Breathing Room

Having breathing room has always been a concept that I struggle with. I am definitely a Type A person who cannot say no. Let's just say I'm a fixer. If there is a problem to be solved, a volunteer event to volunteer for, I am there. Throughout the years, the amount of breathing room I have allowed myself has ebbed and flowed, but I was always in control of how much I had to spare. If I was feeling stressed, no problem, I would just cancel something, do a little rearranging, and voila, breathing room.

That said, it definitely took me a long time to get to that place. That place where I put myself before others, say no to things, and just took an afternoon off. I never quite got it 100% right 100% of the time, but I was working toward that.

Now queue in a new job with an hour and fifteen minute commute each way and pretty rigid hours. Over the past few weeks my breathing room has all but disappeared during the week. Now don't get me wrong, there is no feeling bad for myself here. I am now working for a company that values its employees, does have work life balance, and is way less taxing for more gratifying work. What has really thrown a wrench in everything is my choice to work such a long commute away from home.

So how do I find breathing room in a limited schedule. This is definitely something I am still working on, but here are some things that have helped me over the past few weeks.

1. Having a workout routine
I am someone who holds a lot of my stress physically, not just mentally. When I am stressed, I get muscle spasms that incapacitate me, I get sick, my body generally breaks down and goes on strike. By waking up just 30 minutes earlier and doing a quick workout, I have completely changed the way I feel over the past few weeks. Not only do I feel stronger, but I am more alert, have more energy, and can let things roll off my back much easier.

2. Weeknight chores
Although I get home pretty late compared to how early I go to bed (I'm an old lady with a 9pm bedtime), I have started doing at least one chore every night. It could be a load of laundry, tidying up, getting groceries on my way home, pretty much anything that I would have normally saved for the weekend. This has freed up my weekends tremendously and I find myself enjoying my time with family and friends so much more without having to worry about my list of chores.

3. To Do Lists
Now this is a tough one for someone with an obsessive, Type A personality. Through therapy, I learned to give up my lists a long time ago with the exception of work. I would always find myself over scheduled and write up these insane lists and obsess over every little things I didn't live up to. Pretty much a very unhealthy habit. Over the past few weeks, however, I have started slowly incorporating lists back into my daily routine. I am keeping them painstakingly simple and short to keep myself from spinning out of control, but they have allowed me to organize myself in a way that allows me to get more done during the week leaving my weekends free.

As has been the story of my life lately, just as I have begun to struggle with and try to get some breathing room in my life, my church has started a new series on the topic. I am so excited to see what I can learn from God's message about having a little more wiggle room in my life.

How do you find breathing room?

October Review

Now that the Halloween madness has subsided and the sugar coma is starting to set in, it is time to review my progress for the month.

I must admit, although I'm pretty good about sticking to the budget throughout the month, the last week of the month is usually where I go a little crazy when I see the extra money. I know that my "little crazy" is now pretty tame compared to some, but $20 here or there can really add up and go a long way. Luckily, I was really able to stick to me guns and pay off way more than I thought I would be able to.

Here is the tally on the extra I was able to pay off on my own:
Ann Taylor: $387.70
Bob's Furniture: $380
Navient: $350
Total extra: $1,117.70

My mom and I were also able to make more pasteles this month and we brought in an additional $670 which was sent off to the same Navient (aka Sallie Mae) loan that I was able to apply my own extra funds to. Thanks to all of these blessings, I have now paid off 7.28% of my debt since beginning my Total Money Makeover in July.

Above is a snippet of my November totals showing what I will have in extra funds at the end of month, God willing, as well as my progress so far. Words cannot describe how excited I am!! If all goes as planned for this month, I will not only be able to pay off another student loan, but I will also be able to make a significant dent into my next smallest credit card payment.

Check back at the end of the month to see how I've done.

Grocery Haul

So even though I am no longer doing a no spend month, I am still working on cleaning out all of the food reserves that I had in my freezer. Because of this, I have really only been going grocery shopping every two weeks for the essentials and maybe here and there to fill in any gaps. I wanted to share with you what my grocery haul looks like this week for the meals that I have planned.

