Tag: money

Posted in Christmas, Life

Has Christmas Cheer Evolved Into Christmas Greed?

Posted on by Kylie
I ask the questions and I also answer them. It’s like talking to yourself, but in writing
I woman enjoys looking at Christmas lights during the holiday season.
See Above Photo Creds

If I ask a question and then answer it myself, does that mean I am impatient? No. It means I am either asking a rhetorical question, or trying to have a conversation with my sister.

Could I get ahead financially if Christmas didn’t exist?

I think we can all agree that Christmas has turned into a holiday for capitalism instead of that in which it was truly intended. The birth of Jesus Christ has taken a back seat for so long that you can hardly recognize the original purpose of Christmas. If I had to guess, I would say probably 3/4 of the people celebrating the birth of Jesus, don’t even show up for Christmas services at any church. It has evolved from the birth of a savior into a commercial holiday design to break us financially and boost the economy.

Gift giving has turned away from giving people gifts you want to give them to taking requests and getting into fights over said requests on Black Friday.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am all about boosting the economy and I value the concept of capitalism. However, we have all year to exercise our capitalistic ventures. So, I find it almost offensive to take a sacred date and twist it to become a commercial holiday. Christmas is starting to be a date to worship money. No better than Valentine’s Day. This is a travesty to everybody that died in the name of Christianity, which was a lot of people. In medieval terms, it would’ve been called an excessive butt load.

As I prepare the Christmas list to go shopping for six children, it becomes very clear that they have no earthly idea how much money I make or what kind of bills we have to pay each month. A PlayStation five, iPhone 12 and Gucci shoes are just the tip of the iceberg. The ratchet part of me wants to yell out cuss words and call them names. I hate to tell them, but they will probably be getting sweatsuits and I hope they are happy with that and understand how lucky they are for them to not be windbreakers from the nineties. Which I would have loved as a teenager, by the way.

Parents through no fault of their own, other than being big softies, fall to the manipulation that their children become prey if they are not dressed in the most expensive apparel. I hate to break it to them, but if one provides children with other things, such as a personality and a backbone, those things don’t matter. What kind of message are we sending our children that we buy things we can’t afford so they can fit in socially? We all want to give our children the things we didn’t have, but don’t do it! It does more harm than good, especially when in excess.

As someone who is legally an adult, I don’t care at all if my co-workers or anyone I know are wearing a brand shirt or not. I don’t care how much their shoes cost. I care if they smell good and are relatively clean. I did care, briefly, as a teenager and begged my parents for a leather bomber jacket and Duckhead pants. My parents said no. I survived and learned to live with, and appreciate, what they could afford to give me.

My Christmas as a kid consisted of my parents giving me one nice gift along with a few small ones, which was a whole lot better than the apple and the orange that my mother supposedly got every year. I’m still not sure that is totally true, but I heard about it every Christmas. For that reason and many others, I would never have asked my parents for anything that cost over $500. Actually, I would never ask them for anything that cost over $70.

Extremely high expectations are just another example of how we have coddled our children to the point that they are spoiled and materialistic. I’m not saying to boycott Christmas, because it’s a beautiful holiday. But we shouldn’t let the materialistic aspect of it stress us out to the point of not being able to enjoy it, which is what many parents do every year.

Children will not remember you for what you bought them for Christmas, but they will remember how often you were there for them when they needed you. Going without the items one wants encourages hard work and builds strong character. I have never met anyone with a strong character that was ashamed of having one, nor anyone who didn’t consider it a great trait.

The bottom line is, do what you can afford, give what you want to give, and not one iota more. Personally, providing me and my husband with a strong financial future, so I don’t live in my children’s backyard in a portable storage unit, is more important than purchasing the latest DaBaby sweatshirt for $80.00.

Christmas is a religious holiday and should be honored as such. If you are not religious, but choose to celebrate the holiday anyway, it should be about appreciation, love, gratitude, and giving from your heart. Not giving from a list of $1,000 requests.

Originally posted on Medium.com

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Posted in Finance, Life, money

My 7 Favorite Dave Ramsey Tips

Posted on by Kylie

I wish I could be his obnoxious, female equivalent

Beautiful artwork that resembles money.

Almost everybody knows who Dave Ramsey is. No, he’s not Jon Benet’s father. I’m talking about Dave Ramsey, financial expert and advisor extraordinaire. He is the financial world’s equivalent to Dr. Phil. He is able to convey financial and money matters in a way that all who hear it can understand it.

I wish I could be the female version of Ramsey. But, alas, I am not eloquent and I like to party a little too much. So, in his honor, I would like to share my favorite Dave Ramsey tips.

