Budget Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

9 Tips For Financial Success And Freedom – Take Control Of Your Money

Last Updated: July 5, 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.

Achieving financial success is something that many people want to reach.

It makes sense as money can greatly determine how a person lives their life.

Money can even be a factor in your happiness. I’m not saying that money equals happiness, but if you’re stressed about money, you may feel depressed, inadequate, or have other negative feelings.

I completely understand that there are some situations where things are outside of your control, leading to a lot of financial stress and awful feelings.

It can be incredibly difficult to overcome situations like that.

Still, I truly believe that there are things you can do to become more financially secure and reach financial freedom. Everyone’s path will be different, but I believe it’s possible.

So, what is financial freedom and financial success? And, how do you become financially successful?

Financial success means something different to everyone.

It could mean that you no longer have debt, that you no longer have stress from money, money no longer controls you, you have paid off your house, you’ve reached retirement, or something else. [Read more…]

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

Last Updated: June 14, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 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 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 We Started A Rental Property Business

Last Updated: May 14, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 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 start a rental property business? Today, I have a great guest post from Nikki, a reader of Making Sense of Cents, on how she started her own rental real estate business with just $30,000. She now owns 28 rental units!

How early do you start to think of saving for retirement? Though it may not be on your radar now, there is a way to start saving without even thinking about it. Now how does that make sense?

By investing in real estate.

That is exactly what my husband and I did!

We started with a small investment of $30,000 to purchase one rental property and less than 10 years later, grew that one investment into 28 units!

All of which are intended to help us retire early and continue bringing in passive income!

Now let’s start from the beginning…

My husband and I married back in 2009. Now, most newlyweds don’t just jump right in to buying a house after shelling out the money for a wedding, not to mention we were only in our early 20’s to begin with, but we were ready to make the leap into home ownership!

We were fortunate to have some, albeit small, savings for a down payment to get us started. If you can recall, in 2009, we were still feeling the ramifications from the Great Recession. [Read more…]

My Best Advice For Graduates – 16 Tips Every Graduate Needs To Hear

Last Updated: April 19, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 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 wondering what is the best advice for graduates? Whether you or someone you know is graduating high school or college, I have some great tips and wisdom to share.

Graduating is a life changing experience.

You’ve worked incredibly hard to reach this achievement, and it’s both a stressful and exciting time.

You might be wondering what you’re going to do next with your life, or you may have a plan. There were times when I felt like I knew exactly what I wanted to do after graduation, but I was also completely clueless at times too.

Graduation means you’re moving onto the next phase of your life, which is why it’s both so scary and thrilling.

It only makes sense that you would be looking for the best advice for graduates. [Read more…]

How I Flip Garage Sale Items On eBay As A Side Hustle

Last Updated: April 16, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 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! Please enjoy this article from a reader, Rush Walters, on how he flips garage sale and auction items on eBay as a side hustle to make extra income.

Depending on who you ask, there are pros and cons to being a high school teacher. One con: income, One pro: having summers off.

Both my wife and I are teachers in a small mid-Missouri town. During my first year (2015) as a high school teacher and head boy’s tennis coach I was making a whopping $38,000 a year.

Needless to say, the budget was tight some months.

When I got married in 2018, I thought a second income would be very helpful, but a second salary would not come until 2019. Long story short, my wife is from Bolivia and was not able to legally work for a year until she received her permanent residency status (green card).

Two people living off of one middle-class paycheck, let alone a teacher’s paycheck, was challenging. Thankfully my wife and I were decent at budgeting, and have been using a successful budgeting process since we have been married, but I’ll save that story for another day. [Read more…]

This Savings Account Gives Away Up To $25,000 Each Month For Free

Last Updated: April 15, 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.

Welcome to my PrizePool review. PrizePool is a banking account that gives you the chance to win up to $25,000 monthly. I have partnered with PrizePool and all opinions are 100% my own.

Are you looking to start saving more money? Perhaps you want to find a way to make saving money more fun?

Enter PrizePool.

PrizePool gives you the opportunity to win up to $25,000 every month by simply saving money.

And, it’s completely free and there is no catch!

PrizePool’s mission is to help Americans improve their finances. PrizePool realizes that the majority of U.S. households spend their hard earned money on playing the lottery each week, even though it is very unlikely that they will ever actually win the lottery.

This is where PrizePool comes in – You get the opportunity to save your money in a savings account and have the chance to win real cash prizes. The great thing, though, is that you can’t lose!

PrizePool makes saving money fun, so that you are more motivated to save money and improve your financial situation. [Read more…]