Grocery Haul: $23

1 lb pre-cut Kale	$1.99
1 lb organic Baby Spinach	$4.49
2 dozen Eggs	$4.59
1 gallon Almond Milk	$3.99
1/2 lb hard Genoa Salami	$2.64
1/2 lb Light Cheddar	$2.75
12 Bananas	$2.53

I am very lucky to have a family shared membership to BJ's Wholesale here in Jersey City; I previously mentioned my membership in 10 Things I've Bought That Save Me Money. As you can see from the prices I've paid for groceries, I literally get twice as much food as I would at the regular supermarket for the same price. There are certain things that I won't buy there because they do end up being more expensive, and other that I buy even though they are the same price just because of the convenience of already being there (case and point, the deli items). The bananas were actually purchased at my local ShopRite which is right next door because I don't particularly like BJ's bananas.

Buying produce in such large quantities means that you really need to know how to store it to make it last. Without proper prep, you will have tons of spoiled greens, fruits, and veggies by the end of the week. Since the kale comes in a large non-resealable bag, I pack it into two separate ziplocks. I line each bag with paper towels and squeeze out the excess air to keep the kale dry and crisp for two weeks. The spinach comes in a resealable container so I dump it out into a big bowl and line the container with a paper towel. I dump half of the spinach back in, fold the towel over it and then dump the other half on top. I then place another paper towel on top of the top half and make sure to store it upside down in the fridge. You would be surprised how properly prepping and storing your produce will extend their life.

Meal planning is also essential when you're living on a budget. Not only does it help to save money because no food goes wasted, but it also saves a lot of time and effort during the week since your meals are already planned out. I am lucky in that my job provides us with fresh fruit daily and also free lunch on Thursdays; this really helps with my planning for the week. My mom also leaves me dinner every night, a very big perk of my semi living-at-home situation. With all of the above, and my freezer and pantry reserves, I will be able to make my breakfast green smoothie and hard boiled eggs (breakfast every day), four sandwiches (two a week), and four salads (two a week), plus all of my meals on the weekends for the next two weeks.

Not bad for $23, if I do say so myself.

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

Now that the weather has cooled down, I'm so happy I can resume my normal Sunday afternoon baking. While I've always loved to cook, baking is definitely my strong suit; I think it has something to do with the very precise measurements. If you've ever tried to fudge a recipe without knowing the proper substitutes, you will know exactly what I mean.

This Sunday, I was looking through my freezer that I've been trying to clean out slowly and found some frozen pumpkin puree. Whoopee! Fall is my favorite season not only because of the crisp cool weather, sweaters, and scarves, but also because of pumpkin everything!!! Pumpkin everything also usually means stopping by the Starbucks several times a week to indulge my sweet tooth. As you can imagine, this is not very budget friendly, so I decided to take to Google and find a recipe for muffins that I could take with me to work for that afternoon fix.

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins
Serves 12

This recipe was adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all- purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray your muffin tin with non -stick spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt, the whisk together. In a medium bowl, which the eggs and sugar until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix together. Gently fold in the walnuts.
3. Pour the batter evenly into each muffin cup filling each one almost to the top. Bake for 25 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
4. Place the muffins on a cooling rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

These muffins were definitely a hit in my house; there were only six left by the time I got around to snapping a picture. If using chocolate chips like the original recipe calls for, I would probably cut down the sugar because the muffins were pretty sweet as is. If I decide to make this recipe into a bread, I will definitely cut down the sugar to 1/2 cup of each. I'm also thinking of incorporating some zucchini next time I make them. 

Hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think once you've given them a try.

My Budgeting Process

The foundation of any financial plan should always be a budget, and yet so many people don't actually sit down every month to make one. I was definitely one of those people before beginning my Total Money Makeover. Each pay period, I would sit down, pay all of the bills that were due until my next pay check, and whatever I had left over was what I had to spend on groceries, personal care, etc. until the next pay check. I found myself in an endless cycle of too much month at the end of my money.

Did you know that 70% of American households live paycheck to paycheck? Did you also know that 50% of American households also make $50k or more (40% of these folks making over $100k) each year? This means that there are people that you walk by on a regular basis that you think are well off and put together that are walking around with the same money troubles as you and me.