1. Open, fill, and maintain an emergency fund in case you lose your job or a catastrophe happens. This is typically three months of living expenses.

2. The power of focusing. Pay off one small debt at a time instead of trying to do all of them or multiple ones at once. This is called, according to Dave, a debt snowball. It is a lot less stressful and a lot more feasible than trying to pay off everything at one time.

3. Use cash to pay for everything. If you can’t afford to pay cash, you can’t afford it. Credit should be saved for emergency situations.

4. Invest 15% in retirement. Unfortunately, I cannot allocate that much, but I hope to be able to get there soon. I would love to go back and slap younger me for not starting earlier.

5. Live poor now so you can live rich later.

6. Never, ever buy a new car. They depreciate as soon as you drive off of the lot. This is just not a smart move at all, financially. In all fairness, my dad taught me this long before Ramsey did.

7. Pay off your mortgage early. That’s one less debt you will have upon retiring.

Dave Ramsey is a favorite of mine because he doesn’t over complicate things. Sometimes, it really is as simple as it sounds.

You can see from the above tips how easily you can change your life and your finances. After taking the first step in the right direction, the next steps come much easier. Take the first step towards being debt free.

Posted in Debt, Life, money

5 Ways I Have Gained Control Of My Spending Habits

Posted on by Kylie

The poverty mindset is living with a flight or fight mentality

5 Ways To Gain Control Of Spending

I will admit I have a problem. Actually, more than one honestly. There were a good 30 days straight recently where I ordered something from Amazon every day. I knew I couldn’t afford to do this when I did it, but I did it anyway. I was choosing to live moment to moment. I had what I call the poverty mindset.

The poverty mindset, to me, means you live with a fight or flight mentality. You live each day as it comes with no preparations for the future. If you only have $30, you will spend it all on lottery and crab legs instead of being frugal. It is, in my mind, a survival mechanism. It is one I see all too often. When you are fighting for survival, immediate gratification is the only thing that matters.

Pay Rate

I implemented a rule of thumb in my spending that has made a huge difference for me. First, figure out the amount you get paid hourly. Then, before you buy anything, figure out how many hours you will have to work to pay for it. This method has been extremely beneficial for me.

Envelope

I like to experiment with budgets, but I’m pretty dead set on the envelope budget now. I think. It seems to have helped me the most save money on a near constant basis. This is because I see the envelopes as they dwindle away and I tend to cling tighter to the balances.

Lunch

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Eating out everyday is the fastest way to go into debt. Those small amounts, done frequently, are the things that devastate your finances.

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Photo by Carlos Lindner on Unsplash

Separate Accounts

Set up separate spending accounts and allot yourself a set amount to spend. Do not go over it. This has also helped me. I can’t give myself an allowance in and stick to it when it is all in the same account. It also helps to hide money from my husband. I mean, my kids.

Credit

This one hurts. Allow yourself to buy absolutely nothing on credit. If you can’t pay cash, you can’t afford it. So, basically, I can’t buy anything unless I pay cash. Instead, every time I get a commission or unexpected sum of money, I gift myself with a little impulse buy.

I want to be responsible financially and also enjoy nice things. It is possible with rules in place.

In conclusion, as with everything, I will spend in moderation now so I can enjoy my retirement with less stress later.

Unspeakable Things for $7.99

Posted in credit repair, Debt, Finance, Life, money

Paying Off Debt Quickly Using The Snowball Method

Posted on by Kylie

Using this method, paying off debt can be done with fast results and skyrocketing credit scores

A lady exasperated by her debt, trying to figure out how to pay it all
Canva

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

-Aristotle

A debt snowball is not a crumpled up wad of bills for you to throw around in the snow. It is a debt reducing strategy that I learned from financial guru, Dave Ramsey. I have tried almost every financial strategy in existence and this one is the one I recommend to my financial or credit analysis clients.

Using this method, paying off debt can be done a little at a time for faster results and skyrocketing credit scores.

Step 1

Add up all of your debt and allocate them into categories such as credit cards, medical, collections, loans, etc. Then further allocate them by the ones with the highest interest rate down to the lowest. Use the method on each section or, if you can only do one at a time, start with the debt that has interest on it.

Step 2

Pay the minimum payment due on all except the one with the smallest balance or the highest interest rate. I would recommend sorting first by interest rate and then by balance to save the most money in the long run. However you decide to do it, pick the one to pay as much over the minimum payment as you can afford.

Repeat until the first debt is paid off in full.

