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The Complete Guide to Creating A Debt Repayment Plan

Debt Repayment Plan Complete Guide

Today, we’re going to be wrapping up the Debt Repayment Plan Series! We’ll be putting it all together to create our successful debt repayment plans! What is a Debt Repayment Plan? A debt repayment plan is your plan of action for how you are going to handle paying off your debt. It includes everything from the total of all your debts to the order you will pay off your debts into the amount of month you contribute to repayment monthly.[Read more]

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My Top 5 Frugal Rules

Top 5 Frugal Rules

Living the frugal life is not always fun and games. Most of the time, the frugal life is irritating in one way or another. But frugal people overlook the irritants in the now for the benefits in the future. Think of it like a diet. Most of the time, you don’t start a diet thinking, realistically, that you will achieve your goal weight/shape/size overnight. Instead, you put in the work to bring about the future you want. Personal finance works[Read more]

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Creating Strong Financial Goals (DRS #5)

Today we’re going to be looking at how to develop strong financial goals. Types of Goals There are typically 3 groups of goals: Short-term, Mid-term, and Long-term. I break them like this: Short-term goals can be completed in less than 2 years. Mid-term goals will take somewhere between 2 & 4 years to complete. Long-term goals will take 4 or more years to complete. Each goal type can be independent or can build on each other. Both approaches have their[Read more]

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Teaching Young Children About Money

Teaching Young Children About Money

Last week I talked about how to teach your older children about money. Today’s focus will be on teaching young children (~5-8) about money. It is important to begin teaching your children about various aspects of life from an early age. Because money and finances will always be a part of their lives, I encourage you to begin talking to them around age 5. For young children, abstract concepts such as the value of money will be difficult to comprehend[Read more]

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Making Better Financial Choices (DRS #4)

Better Financial Choices

This is the 4th post in the Debt Repayment Plan Series! If you’re new to this series, start here. Throughout life, we make many, many choices. Many of those choices are financial, whether we realize it or not. And I’ve made some pretty odd financial choices, according to society. For example: I kept the fixed repayment option for my student loans because it would cost me the least amount overall. I only spent 3 years getting my Bachelor’s, because I could, and[Read more]

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Teaching Older Children About Money

Teaching Older Children About Money

Last week I talked about how to teach your teen about money. Today’s focus will be on teaching older children (~9-12) about money. I’ve talked several times before about how poorly my parents prepared me to be financially on my own. If my parents had been intentional with money, I would likely have avoided several mistakes I’ve made to date. My parents were not intentional in managing their finances, let alone teaching me about finances. From an early age, I[Read more]

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The Best Way to Apply Extra Payments (DRS #3)

The Best Way to Apply Extra Payments

This is the 3rd post in the Debt Repayment Plan Series! If you’re new to this series, start here. Another important part of creating a debt repayment plan is knowing how extra payments will affect the life of your payments. This is incredibly important because this can make a pretty significant difference in the life of your loan. Extra payments are everything when it comes to paying off debts early. But are you using the best approach? What Extra Payments? I[Read more]

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Teaching Your Teen About Money

Teaching Teens About Money

One of the many important life skills a teenager needs to learn is money management. As a parent, you want to raise a successful and independent future adult. Teaching money management intentionally is crucial to your teens ability to be a successful adult. Teaching teens intentionally helps to prepare them for life outside your home. They will need to learn how to budget, how to save, how to manage their impulses, and how to make wise financial decisions. It’s possible for an[Read more]

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My Husband and I Have Separate Finances

Separate Finances

My husband and I have always tried to keep our finances separate. This post is in no way an attempt to influence you to change your way of managing your finances with your partner. Separate finances work really well for us and it does not feel strange because it is the way it has always been for us. If you have joint finances and it works for you, I encourage you to keep doing what works best for you. We[Read more]

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The Importance of a Debt Repayment Plan (DRS #1)

Debt Repayment Plan

Developing a debt repayment plan is extremely important part of becoming debt-free. The repayment plan is your guide to how much money you will put towards your debt(s) on a monthly basis. What is a debt repayment plan? A debt repayment plan is an action plan for how you will tackle your debt and attain your ultimate goal of being debt free. This is everything from the total of all your debts to the order you will pay off your[Read more]