In this post, I'm going to walk you through how I budget. This budget is not original by any means and it was actually developed from a template provided by GazelleInTents. They are YouTube vloggers that I follow on a regular basis and really offer a lot of inspiration and motivation, so check them out when you have a moment. I will begin by saying that I have hidden a few rows such as the breakdown of my income (I have a few different income sources), tithes/offerings, and a few personal items that are included in my budget. For the most part, however, what you see below is pretty much the bulk of it.

Every month I begin with the same basic template and add in all of the special items that are going on that month. For bills like my gas and electric, I look back at the previous year's bill to estimate and others are just set expenses that I previously determined a budget I want to stay within range of. Some months I have to adjust my budget in certain areas to have leeway in others, but ultimately, at the end of the month, I will have "zero" dollars left over.

Next all of my debt is lined up and are sorted by due dates. I keep a small grid with my debt snowball next to the debt section of my budget to always have for reference. As you can see from the picture above, I have crossed out the student loan that I was able to pay off previously. This month I am forecasted to pay off two of my smaller debts which you can see are highlighted by the red text. I'm so excited that as of last month I am under six figures in debt!

Finally is the section with the month's miscellaneous expenses and the sinking funds that I will begin to fund in the future. For those of you who don't know what a sinking fund is, essentially it's just a savings account for expenses that you know are going to come up such as holidays, birthdays, car maintenance, etc. Currently I don't have anything in any of my funds, but one which was a leftover balance that I had prior to beginning my makeover and decided to keep there.

For me, the most exciting part of my budget is those last two boxes where I have listed the total debt paid off since I began the program. It's been growing a little every month and I just feel so proud of myself when I see that figure month over month.

Tune in at the end of the month where I will let you know how I have done.

New Beginnings

Another blog where I give thanks...

As I begin the second week at my new job, I couldn't be more thankful for this new opportunity God has afforded me. Whenever you begin a new job, it's always easy to be thankful for the new, but often times it's hard to be thankful for the old, especially if the old wasn't the best of situations.

The view from my old office.

As I moved through my first week at work, I became more and more thankful for my previous position. While I definitely still believe that my current manager hiring me was a bit of a stretch, and I am very grateful to him for seeing the potential within me, it is becoming more apparent how much the knowledge I have previously gained is going to and has already benefited me. Not only the knowledge needed for my profession and what I will be doing on a day to day basis, but things as simple as carrying oneself professionally, writing clear and concise emails that anticipate the person's next question, and actually being able to interpret emails. I don't know if it's just me, but I have always been shocked when a manager applauds me for doing my work and doing it thoroughly. Is this something that is truly lacking in today's work force?

I am thankful for my former manager for allowing me to jump in on anything and everything that came across my desk, guiding me where necessary, but allowing me to take the lead on so many different project. I am thankful for the opportunity to partner closely with the HR Department in such a way that allowed me to make an seamless transition into the Corporate HR space. I am thankful for my friends, to whom I will be forever indebted to for making my job situation tolerable enough to allow me to make it through for the period of time necessary to gain all of the experience I was able to. I am just plain thankful.

I walk past this lovely lady everyday on my way to work. 

As I go into my new role, I am thankful for my coworkers who are eager to teach me the ropes and are also willing to let me jump in where I can. I am thankful that they appreciate my contributions and recognize where my previous experience can lend a helping hand on a current situation. I am thankful for a manager that does not micromanage my day and instead allows me to work through the things that are coming across my desk and touches base with me every so often. I am thankful for a manager that is truly interested in what I can bring to the team and how I can grow my career in my current situation, not only because it is what the business needs, but because he genuinely cares about his team and the dynamic of the group as a whole.

I am thankful for the small things, like the fact that I am working for a company that truly values its employees and shows the appreciation in hard concrete ways. You don't always take a job for what is available to you, but it definitely goes a long way when a company goes above and beyond with its employee incentives. I am thankful that although I am now facing an hour long commute in each direction each day, it is an easy one and it affords me the time to pray and listen to my personal growth podcasts every day.

But most importantly, I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to continue my personal growth and take the next steps on the path that was predestined for me and my ultimate goals.

No Spend-tember Review

Now that September has come to a close and we are deep into Pumpkin Spice Latte season, I wanted to provide you all with an update on my "No Spend-tember." While I did slip up a few times, I was able to keep to my commitment for the most part, which allowed me to finish Baby Step 1 and begin Baby Step 2 all in the same week!

