struggling to find a stable, decent-paying job after graduating from NYU, Melanie made some extreme changes in her life to pay off her student loans. In December 2015, Melanie made her last payment and became 100% debt-free.

She is also the author of a brand-new book, “Dear Debt:  A Story About Breaking Up with Debt” which shares her journey and her advice for those in the process of breaking up with debt.

In the interview with Melanie, she shares:

  • What drove her to rid herself of her student loans
  • How she cut her expenses and started side hustling to bring in extra income
  • How her side hustling has led to an unexpected career path
  • Her best advice for how to find a side hustle that’s right for you, and
  • What to do if you want to get out of debt but feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start

Melanie has an inspiring story that I think anyone struggling with debt needs to hear, and she shares it all in this interview. So here is my interview with Melanie Lockert from deardebt.com. Enjoy!

Thanks again to Melanie for sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly about getting out of debt with us!

[bctt tweet=”How a side hustle helped Melanie Lockert (@DearDebtBlog) break up with debt” username=”MonicaRLouie”]

I hope you pick up her book, “Dear Debt:  A Story About Breaking Up with Debt.” I know it will help you break up with debt once and for all.

I encourage you to check out Melanie’s blog at DearDebt.com and consider writing your own Dear Debt letter to break up with debt.

For others that have got out of debt check out these articles.

How Alice and Scott Paid Off $200,000 of Student Loans in Less Than 7 Years
From Credit Card Debt to Loving Her Money with Sarah Li Cain
How Lauren Greutman, The Recovering Spender, Paid Off $40,000 of Debt

Now I’d love to hear about you!

What did you learn from Melanie’s story? Have you started a side hustle yet so you can break up with debt? Please share in the comments below.

Have you joined our free community yet?

Join me in our private Facebook group called Your Debt Freedom Family, where we’ve got an awesome community of people who are breaking up with debt so they can break free and live life on their terms.

Click here to join the fun!

I’d love to see you there!

Keep moving forward toward your goals. You really can live the life you dream about!

I’m Ditching The ‘Dream’ Wedding and Moving 4 Hours Away

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<p>This update has been a couple of weeks in the making but we wanted to make sure everything was final before announcing. In some of my most recent blog posts, I talked about planning a debt-free wedding. That will definitely still be happening but in a different timeframe and manner than we’d originally planned.</p>::Pexels

This update has been a couple of weeks in the making but we wanted to make sure everything was final before announcing. In some of my most recent blog posts, I talked about planning a debt-free wedding. That will definitely still be happening but in a different timeframe and manner than we’d originally planned.

I’m ditching the dream wedding. We are having a courthouse ceremony next Monday. Then we are moving four hours South to Atlanta! 

Why The Move?

My (very soon) hubby-to-be has gotten his dream job offer down in Atlanta. He’ll be running a Porsche shop there. This is a huge career move for him and it comes with a ton of perks for us as well.

Of course, I work from home so there is nothing keeping me rooted here work-wise. In addition to the “dream job,” he will be getting a decent pay raise and we will also have a rental house to live in “rent-free.” I say “rent-free” because it will be considered a portion of his initial salary.

The house is only four miles from the shop he’ll be managing. Not to mention, we will finally have a yard for Enzo!

What This Means For Our Debt Free Journey

All those small perks aside, what has really driven our decision to move forward with this move has been the financial aspect. Yes, of course, this is an absolute dream come true and this could be where my other half spends most of his career.

On the financial side of things, we have the opportunity to finally pad our emergency savings the way we’ve needed to. We will have the money to pay off debt (and way faster than we’d initially planned). In fact, if everything goes to plan, we could find ourselves being debt-free in a year and on our way to buying a home.

Considering All Things

Since my husband-to-be received the offer, we have been over-the-moon excited. It almost seemed to good to be true and I am thrilled to get to start our married lives together in a city neither of us has spent any time in before. It will be a fantastic adventure and will put us on the right track financially for the rest of our lives together.

That isn’t to say we won’t miss being close to family and friends. Of course, we will. We will also miss out on the big “shebang” of a wedding we were planning later this year. But, we can always throw a celebration down the road and will celebrate with the immediate family able to make it this week.

