Life Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

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

Last Updated: April 19, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

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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…]

2020 Business and Life Review

Last Updated: April 7, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 56 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 2020 Business and Life Review!

Usually, I separate my travel and business annual review content into two separate blog posts, but this year I’ve decided to combine it into one.

2020 was a different kind of year, and I’m sure nearly everyone would agree with that statement.

It was a tough year for a lot of people, and I completely understand.

I feel very grateful for the life that I get to live, but it was a hard year for me as well. I lost two important family members in my life, my grandma as well as my dog who was my best friend for almost 14 years.

[Read more…]

9 Tips To Wake Up Early & Why It Feels So Good

Last Updated: June 7, 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.

Do you want to learn how to wake up early?

Some people are early birds and others are night owls. For me, I go both ways. Sometimes I am good at going to bed early and then wake up early in the morning.

Then I go through phases when I stay up late, really late, and then wake up late in the day.

Some of the early birds I know may laugh at this because I know many who wake up at 4 a.m., and I’m definitely not one of those people.

You don’t have to wake up at 4 a.m. to be an early bird, unless you really want to. I’m just talking about how to wake up early in the morning, maybe just an hour or two, instead of waking up in a rush for work or regularly sleeping in until the afternoon.

Now, some of you may think I’m crazy for suggesting that you even think about waking up earlier in the day. [Read more…]

15 Things To Stop Being Scared Of So You Can Be Rich, Happy, And Successful

Last Updated: December 27, 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.

Being scared is a natural reaction, but a lot of good things can and will be scary.

Often, people are scared when things are changing, like if you’re starting a new job, getting married, or any other major life event. It’s only natural to be a little scared about how things will turn out.

You might be scared when you are trying to do something that is difficult, like paying off debt. What if it takes you longer than you had hoped? What about the sacrifices you will have to make?

Being scared happens when you do or try things that are new or outside of your comfort zone, and everyone feels scared from time to time. You may not believe that you cannot achieve what you are setting out to do.

But, you have to push through these negative moments and realize that you are holding yourself back if you want to start overcoming fear and let yourself move forward and do something new. [Read more…]

Ask Me Anything

Last Updated: February 8, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 179 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.

It’s been a long time since my last Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents.

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
Sailing
Being location independent
Business
Making extra money
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.

40 Ideas That Will Help You Learn How To Live Your Best Life

Last Updated: April 8, 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 feeling like life isn’t going the way you want? Would you like to learn how to live your best life?

If your answer is YES, then it’s time to start making a change for the better.

Now is the time to start challenging yourself, taking care of yourself, changing your mindset, and start living the best life possible.

However, many people are scared to make any real changes.

But, why stay stuck in a job you hate, in a bad relationship, or living with what feels like neverending financial stress?

These kinds of situations can cause you to feel scared, depressed, like you can never get ahead, and more.

No one should feel like that when you have the power to change your life. [Read more…]

My Year In Review – Where I Went And What Happened in 2019

Last Updated: January 8, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 20 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.

Looking back on the previous year is always a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to see everything laid out in a one year period. I get to see what I did and didn’t do, reflect on everything, etc. So, I am happy to publish my 2019 year in review.

I almost didn’t put this together this year, but I realized that it’s nice to write this each year so that I have a nice memory to look back at later.

You can read my 2018 year in review here. You can find 2017’s here.

2019 was a super interesting year.

We sailed to the Bahamas, bought a van for hurricane season and explored the U.S., then sailed back to the Bahamas (which is where we are now).

We saw beautiful mountains, oceans, beaches, deserts, and everything in between.

2019 was a wonderful year full of travel and great memories. It had its ups and downs, just like for any person, but overall it was an amazing year and I’m grateful for the life that I get to live.

We’re really loving how life is currently going too. We love having our sailboat as it’s a very exciting way to travel, and we also love having our van so that we can still do all of the land travel that we love.

You can read more about our life on a sailboat here – Welcome To Paradise – We’re Living On A Sailboat!

You can find life updates in the last year here:

Also, if you’re not following me on Instagram yet, I definitely recommend doing so. You can see even more photos and stories of the places we are visiting.

Here’s what we did in 2019:

Anchored in the Florida Keys

January – The Florida Keys and Bahamas

2019 started by sailing the Florida Keys to the Bahamas. It was the first time we had left the U.S. with our sailboat.

It was a crazy month because we were doing something brand new to us – bringing our dogs by boat to another country. Bahamas is relatively easy to do this with, though, so it went smoothly!

There was quite a bad storm that arrived right after we sailed to Bimini, Bahamas, so we were “stuck” there for a while. It was a nice spot, though, so we definitely did not complain! [Read more…]