So first, let's talk about how I kept myself accountable. Before the month began, and throughout the month, I made sure that I told everyone I knew and came into regular contact with that I was on a no spend month. Having the support of my family and friends, even though some of them thought I was crazy, went a really long way. My sister has now even taken to asking me "Is this going to mess up your Dave Ramsey plan?" before we do something.

Letting everyone know what I was doing not only helped keep me accountable, but my friends and family all came up with ways we could spend time together that did not involve spending money. I went on a lot of walking dates with my friend Sera, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather we were having. I went on a few study dates with my sister. I took advantage of two outdoor movies with friends. All in all, I think that I actually spent more time socializing in September than I have in the past few months, and all of it was free!

Of course, there were also a few free things I did or coupons that I took advantage of during the month.

1. Two Starbucks coffees
2. Starbucks breakfast sandwich
3. Au Bon Pain chocolate croissant
4. Dunkin Donuts "Coffee Day" coffee
5. Movies in the park
6. Victoria's Secret underwear

After my first few slip-ups during the beginning of the month which I previously wrote about, two more situations arose where I needed to spend money. These situations, however, were somewhat pre-planned and I made sure to not exceed the budget. The first was that a pair of boots that I was previously budgeting for and had a sinking fund in place for went on sale for over 65% off. I could not pass up the sale and purchased the shoes using my saved funds, The second situation that arose came out of my getting a new job! Knowing that I was going to be starting in a new place and not knowing what the normal lunch process was at the new place, I budgeted for a small lunch and "getting to know you" coffee break on my first day. Both times, I came in under budget.

I'm very excited by all of the progress that I was able to make by performing this small reset exercise and will definitely be doing it again in the future. I cannot say enough how much the support of my family and friends kept me moving along, and for that I am thankful.

Stay tuned for the next post where I will be talking about my new beginnings.

Battle

Intense post alert...

I am currently sitting on my couch in the wee hours of the night, on the eve of my very big first day of work, because of stress induced insomnia. I have battled with insomnia for as long as I can remember and it can be brought on by different things, including my obsessive thoughts.

Earlier in the day, my sister and I decided that we were going to go on a sister date to Starbucks as we both had a lot of homework to catch up on. Because I also had a lot of laundry to do, I left two loads running and asked my mom if she could hang one load up to dry, and place the other in the dryer which I had preset. Off we went, and lots of coffee, studying, and To Do lists later, we made our way back home. When I asked my mother if she'd brought the clothes in from the line or if I needed to grab them, she looked at me with that look of complete shock and regret that told me she had forgotten to take the clothes out of the washing machines.

This is the point in the blog when you think #firstworldproblems. Let me begin by saying, a) I am completely aware that this was not my mother's fault, nor b) is it logically the end of the world.

Now let me explain to you what actually happened and is still playing out. When I found out that the clothes were not dry, I completely flipped my lid. I threw a tantrum that would impress any two year old, including the slamming of many doors as I made my way to the basement to get the clothes that were now not only still wet, but terribly wrinkled. As I do this, I begin going through all of the things that this mistake has now caused to go wrong.

1. The outfit that I painstakingly picked out for my first day of work is not dry and ready to be ironed as my To Do list said it would be.

2. Although I have planned out every outfit I will wear for my first week of work, I cannot possibly borrow from another day because that's not how I planned for things to go.

3. I will now have to figure out another outfit to wear for my first day.

4. I will now have to be forced to wash my other clothes that are machine dryable in order to find a comfortable, yet trendy "First Day of Work" outfit.

5. I will not be able to give myself a manicure because I will not have time to dry my nails between loads of laundry.

And the list goes on and on and on. What makes the psychotic ticking off of all of the items on my To Do list even worse, my anxiety causes me to go into an obsessive whirlwind of cleaning and organizing which makes getting my list completed even more impossible. Also there is the fact that as I'm washing and putting away the dishes, making sure everything is put away and in its place, and unpacking and repacking my purse to make sure I don't forget anything, I am completely aware of how irrational and destructive the behavior I am participating in is.

