Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, Author at Making Sense Of Cents

How To Rent An RV: The Best Tips For Your First RV Rental

Last Updated: October 19, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Want to learn how to rent an RV? Today, I’m going to talk about the best way to rent an RV, if renting is cheaper than a hotel, what to know before renting an RV, and more.

While I no longer live full-time in an RV (we’re now living full-time and traveling via sailboat!), I lived in one for several years and still own one. When we’re not on the boat, we live full-time in the van.

RVing is something that I absolutely love, and I think that traveling or living in an RV will ALWAYS be a part of my life!

What I love so much about living in an RV or van is that you have your whole house with you while you visit beautiful places. You can park right next to hiking and biking trails, next to the mountains or beaches, and more.

When we first sold our house to live in an RV full time, people thought we were crazy. We got rid of more than half of our stuff and started driving across the country.

But, as I started sharing our experience with our friends and family, more and more people started to realize it wasn’t crazy at all – it was amazing! [Read more…]

How To Write and Publish Your First Blog Post On WordPress

Last Updated: October 16, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

After you have created your blog, you may be wondering what to do next. Today, I’m going to teach you how to publish a blog post on WordPress.

If you’re new to blogging and/or WordPress, then learning all of the little steps can be intimidating at first. However, that is completely normal!

Blogging is new to most people, so there will be things that you have to learn. I don’t consider myself very “techy” and I still managed to learn, haha.

If you haven’t started a blog yet, I recommend first starting with my tutorial – How To Start A WordPress Blog.

Once you have designed your website, you’re probably going to start wanting to publish some blog posts. No worries, though, this is easy!

With the easy steps below, you will learn how to publish a blog post on your new blog. [Read more…]

13 Salad Meal Prep Ideas | A Healthy Way To Save Time & Money

Last Updated: October 14, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you looking for some healthy, easy, and delicious salad meal prep ideas?

Salads are a great way to eat healthy as they are packed with vegetables. But, many people overlook salads as meals because they think salads are too boring or won’t be filling enough.

I know I’ve thought that way about salads before, haha!

But, I’ve been eating more salads these days after finding many of the salad meal prep ideas I’ve listed in this article.

Despite what you might think, salads aren’t boring and they can be very filling.

One of the things I love most about salads is that they take so much less time than traditional meals.

What takes the most time is cutting up your ingredients, but these salad meal prep ideas help you make the most of your time so you can eat healthier with a delicious salad. [Read more…]

18 Debt Free Stories That Will Inspire You

Last Updated: October 12, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I love a good debt free story! If you are interested in learning how to pay off debt, the 18 stories I’m about to share will teach, motivate, and inspire you.

When I was paying off my $40,000 student loan debt in 7 months, I spent a lot of time online reading how other people paid off their debt.

Because I wanted to pay off my debt as quickly as possible, I knew I needed some extra motivation.

Finding a good debt free story would give me the boost of energy I needed to keep working on my side hustles, finding new ways to save, and put all of my extra money towards debt.

I also learned so many great tips and tricks to help me pay off my debt that I wouldn’t have learned about otherwise. Not all of the tips I read about worked for me, but some did.

By reading other people’s debt payoff stories and learning how to become debt free, I believe that you can find motivation to pay off your own debt. [Read more…]

BlockFI Review – Earn Interest On Your Crypto Up To 8.6%

Last Updated: October 7, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today, I’m partnering with BlockFI in this BlockFI review.

Welcome to my BlockFI review!

As I’m sure you have all noticed, basic savings accounts rates at banks are extremely low right now. However, if you have crypto or are interested in getting into crypto, then BlockFi is something you may want to look into.

Crypto is extremely popular right now, and I expect that demand to just continue to increase.

According to Finder*, an estimated 36.5 million Americans own some form of cryptocurrency.

I’ve also seen a growing trend amongst those who travel extensively or full-time putting at least some of their money into cryptocurrency, due to the ease of use when traveling around the world.

This is where BlockFi comes in.

BlockFi offers crypto interest-earning accounts, crypto-backed loans, and fee-free trading on crypto. Their services are available in most countries around the world and in almost every state, with some geographical restrictions.

If you sign up through my referral link, then you will receive a $25 crypto bonus with a deposit of $500 or more in crypto. Simply click here to use my BlockFi referral code. [Read more…]

Pay Off Debt Or Save Money – Is One Better For You?

Last Updated: October 5, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Should you pay off debt or save money?

I wish this was a super easy article where I could just give you a clear answer about whether you should pay off debt or save money, but that’s just not how personal finance works.

Every situation is different, and today, I’d like to go over different circumstances so you can figure out the best answer for your personal situation.

Whether you have a mortgage, student loans, a car loan, credit card debt, medical loans, or something else, you may be wondering if you should only focus on paying off your debt and how saving money fits in as well.

And, you may be stuck.

A big question when paying off debt is if that should be your sole focus. Should you still be trying to save money while paying off your debt? [Read more…]

How We Paid Off $161,000 In Student Loan Debt in 16 Months

Last Updated: October 2, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Today, I have a great debt payoff story to share from a reader, Kristin Burton. She paid off $161,000 in student loan debt in 16 months, and also just recently paid off her mortgage. Below is her story, enjoy!

In 2016, I finished grad school with $161,000 in student loan debt.

That six figure debt created more stress than I ever thought possible.

I initially got my first job as a Physician Assistant and was over the moon excited to have my first salaried position.

However, I very quickly realized it would be very difficult to ever get ahead financially with my minimum student loan payment of around $2,000 per month over the next decade.

Even though it is well within societal norms to take out student loans to get a degree, especially a graduate degree, I experienced substantial shame over having it when it was all said and done.

My husband brought no debt to our marriage, so the major financial burden we experienced had all been thanks to yours truly.

Rather than wallow in my sorrows, I sat down with my husband and we crafted a plan to get rid of it. [Read more…]

Subscribe Via Email