Incidentally, you probably shouldn’t move without a job waiting for you.  However, if you are in the situation, my friend Kelan over at Moneyminiblog has a good article on things should think about if do find yourself forced to move, here.

All in all, I can’t wait to see what this next move does for our family, our relationship, and our finances. And, I can’t wait to keep you updated about it here!

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Now Is The Time To Prepare A Summer Spending Plan

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Our Summer Spending Plan

It may seem a bit early to you, but I’m ready to start prepping our family’s summer spending plan. Generally speaking, the warmer months tend to be more expensive for us. We go out more. This year, we may even get to take a day trip or two to the beach. Not to mention, the cost of cooling our home in the South can be shocking at times.

So, now that spring is officially here and warmer weather is on its way (it’s 85 degrees and sunny today), I’m ready to start plotting out some of our plans for the summer.

How Does Summer Impact Spending?

As I briefly mentioned above, the summertime tends to bring along some additional expenses for my family. Nobody wants to stay inside when it’s a beautiful warm day. So, there are often additional expenses that pop up.

Namely, our electric bill usually goes up to about $200/month from $100 or less during the winter months (we have gas heat). On top of that, it is generally a time of year when we take more trips, have more day adventures, and living is easy. We simply don’t always pay as close attention to our finances as we should from June to September.

That being said, we started tackling a summer spending plan a few years ago that helps us map out necessary expenses as well as things we’d like to do during the warmer months.

Our Summer Spending Plan

I haven’t written out our summer spending plan in its entirety yet, but I know we are planning to do a few things…

  1. We would really love to take our daughter to the beach. She hasn’t been yet and both of us would love to be able to do that this summer. We live within a 3-hour drive of several great beaches here, so that is doable on a budget. If necessary, we wouldn’t even have to stay overnight.
  2. Another small pool needs to be purchased for the backyard. Last year, we bought a baby pool for the backyard and, even though it cost about $10, it provided our little one with countless hours of fun!
  3. We need to adjust our monthly budget to account for the increased electricity and water costs for our home during the summer months.
  4. Our little one is also going to need new clothes. We don’t have any spring or summer clothes that fit her currently.

Right now, we are working on nailing down what our budget for the summer needs to be and how much money we will need to save for certain holidays, trips, etc. For instance, Father’s Day falls in June, we will budget a little extra money for the holiday and find something my husband would like to do.

We are still hashing out the details, but these are the four things impacting our summer spending plan right now. Readers, do you construct a different budget or spending plan for different seasons? I’d love to hear about how you manage it.

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Get Faster Broadband For Your Family

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Having trouble with your broadband? You’re not alone. These days, having a good internet connection is as important as having running water. Even though tons of different internet service providers SAY they’re the best – they can’t all be, can they?

If you’re looking to switch broadband providers and get the best value high-speed internet possible, then you’re in the right place.

In this article, we’re going to look at how to find the fastest broadband – so that whether you’re considering the best satellite internet options in your area or settling with the greatest wireline internet services you can find, your family can download, game, and stream to their heart’s content.

Put a stop to arguments over slow download speed

So many different things rely on a fast internet connection these days. Gone are the times when you’d fire up your dial up connection just to read a few pages of text.

Now you can stream TV shows, play high-spec games, shop and more. And often, in a family household all of this is happening at once. Fed up of the complaints from your son about the lag time on his games? And fights over slow Netflix streaming?

You need faster broadband.

It’s understandable so much demand on the service you need a better internet connection at home. While one PC might have been hooked up to the web in the past, now you’ve got multiple laptops, smart TV and phones all accessing the internet simultaneously.

That’s why considering speed when looking for a broadband supplier is so important.

Mbit per second, Ping & Contention Rates

When you have a look at switching broadband providers from your current provider to spectrum internet, for example, look at overall speed. This is normally represented in mbit per second. While it’s a hugely important factor in choosing a good broadband provider – it’s not the only one.

Those speeds generally refer to how quickly you can download data. Whether it’s something quick (loading a page), or something slower (downloading a film).

However, that’s not the only measure of speed that’s useful.

If you play a lot of online games, you’ll also want a low ping. That’s the speed it takes for a signal to bounce back to you, and it has a huge impact on how smoothly most online games perform.

You’ll also need to consider contention rates. If lots of people in your area use the same broadband provider, will this slow down your activity?