After all is said and done, I finished and put away the loads of laundry, got through most of my list, planned an alternate outfit, and hung the pre-selected outfit on a drying rack in front of a fan in the hopes that it will dry in time for the morning. But even though I was able to complete 98% of everything on the list and more, my brain still won't turn off because things didn't go exactly as planned and no amount of logic will allow me to escape the trap it has set for me.

Yarny Days

I have been talking about cleaning out my stash for quite some time, years actually! Some knitters are extremely organized and monogamous in the projects that they knit. They pick out a project, buy the yarn, knit the project, repeat. I, however, am not one of those knitters. At any given time I could have as many as 10 projects in progress and am constantly dreaming of the next thing that I will knit. Cue in the out of control yarn buying and stashing!

If you have been reading my blog at all for any amount of time, you know that I am currently working to get out of debt using Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. One of the first things that he mentions in the book is that when you get angry at your debt, you need to start selling everything so fast the kids are scared they are next. Over the summer, I did go through my closets and drawers and did a complete overhaul. I haven’t worn this shirt in 2 months, you’re out! This dress still has tags on it and doesn’t fit, you’re out too! Everything is out!!! But, I kept looking at my stash and kept deciding to move on to the next project.

I have definitely developed an extreme emotional connection to my yarn. For my it signifies the hopes and dreams that I had for each skein or hank of yarn. And more so, the hopes and dreams that I had for myself when I bought the yarn, so it has been very hard to get rid of.

Finally after weeks of looking at the yarn, I decided to dive in and start an eBay shop. So far the sales are creeping in and I have already cleared up a lot of room. Don't get me wrong, I still have A LOT of yarn that I can't seem to part with at the current moment, but I have made a promise to myself that I will not buy new yarn until I have knit my stash down considerably. I will also be looking through my current projects and re-blocking and selling them off if they are no longer in use.

My girlfriend Andrea, the recipient of my destashing,

It's time to not only clean up my money, but clean up the excess baggage weighing me down as I go into this next chapter in my life, and I couldn't be happier.

Whirlwind

Have you ever had one of those weeks where everything happens to be going on at the same time and you can't keep up? Last week was one of those weeks for me; boy when it rains, it pours. In this case the rain has been coming in the form of blessings. As of Friday evening at 5pm, I was offered and accepted a position that I would never have imagined could be mine!

On Monday of last week, a recruiter I formerly worked with on another position that didn't pan out reached out to me. I was in the midst of heavy final interviews for another position, but I said why not, what could it hurt to take a look? Fast forward to a Tuesday phone interview and Thursday in person interview and a lot of texting with a former colleague and friend who is currently working with the company, and I was over the moon. I still continued my final round interviews with the other company, but was really gunning for this new role.

I have always been lucky when it comes to finding a new position, and for this I am thankful. I will definitely say that God has tested my patience each and every time, but He has always provided what was in my best interest and always at that moment when I had reached my limits. I am not a particularly patient person, and I am someone that once I make I decision, I will move mountains to make things happen. Interviewing is definitely something that is out of my comfort zone for this reason. Not only do I hate talking myself up, but I hate the fact that for any reason unbeknownst to me, someone can decide that I'm not a right fit for the position, the company, etc.

I am happy and grateful to say, after months of submitting resumes and interviewing, I have finally found my new home.

No Spend-tember

I officially began my debt free journey this past July after having finally read the Total Money Makeover. One day, during one of my bouts of insomnia, I woke up at 3am, binge watched Dave Ramsey YouTube-ers, and sat down and created my budget.

For anyone that seriously budgets, and let's be honest, anyone in general, you know that summer is a big season to spend money. You get invited to weekly beach trips, living in the city there is a lot of outdoor dining, and just being out and about for a walk can cost you $6 if you pass the local FroYo shop. I personally find summer to be much heavier on the spending than winter is, quite frankly, because of all of the small expenses that "sneak up" on you. Have you noticed how quickly they add up?

So after two months of budgeting and saving most of my baby emergency fund, and still being a little short, I decided to put an end to the madness and get gazelle intense! Enter my No Spend-tember and No Spend-tober plan. If you've ever watched a financial vlog or read a financial blog, you may have heard of this concept. The concept usually comes around in January, after all of the holiday spending, as a reset button. The rules of the game are that you are not allowed to spend any money outside of your "four walls" and monthly bills; read the only shopping you will be doing is at the grocery store.

