Budget Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

How To Pay Off Your Mortgage Early – Everything You Need To Know

Last Updated: June 14, 2021 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.

Are you interested in learning how to pay off your mortgage early?

Have you ever dreamt of what life would be like without a mortgage? What would you do without your monthly mortgage payment?

Now that I’ve got you thinking, you are probably wondering how you can make this possible.

To get you even more excited, here are some of the benefits of a paid-off house:

You will no longer have a mortgage! Okay, I know this is obvious, but it is a big deal. Considering that your home is usually your biggest budget expense, that’s a lot of money you won’t need to spend each month.
You can free up cash flow to put towards other things. This means that you can have more money to put towards retirement, vacations, and so on.
You’ll have more freedom because you won’t have a huge monthly payment hanging over your head.

If you are currently paying $1,000 each month towards your mortgage, getting rid of your mortgage payment means every year you could potentially max out your IRA, go on a vacation, and still put some money in savings. [Read more…]

How We Saved $205,000 In 4 Years and Traveled More as Teachers

Last Updated: June 11, 2021 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 have a great guest post to share from Mike Beatty. Here’s how Mike and Sarah moved abroad to teach internationally, increased their income a significant amount, while saving $205,000 over 4 years. Enjoy!

If you told me in 2015 that I’d be writing an article on how we saved over $200,000 in 4 years and travelled to 20 countries, I would have laughed in your face!

It’s safe to say that saving $200,000 was not something we thought was possible in our situation. Not without winning the lottery or a great run at a casino anyway.

So how did we do it?

In hindsight, I can see there were four steps that we unknowingly took:

Increase income from work
Find additional ways to make money
Intentional budgeting
Putting the money to work

[Read more…]

Do I Need A Trust?

Last Updated: June 14, 2021 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.

The following is a partnership with Trust & Will.

Do I need a Trust?

Lately, I’ve been hearing that question and many other questions about having a Trust.

More people should probably have a Trust than you think, as there are many benefits.

According to Trust & Will, if you have at least $200,000 worth of assets, the best way to protect your family may be to create a Trust.

Creating a Trust is an area that you may not have thought about. After all, many do not take this step. But, this is changing lately. More and more people are starting to create Wills and Trusts, and for good reason.

Creating a Trust can protect your assets and help your family.

There are many reasons to have a Trust. Some reasons may include more control over distributing assets, such as if you have a family home, assisting dependents with disabilities for years and decades into the future, complex assets, reducing taxes, and more.

You can learn more about these reasons in Top 8 Reasons to Have a Trust. [Read more…]

How To Lower Your Electric Bill: 10+ Ways To Save Money

Last Updated: June 5, 2021 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.

How much do you spend on electricity in the summer? Do you want to learn how to lower your electric bill?

If you’re anything like most households, I’m assuming your electric bill increases as the temperature gets warmer. It makes sense — as it gets hot outside, you turn the AC up to stay cool inside.

The average electric bill in the U.S. is $117 per month according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But with the air conditioner on full blast in the summer, your bill can easily be much higher in the summer.

I know how good it feels to walk into a nice cool house after you’ve been outside during the summer. However, keeping your house cool adds up, and it can be a big shock to see your electric bill during the summer.

What you may not realize is that there are many ways to lower your electric bill, even during the summer.

Some of the advice below may seem obvious — yes, I will tell you to adjust the temperature on your thermostat so you’re not keeping your house so cool. But, I’m also going to share ways to keep your house cooler without keeping the AC on so much. [Read more…]

How I Made $100,000 Selling Used Items

Last Updated: May 28, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 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.

Today, I have a great guest post from Stacy Gallego on how she makes extra money. Stacy is a long time reader of Making Sense of Cents who has built an amazing flipping side hustle. Enjoy her story!

If you would have told me in 2000 that I would finish nursing school, get married to a great guy, raise 6 kids, and make $100,000 in sales flipping used items, I would have told you you were crazy!

In 2000, my direction and my life were totally upside down and backwards.

The truth was, I was a 28 year old, newly divorced, uneducated, single mom with twin boys under the age of two.

Not only that, I was a complete alcoholic, unable to hold a job, and flat broke.

Due to some poor choices, I had totally lost everything – my job, my car, a business, and I was days away from being evicted from my apartment. In all honesty, I had even lost all hope.

Not the life I had dreamed of or longed for.

Thankfully my parents offered to fly me back to Wisconsin with my two boys and let me live with them for a while so I could pick up the pieces of my broken life. I’m forever in debt to them for doing that for me. I didn’t realize it at first, but being with family and having support was just what I needed. [Read more…]

How This Family Is Overlanding And Driving Across The World In Their Jeep

Last Updated: May 19, 2021 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.

Next up in my Extraordinary Series is Eric and Brittany from Hourless Life. They are doing something very different from the average family – they currently live and travel in their Jeep full-time with their son.

Yes, they live full-time in a Jeep!

This overlanding family is driving across the world in their Jeep. Their plans are to visit South America, Africa, Europe, and all the way to Asia. They plan to see as much of the world as they can.

They have been full-time traveling since 2014, first by RV, and have been on the road ever since. Now, they are getting ready to drive around the world in a Jeep Gladiator truck.

In this interview, you’ll learn:

How they live in a Jeep with their son
How they afford to travel
What overlanding is
Where they sleep, cook, and use the bathroom
What an average day living in a Jeep is like
How much overlanding with a family across the world will cost them
Their tips for traveling with a child

And more!

This is a great article to read whether you are interested in overlanding with your family, or if you’re more interested in RVing as well. Both are great options depending on what you are looking for.

You can find Hourless Life on Instagram.

Please enjoy this interview. I really enjoyed reading it and learned a ton – so I know you will too. Enjoy!

[Read more…]

Lendtable Review: Get free money to max out your 401(k) match and ESPP

Last Updated: May 17, 2021 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.

Welcome to my Lendtable review. The following is a partnership with Lendtable. All opinions are my own.

Don’t know where to start saving up for retirement? Or maybe you just feel like you don’t have enough money to make an impact on your retirement plan?

That’ll change today.

I want to tell you that it’s not only possible to save enough for retirement, but to get free money while you do so and grow a passive income while you sleep.

One easy way to get started saving for retirement is to take advantage of your company’s 401(k) plan or ESPP benefits.

And, if your employer offers a 401(k) match, that’s even better.

Why?

Because you have the potential to create money out of thin air: if you contribute $5k, you end up with $10k with a matching policy.

Lendtable basically pays you to grow your 401(k) through a cash advance. You can receive thousands of dollars extra from your boss by using Lendtable and receiving your company match. No really, it’s that simple.

Please click here to fill out a 2-minute evaluation to see how much you can earn with Lendtable. [Read more…]

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