Life Archives - Page 2 of 52 - Making Sense Of Cents

What Traveling Full-Time For 3 Years Has Taught Me

February 10, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 54 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What Traveling Full-Time For 3 Years Has Taught Me Three years ago, we completely emptied our house, put it on the market, and drove to Colorado. We had been location independent for a couple of years at that point, and we had the travel itch. We were ready to explore, and little did we know that would be the start of our life traveling full-time.

It wasn't easy. I remember going out to eat with my close friends right before we moved. It was, literally, moments after we packed everything into a car, that I went out to eat with friends to say goodbye before continuing the drive to Colorado. I cried about selling our house and leaving my friends and family.

We found a “homebase” in Fruita, Colorado, and we used that as our jumping off point as we explored Colorado and nearby Utah.

We knew absolutely no one in the Fruita, Colorado area (or anywhere near it). We just picked it after a recent trip and liked the location, the small town feel, and all of the mountain biking, rock climbing, and hiking that it had to offer. [Read more…]

Stop Feeling Bad For Yourself: Quit Making Excuses For Why Life Isn’t Better

January 22, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 38 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ― Benjamin Franklin

Excuses are what holds a person back. I know this because I hear excuses nearly every single day, and I have made many of my own as well.

I have heard people making excuses countless times for why they don't have a good life. Instead of feeling bad for yourself, start changing your life and stop making excuses. #excuses #quote People make excuses all the time, but then claim that it's not actually an “excuse” that they are making.

But, what exactly is an excuse?

The definition of excuse (from Google) is “a reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense.”

People make excuses for all sorts of things. There are excuses for why a person can't get the job they want, why debt can't be paid off, why a person needs a brand new car, why a person can't improve their lives, and so on.

Now, I'm not saying that life isn't difficult or that everyone else’s life is perfect. Everyone has experienced difficulties – no matter how great you may perceive a person's life to be.

Everyone is guilty of making excuses, and I know that people will continue to make them until they realize that excuses are just that- excuses. [Read more…]

How To Reach Your 2018 Goals – Setting Goals for 2018

December 18, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 43 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Wow, can you believe that 2017 is almost over? This means that it's the time of year when people start thinking about their 2018 goals. It's only normal, a new year offers the possibility for a new you, right?

However, only about 8% of people actually achieve their resolutions each year. And, only 75% of those who set goals follow through with them after the first week of the year.

It’s crazy that 25% of people stopped working towards their goals after just the first week!

So today, I'm going to help you find ways stick to your 2018 goals and become successful with them in the new year. Let's make your 2018 goal list a reality!

Posts related to 2018 goal setting:

And, before you throw out the idea of goal setting and New Year’s resolutions, or judge people who are doing so, please keep this quote from Statistic Brain in mind: [Read more…]

Are You Making Your Life Difficult? 18 Ideas To Simplify Your Life in 2019

December 11, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 49 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Learning ways to simplify your life in 2019 can completely change your life and future for the better.

Trying to manage your life, especially your financial life, can be difficult in today's age. Between planning for retirement, paying bills, raising a family, etc. life can be exhausting. And, we all have a lot of clutter in our life – not just physical, mental as well!

Due to that, wouldn’t it be nice if you learned ways to simplify your life in 2019?

Related: How To Reach Your 2018 Goals

There is no better time than right now to start thinking about how to simplify your life for the future. The New Year is always a good time to make goals, and 2019 is the perfect year to focus on simplifying your life. You'll be able to apply that knowledge and experience for years and years to come.

By simplifying your life, you can learn how to be happier, be in more control of your life, waste less of your valuable time, and more. All of this will allow you to enjoy life even more! [Read more…]

Ask Me Anything

October 18, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 358 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I have always been a big fan of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything threads, and then recently, I saw that Steve published an Ask Me Anything on his blog. I don't know why it’s taken me so long to decide to do one of these. But, here it is, and I hope you think it’s going to be as fun as I do!

Ask Me Anything is literally that – you can ask me anything. If you’re struggling to figure out what to ask, here are a few of the topics you may want to know more about:

Personal finance
Blogging
My life
Travel
RVing
Being location independent
Business
Making extra money
How much candy I eat on a daily basis
My favorite TV show
Questions about my dogs

And so on, and so on.

Seriously, ask me anything in the comments below, and I will take the time to answer every single one. Of course, please nothing inappropriate or creepy. I'll let you be the judge of what is creepy, I guess, haha!

All right, go for it, ask away!

P.S. If you're looking to see all of the comments and questions, make sure to hit “Older Comments” or “Newer Comments” below. The comments break apart in pages once there are over 50 comments.

Thinking You Can’t Do Something And Making Excuses

September 15, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

A year from now you may wish you had started today. ~ Karen Lamb

Excuses are what holds a person back. I know this because I hear excuses nearly every single day, and I have made many of my own as well.

I've made excuses for why I couldn't leave my day job, why I can't stop eating junk food, why I'm too busy to do something, why I don't have the experience to do certain things, how it's unfair that some people have certain privileges, and so on.

See, after my father passed away when I was only 18, I felt especially vulnerable and made lots of excuses for things. It felt like everything was very unfair since the person I loved the most had passed away.

I made excuses to skip classes, for why I had no time to do anything, why I was upset, why I shouldn't look for ways to make extra money, and so on. I told myself that other people have help with everything and that I was all alone – and for some reason I thought it was okay to make these excuses since my dad had passed away.

This went on for several years. When things were good, I was happy. But, when things were bad, I would just blame it all on how my life was difficult and that I didn't have a parent to help me get through it.

Please head on over to FITnancials.com to read my guest post How To Take Control of Your Life and Stop Making Excuses.

Oh yeah, quick note: We are currently hosting Our Favorite Books and Kindle Giveaway. You can enter here.

For Those Who Want Life To Speed Up – Are You Dreaming Too Much About Tomorrow?

August 21, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 56 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you dying for time to pass? Many people are. The future is important, but being happy in the present is as well. It's all about a healthy balance.

“First I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. And then I was dying to marry and have children. And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work. And then I was dying to retire. And now I am dying, and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.” – Sustainable Human

I recently saw this quote and it really made me think.

Pretty much everyone, myself included, is guilty of wanting to rush through life instead of trying to live in the present while also preparing for the future.

When I was younger, I wanted to be older so I could have more money, a bigger house, etc. I wanted to rush through high school, college and so on.

I dreamt of the future and spent much of my time dwelling on that. [Read more…]

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