My reason for initially choosing two months was because of marathon training and my desire to also hit reset on my training as well, which was very inconsistent during the summer. Now that I've decided to postpone the marathon, and am looking to start a new job in October, I will probably shorten the time period to just September and allow myself a very small eating out and coffee budget for October to account for a lot of the getting to know you lunches and coffee breaks that come along with a new work environment. I haven't completely decided on this yet, but will let you know as soon as I have.

So for my progress so far this month, I am projected to save about $446 this month. This will both finish off Baby Step 1 and allow me to begin Baby Step 2 all in the same month! I have been really trimming down the grocery budget, trying to go through things I have stocked up in the freezer, and have two more babysitting gigs scheduled for the month, so I am hoping to bring this up to at least $600, by the end of the month.

I did slip up twice the first two days of the month due to poor planning and after work laziness on my part; read not going grocery shopping. I also had my annual gym membership fee and textbook fee for my Certificate course that I had to pay this month. All three additional expenses set me back about $72, so all in all, not too bad.

I'm having lots of fun finding ways to have fun without spending money. The weather has been unseasonably warm and has allowed me a lot of outdoor time, which definitely helps. Let's also be very honest here; my apartment has never been cleaner!!! Check back in at the end of the month to see how I did!

What On Earth Am I Here For?

This is going to be a hard post for me.

From the time that I was very young, my mother has called me an old soul. I never really played with kids my age, and usually opted for hanging out with my older cousins or sitting in a corner reading a book. For just as long, I've struggled with anxiety. When I was very young, my parents just brushed it off as me being a nervous child. The older I became, the more apparent it was that I had a problem. I remember having to meet with my guidance counselor on a weekly basis in high school to ensure I didn't put too much stress on myself to where I would have panic attacks.

And that's just it. The majority of my anxiety and things that caused me to stress were all self inflicted expectations, and they still are today. I made it out of a competitive high school environment and went off to college as happy as I could be, thinking that I left my problems behind. Little by little, the anxiety started to creep back in and without my usual coping mechanisms, I began to pick up unhealthy habits and even developed mild obsessive-compulsive behaviors. I again sought counseling and in my Sophomore year found knitting.

I dove straight in and didn't look back. Here was a hobby where I could funnel some of my compulsions (patterns and numbers). Not only that, but it helped me with the constant need to wash my hands. I continued counseling and continued my knitting, and somehow, once again, thought I was in the clear.

One of my major triggers has always been the sense of security. Over the past few years, I've dealt with relapses and have been able to keep a relatively anxiety free life. As I began to become unhappy with my work situation earlier this year, however, that all changed. I started to feel trapped because of the mountain of debt that I am facing and began an endless cycle of anxiety and self doubt. For those of you who have never had to deal with the debilitating feeling of mental illness, I cannot possibly describe the feeling of your body literally not being willing to move in any direction that didn't mean curling up in a ball for days on end. And what's worse, my anxiety sparks further anxious thoughts as I think to myself that I should not be feeling this way for any number of reasons, from the fact that I have a loving, supportive circle of family and friends, to the ultimate reason, that God is my Lord and Savior.

As I begin my job search and battle with the mounting feelings of stress, I feel as if He has spoken to me again. This week, my church has kicked off a 40 day, 6 week journey to finding purpose. We will be working our way through What On Earth Am I Here For as a church and it could not have come at a better time. I want to share my journey toward self-healing with you all, not only as a way to keep myself accountable, but also in the hopes that I may inspire someone to seek help as well. I'm not sure how often I will be posting throught the journey yet, but hope that as I find time to blog through my feelings, that you will also find time to read these posts.

My goal with this blog has been to keep it as real as it gets, so here we go...

Praise

For a long time, my mother and I have worked jointly on my student loan cause. I obviously pay everything and anything I can toward my debt as possible on a monthly basis and every so often she will gift me money to throw at the loans. For as long as I remember, my mother has had a side business going from home around the holidays making and selling a traditional food to our culture to family and friends, and now friends of friends as it continues to grow. When one of my aunts was living in the area, we would both hunker down every holiday season to help in the cause to make a little extra money. Since taking a night job and with my aunt moving to Florida, the production line has diminished greatly and now we produce more as a hobby than anything else.