Step 3

Repeat the first two steps over and over with the remaining debt until everything is paid off and you are one of the rare, debt-free individuals that we hear about so often.

After that final debt is cleared, you will be amazed how fast things got better for you financially and regretful for how long it took you to do it. Suddenly, you’ll be in the position to buy something that you need when you need it and use cash. Being debt free is an amazing feeling to have especially if you have almost drowned from it before.

That doesn’t sound like a big deal to some people, but I know many, many people who pray for only that circumstance to happen in their lives before they die. They just want a chance to not worry constantly about making ends meet for a few moments in their life before it’s over.

I am a definite realist and true unbeliever in fairy tales. So, please believe me when I tell you that this goal is attainable for everyone. Anyone willing to put in the work can make this happen. As with anything else, small changes and/or steps done on a consistent basis will quickly lead to great accomplishments.

My favorite financial quote has always been, “It is not how much money you earn, but how much you don’t spend that determines your wealth.” It is also a quote that I have heard from my brother 1 million times so it has stuck in my head. Which reinforces my point that anything we do repeatedly becomes an action.

Posted in Finance

How To Make Money While Making Money

Posted on by Kylie
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Having money in an account is nice, but most financial advisors will tell you that if your money is not working for you, then you’re losing out on wealth.

Keep your emergency fund in your regular savings account so you have immediate and total access to it. Any savings beyond that need to be put to work earning for you.

Beyond that amount in your emergency fund, put everything else in a money making venture or account. Whether that be a CD, stocks, bonds, EFTs, or just an interest-bearing savings account. You want any of your money, that’s not being spent, to work for you. It needs to grow, not lie stagnant like my heart.

Another way to make money while you’re making money, is to invest in a vending machine or other business. Be a silent investor so you don’t have to do any of the work or maintenance. Just sit back and let the money come to you. Then, put your profits in an interest-bearing account or another investment opportunity.

I also like to make money by buying a piece of furniture, flipping it and selling it for a profit. I only buy one piece at a time, so I don’t overextend myself physically, creatively, or financially. I have made good money at this. Custom painted furniture and mosaic furniture is all the rage.

COVID has affected our economy, but not all in bad ways. Now is a great time to buy real estate, if you are able to qualify. Qualifications are a little harder, but it’s a good time to buy and a great time to sell if you need to liquidate some assets.

Also, consider your education as an investment for your money. Take a class, get that degree, get that training, or just become educated. The more skills you have, the better.

Knowledge is power. I firmly believe that. The day you stop improving yourself and your life, is the day you really die.

Posted in Life

Money Taboos We Should Break

Posted on by Kylie
Money Taboos We Should Break
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Stop doing stupid things to sabotage your finances.

I can’t put it any more clearly. We can start becoming less uninformed, aka dumb, by breaking some of the taboos that surround the topic of money and finance.

Talk

It has been, in the past, considered taboo to talk about money.

We need to correct this now. The more we talk about money, and what does or does not work for us, the better for everybody.

And I, for one, would’ve appreciated people talking about money in high school. It would’ve been nice to learn about budgeting, saving, and earning instead of the Pythagorean theorem. I wonder how many bankruptcies could’ve been avoided if this had been implemented.

Cost

It has been considered in poor taste or vulgar to ask someone how much they paid for something.

I think that’s ridiculous because how are we supposed to know what a good deal is or if we’re getting ripped off if we don’t know what the normal baseline price is? So, when he asks, tell Tom how much that new lawnmower cost. What does it really matter? If they come asking you for money, just say no.

With this being said, I do not agree with telling people your salary or income information. That is nobody’s business but your own. Yes, I can make up my own rules. America is a democracy, but my house is a dictatorship run by me. Just ask my kids.

Marriage

Okay, ladies and men, please pay attention here. Luckily for us, it is no longer 1952 or even 1989. You don’t have to ask your husband to open a checking account, credit card, or for his input on any financial decision.

And, men, you don’t have to tell your wife about every little thing you buy nor do you have to hand your paycheck over.

I’m going to get in trouble for this comment, but all marriages work differently. You are not required to share financial accounts just because you are married. You are still entitled to your own independence and your own wealth.

My husband and I choose to share expenses, but stay out of each other’s personal accounts. It works for us. It doesn’t mean it would work for everybody. I’m well aware that marriage is an extremely complicated situation and needs to be personally built around each situation.

I cannot go back and yell at the teachers from 1993 to 1997 about not teaching me in high school what I should’ve been taught, but I can break the cycle by teaching my children about finances.

If we fix this now, the next generation will be more prepared to deal with the financial world.