How to find the best broadband supplier for you

Thankfully, it’s easy to find good deals for broadband in your area. You can start with price comparison sites online and have a look at reviews. You might also want to consider how good the customer service ratings are and look at any other issues people might have had with a particular ISP.

The right broadband comparison service could save you a lot of money.

Some broadband suppliers use the same line

Just because you switch broadband providers, that doesn’t mean you’re getting a new line put in. Many of these ISPs (internet service providers) will use the same telephone network but simply package and charge differently.

If you want to take things to the next step, you can consider getting fiber installed to make your connection even faster.

How hard is it to switch suppliers?

Switching is easy these days. All you have to do is phone up. You shouldn’t notice any downtime and should be able to start using your new connection straight away.

10 Fun Budget-Friendly Family Vacation Ideas

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Everyone needs a vacation once in a while, but a family vacation shouldn’t put a huge gap in your wallet.

You deserve a vacation that is relaxing and not going to be a financial strain on your family.

Whether you plan on traveling near or far keep reading to see a list of 10 fun budget friendly family vacations.

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Cheap Kids Birthday Party Ideas for This Summer

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If you’re like many parents, then you try your best to make your children feel special on their special day. Every year when their birthday rolls around, you take stock of what they like, look at what’s trendy, and put together an invite list for a birthday party.

However, there’s often one thing in your way, your budget. And you’re not alone. Despite what they show on reality television, the average American just doesn’t have the money to spend on elaborate celebrations.

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Do You Celebrate Your Pet’s Birthday?

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celebrate your pet's birthday

In the debt-free community, it is frowned upon to spend money on things that aren’t absolutely necessary. However, I tend to think that if you don’t allow yourself any fun you’re more likely to stray away from your debt freedom goals altogether. One fun thing we do every year is celebrate our dog, Enzo. He has been our first “child” for four years now and, even with the arrival of our baby in a few short months, we wanted to continue his birthday celebrations this year. Do you celebrate your pet’s birthday?

What We Do To Celebrate

Now, we don’t do anything too extravagant. We simply make sure our favorite pup in the world has the best day ever. After all, he has brought us so much joy since being a part of our family. This year, we bought him some special treats, a new toy, and made him some homemade whipped cream (which he loves). Altogether, it cost us about $20 to help make a special day for our dog. His reaction, on the other hand, is always priceless, as depicted by the photo of him and his new toy below.celebrate your pet's birthday

Ways to Celebrate Your Pet

That being said, you don’t necessarily have to spend $20 to celebrate your pet’s birthday. They are simple creatures. Here are a few low-cost (or no-cost) ways we’ve celebrated Enzo in the past.

  • Go to the park. This is one of our favorite things to do on Enzo’s birthday. A quick trip to the dog park is absolutely free and they’ll have the time of their lives. If you have a cat that likes to be walked on a harness, consider taking them for a walk.
  • Set up a playdate. Our Enzo loves playing with other dogs so setting up a playdate with one of his favorite doggo friends is always a good no-cost way to make his day great.
  • Cook something special for them. There are a number of things you can cook that your pet will enjoy. They will love the change in food. Just be sure you are giving them something that is 100% safe and healthy for them to eat.
  • Do some of their favorite things. Whatever their favorite things may be, try to take time to do them. Enzo loves a good car ride, trip to the park, and even just a walk. All of these things are 100% free.
  • Give them extra attention. Simply giving your pet some extra attention on their birthday can be enough to may their day special. Best of all, it’s free.

Do You Celebrate Your Pet’s Birthday?

With a rise in the number of people who have pets in general and many of those individuals choosing not to have children, celebrating your pets has become more normal than you’d imagine. People truly treat their pets like members of their family, which they should. Every dog (or whatever your pet of choice may be) deserves to have its day and you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to give them a good one.

So, readers, what do you think? Do you celebrate your pet’s birthday too? How do you celebrate? 

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7 of the Best Money Management Tools You Need to Control Your Finances

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In 2019, only 29% of people in America considered themselves financially healthy.

The good news is that there are several things you can do that will help you save money and improve your financial situation – and one of those things is using the right money management tools.

If you want to learn how to manage money in the easiest of ways, keep reading and discover more about seven useful apps!

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