Recently, my mother approached me to let me know that she would like us to make the effort to resume the little side business as much as we could for this upcoming holiday season and that any profits we made would go toward my student loans. Queue in my taking a "day off" to work the production line with my mom about two weeks ago and we were able to pull just under $600 in profit for a hard day's work. We sold all of our product and started getting pre-orders for the next batch we make coming up in November.

Around this time, my family also gathered together to catch up as one of my aunts is in from out of town. As my mom took orders, she also let them all know our plans. She also happened to mention how excited she was because with the next production we would be able to knock out one of my loans as it only had about $500 remaining. After a day of fun, as my mom got ready to go home, one of our family members approached her and gave her the money to finish paying off the loan! As of Sunday evening one of my student loans is completely paid off!

While I still have another five student loans, thankfully I never consolidated them, I have a renewed sense of hope. Working my debt snowball and the entire Dave Ramsey plan can be so daunting at times when you have so much debt and so little income and your debt free date looks so far away. Trusting that if I put my faith in God and continue the path I know to be true can be so hard to someone that often deals with crippling anxiety especially surrounding money. This week, He reminded me who my Father is and who will ultimately provide.

For this, I am thankful.

10 Things I've Bought That Save Me Money, part 2

Welcome to this week's continuation of the 10 things I've bought that have saved me money. I'm going to go ahead an dive right in.

6. eReader
I have always been an avid reader and my house has always been full of books. Now that I am living in an apartment with limited space, I really need to be choosy about the books that I actually buy and keep in hard copy. I bought my Nook eReader a few years ago during a Black Friday sale at Barnes & Noble for $59. I now save an average of 30-50% (sometimes even more) on books that I purchase, not to mention the loads of free eBooks I can borrow from the public library.

7. Hair Dryer & Straightener
This one is along the lines of my manicure kit. I have naturally super curly hair and of course, I want what I don't have...aka straight hair. Also part of the curly haired problems is the fact that I cannot wash my hair with normal products or more than twice a week unless I want it all to fall out. Queue in the hair dryer and straightener. Yes, you read that right! I own a portable hair dryer, much like the ones that you see at the hair salon, and every week my mom sets my hair in rollers and I straighten it after it's dried. I choose this method rather than blow-drying it for two reasons; I have insane back problems, and also the hair dryer is less damaging to my hair. I paid $30 for the hair dryer many moons ago and is still running strong and about $70 for the straightener, which will need to be replaced this year. All in all, my at home hair routine saves me $30-$60 per week!!! That's a yearly savings of $1,500-$3,000!

8. Online Babysitting Services
So this one is a little different because instead of saving money, they actually make me money. I currently am part of two online babysitting services that are technically free for the babysitters; they usually make their money off of the parents that have to subscribe and pay a fee. Part of the process, however, is that the sites offer background checks so that parents know that you're a credible and trustworthy person. I pay about $15 every 6 months for each of the sites ($60 total per year), and because parents see that I'm fully screened, I am able to land babysitting gigs more easily. With my crazy work and training schedule, I can't really work a regular part time job, and babysitting is a way that I make extra income whenever I can fit it in my schedule.

9. Mason Jars and Airtight Containers
This one goes hand in hand with my wholesale membership. Buying in bulk often times means that you need to be able to store your dried goods in airtight containers to keep them from going rancid. Ikea has these great mason jars in a variety of sizes that I use for everything from storing my sugar to making my overnight oatmeal during the week. If you are big into buying in bulk and can resist buying everything in the marketplace on your way through, I would highly recommend these!

10. Sewing Machine
For as long as I can remember, my mother has always sewn and she taught me to sew at a very young age. My mom stayed at home with all three of us until we were old enough to be in school and one thing she taught me is to always have a bit of mad money. For as long as I can remember, my mother used to make beautiful home goods and sell them from home. She started off on a small table sewing machine and eventually bought an industrial machine where she would whip up her wonders. I have learned to make so many housewares and a large part of my apartment is actually decorated in items that I've made from the window treatments to changing up throw pillows whenever the fancy strikes. I'm also extremely short (4'11") and have to hem all of my pants, even if they are petite! Not only do I get pleasure from creating things, but the ability to sew has definitely saved me tons of money over the years.

