Budget Archives - Page 3 of 100 - Making Sense Of Cents

How Our Family of 5 Went from House Poor to Debt Free in 3 Years

February 8, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 24 Comments

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How Our Family of 5 Went from House Poor to Debt Free in 3 Years

Hello! Today, I have a great success story that I want to share with you all. Enjoy.

I’m Renee, mom to a crazy, beautiful, blended family of 4 kids. As a practicing minimalist and debt-free enthusiast, I’ve dedicated my blog, The Fun Sized Life, to helping others learn to simplify their lives while simultaneously increasing their wealth.

I focus on helping others because just a few years ago, I had life all wrong.

Three years ago my marriage was on the rocks, I felt aimless in my career, our family life was messy, and we were officially smack dab in the middle of being crazy house poor.

We got to a point where we knew it was either cut our losses and walk away from our marriage, or take a hit and sell the house that was breaking us.

We knew what we had to do.

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Want To Make An Extra $100 A Month? Learn How To Become A Mystery Shopper

February 6, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

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Want To Make An Extra $100 A Month? Learn How To Become A Mystery Shopper Back when I had student loans, one of the things I did was learn how to become a mystery shopper so that I could make extra money. No, it did not make me rich, but it gave me a little bit of extra income, and it also allowed me to go out to eat and get free things that I probably would have bought anyways.

Mystery shopping also helped me pay off $40,000 in student loans in just 7 months.

I remember when I first heard of being a secret shopper. I was working at a retail store and we regularly had mystery shoppers come in to grade how we were doing. We never knew who the mystery shopper was, but we would get to read their report afterwards.

I thought it was so interesting that people were getting paid to shop!

Not long after hearing about it, I learned more about how to become a mystery shopper and actually became a secret shopper myself. [Read more…]

Want To Be A Full-Time Traveler? 13 Ways To Make It Happen

February 4, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

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Is Full-Time Travel A Dream Of Yours? 13 Ways to Make It Happen #fulltimetravel #travel I know that full-time travel is a dream for many. However, it doesn’t have to be just a dream.

We sold our house, moved into an RV, and started traveling around four years ago, and last year we sold the RV and are living on a sailboat. In the past few years, I've met many full-time travelers. There have been people who have saved up enough money to travel for an extended amount of time, those who are retired, those who find odd jobs on the road, those who work while traveling, and more.

I've met some really interesting and awesome people along the way, and they all really prove that anyone can make full-time travel possible.

But, it all depends on how badly you want it.

And, yes, you can do it with a family too. If you don’t believe me, read Becoming an RV Family – How We Travel Full-Time With 4 Kids and 2 Dogs. [Read more…]

My Quest To Be More Present And Enjoy Life More

January 28, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 45 Comments

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My Quest To Live In The Moment And Enjoy Life More #howtoliveinthemoment #dreamlife Lately, I have been wasting so much time on social media and on other things that it has started affecting other areas of my life. There are so many distractions in life, and I want to change that.

In fact, I started writing this blog post at around 10 a.m., and it is now 6:30 p.m. the following day, and I am just now really getting started.

I've been getting so distracted by so many different things that it has caused me to waste a huge amount of time, and therefore, I have not been able to live in the moment like I would really like to.

I constantly have something on my mind, and I feel like I'm not always enjoying the fun moments. This is because I'm always thinking about other things and distracting myself with everything that happens in life.

Due to this, I recently shared this on Twitter: [Read more…]

Learn how to downsize your home, stress free!

January 21, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

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

Are you ready for something simpler or smaller and wanting to know how to downsize your home? It can be big process and less and less people seem to be doing it these days.

The average home size in 1950 was less than 1,000 square feet. Fast forward to 2017, the average home size has increased to nearly 2,600 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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When we did live in a “normal” home, it was fairly close to that average home size. The house we owned in the St. Louis, Missouri area was around 2,500 square feet if you included our finished basement, and it was just for myself, my husband, and our two dogs. [Read more…]

How We Paid Off $20,000 of Student Loan Debt in 12 Months at 23 Years Old

January 18, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

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

As you all know, I love a good debt payoff story. Melanie reached out to me recently and asked if she could share how she paid off her debt. Below is her story, enjoy!

Hi, I’m Melanie! I’m a CPA by day, and personal finance blogger at Melanie De Jong Blog by night! I’m 24 years old, and I reside with my husband and beautiful baby boy in Northwest Iowa. My husband and I paid off $20,000 of student loan debt fresh out of college while living on just one income for 5 of those months AND paying for part of a wedding and a honeymoon (and no, we don’t make a fortune). Our debt payoff story has inspired me to help and encourage others to become financially free! Here's our story.

When the confetti stopped, the champagne was done being popped, and I settled into my new job and new home post-college graduation, the last thing I wanted to think about was how in the world I was going to pay off my student loans. [Read more…]

The Ultimate Guide of Over 50 Money Saving Tips For 2019

January 16, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 18 Comments

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The Ultimate Guide of Over 50 Money Saving Tips For 2019 #savingtips #bestmoneysavingtips How much money do you save each month? Do you wish you had some more money saving tips for 2019?

If you're looking for some of the best money saving tips, then you've come to the right place! There are many ways to learn how to save money, and today I'm going to tell you about them.

I am often asked for my best money saving tips from people who are having a difficult time saving money, and there are often many saving tips that I can help them with. This is because it can sometimes be very difficult to see where you are wasting and/or spending too much money. Often what is obvious to one, may be hard for another to notice.

Even if you're already taking part in some of the best ways to save money, if you could just find a few more saving tips (or as many as you can!), you may be able to improve your financial situation so that you can live your dream life. [Read more…]

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