I hope you enjoyed reading today's blog. Stop by on Wednesday for some super exciting news!

Back to School

Those are definitely not words I would have thought I would be typing a week ago! I have been toying with the idea of going back to school to formalize my Human Resources experience for quite some time. I even began the process of applying for and being accepted into an MBA in HR program. As I work my debt snowball more and more, however, it was becoming apparent that I still don't have enough wiggle room to fully fund tuition every semester.

Queue in my girlfriend Toni, who was thinking about taking a Certificate course in Human Resources Management. We did a little bit of research, and before we knew it, we were both enrolled in a course within 4 days of first talking about the idea. I was able to fully fund the course with the money I'd begun saving for the Master's program, and the course will even count toward some of my grad credits once I make the plunge!

So here I am, super excited and nervous since it's been quite some time since I've been in school and have never actually taken an online class before! True to my new ways, I will be cozying up in a chair at the public library while everyone else is studying away at the local Starbucks. But really, can Starbucks beat the quiet comfort of the smell of old books?

10 Things I've Bought That Save Me Money, part 1

I recently began my debt-free journey after lots of subtle and not so subtle nudging from two of my great friends, Erin and Sera. I've been miserable for quite some time about my situation with an insane amount of debt that I could not seem to get out from under. My despair really kept me from being able to see things clearly and I really appreciate these two ladies pushing me to begin budgeting and open my eyes to the fact that there was a little bit of wiggle room, which is all I needed to get started!

So on to reading The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey, and binge watching financial vloggers on YouTube and I was a woman on a mission. This post is inspired by a series by a few of my favorite vloggers. So here goes...

1. The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey
This book has really transformed my life and the way I view money. I grew up with a mom that was frugal and always debt conscious, but like many people, she believed in needing to build up your credit and in the great myth of "good debt." Well an amazing education borrowed with "good debt" and a major recession later, I'm now 6 figures in the hole! Thanks to Dave, I now have I plan that I am hitting with gazelle intensity and am rewriting my family tree.

2. SavvyCents Wallet
As part of my money makeover, I began using the envelope system. I didn't want to physically carry around all of the envelopes, so Sera turned me on to this awesome product. The wallet has accordion style sections that you label and put your cash in and is super cute to boot. Once the money is gone, it's gone!!!

3. Reusable Coffee Mug
I am a true caffeine addict. I cannot live my life without my two cups of coffee in the morning and sometimes another in the afternoon to pull me through. I also happen to work in a building with a Starbucks...yes, you read that right! I don't even have to go out in the horrible weather to get my java fix. As you can imagine two-three cups a day, Monday-Friday really adds up! This was a $5 investment that saves me $25-$30 PER WEEK!! Yes, that's right, I was previously spending $1,500 a year on coffee. It makes me sick to even think about it now.

4. BJ's Wholesale Club Membership
I am very fortunate to live in an apartment with LOTS to storage and therefore I can buy in bulk. I share a yearly membership with my mother and for $20 a year, I am able to save tons on grocery and personal/household items that I can buy in bulk. One thing that I will caution here is that it is very important to still view the unit prices on items. There are definitely certain things that are not a bargain to buy, and I will still stock up on things when they are on super sale at the regular grocery store.

5. Manicure/Pedicure Tools
I'm a super girly girl and must always be perfectly manicured. Living in one of the most expensive areas in the country, however, these costs can add up to the tune of about $90 per month. A $30 investment in a few tools and I have saved thousands of dollars over the past few years. Don't get me wrong, I still get the professional mani/pedi for a special occasion like a wedding, but it is definitely only done as a treat now, instead of my once weekly trip to the nail spa.

Stop by same time next week for the remainder of the list! Or before then to see what other things I've been up to, of course.

hello there

Welcome to Live.Love.Meep. This will be a place where I recount the regular, and not so regular, happenings in my life. It is also really a way for me to stay accountable to myself and where I am now in this crazy life. I will be talking a lot about my running/weight loss journey. I will be discussing my debt free journey using the Dave Ramsey approach. I will also be discussing my journey back to having a strong relationship with my Lord and Savior and leading a fuller life.

At times this blog will be sad... happy... full of hope... full of despair... inspire one person... or offend many people, but it will always be real. This is me uncensored. I hope you enjoy the journey.