The Wanderlusting Penny Pincher

Hello lovely readers! As the weekend comes to a close, I'm feeling satisfied that I accomplished everything on my to do list and am ready for the busy week ahead. One of the tasks on said list, was to pick up the groceries I ordered from Wal Mart. This was only the second time I have ordered groceries for pick up, and let me tell you, I am never buying groceries any other way ever again, and I have no idea why I didn't do it any sooner! There are so many ways that Wal Mart grocery pickup saves you money, so of course I have to share them! I am The Wanderlusting Penny Pincher after all! 1. It's FREE, need I say more? 2. If you have the tendency to overspend on impulse buys (this used to be a big problem for me)... BOOM. Problem solved. You can't buy what you don't see! 3. It saves so much time, and as we all know, time is money! 4. When you are searching for your products online, you can set it to list the lowest priced items first that are related to your searc...

As I was thinking about what to write for this post, I started reflecting on my own journey with money and why I'm so passionate about personal finance in general. It's because I truly believe that giving hearts coupled with healthy money habits is the recipe for making the world a better place. There would be less people who are poor and hungry, happier marriages and just happier, less stressed out people in general. Now don't get me wrong, money itself does not equal happiness, but the side effects of a poor money mindset contribute greatly to unhappiness. Money is a powerful tool and an important resource, and it's ok to want more of it when it's obtained, managed and dispersed responsibly. I recently became a Dave Ramsey certified financial coach, and it's my mission to help as many willing people as possible, so please contact me if you would like help with budgeting, debt elimination and breaking the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck! As Dave Ramsey s...

A couple days ago, I came across a few spam emails in my inbox that I actually had to read twice to make sure I was seeing clearly! The first one was advertising "personal loans for unplanned expenses." The second one was offering "personal loans to help you reach your financial goals." The third said, "financial help - loans to pay off debt." WHAT?! The idea of going into debt to get ahead financially is so preposterous, I thought it had to be a joke! Well, it is a joke, but the sad truth is that these offers were serious. Seriously misguided. Let's unpack this further, shall we? I want to let everybody in on a little secret. "Unplanned expenses" are no longer unplanned if you...wait for it...plan for them. Of course nobody plans on the inconveniences of life happening, such as car or home repairs, trips to the ER, travel expenses due to the sudden death of a loved one etc. We know somewhere in the back of our minds that these ...

Are you struggling to make ends meet? Are you having a hard time writing and/or sticking to a monthly budget? Do you feel like you have shaved your budget down to needs only but things still aren't adding up? Let's explore some of the most common, yet overlooked budget busters. 1. Housing.  This is an obvious need in your budget, but what percentage of your monthly take home pay are you spending on housing? Anything over 30% is not a need, that's just extravagant. Keeping it closer to 25% (or lower if possible) is ideal, especially if you're paying off debt. This may not be possible if your income is very low, in which case you may need to sell some things, get a second job, get a roommate to share expenses and/or visit your local food pantry to at least ease the burden of food costs. Anything you can do to spend less and make more money. 2. Car Payments.  A car is also a need, but is your monthly car payment $200? $300? $400? $500? $600+? The average payment is a...

After reading the title of this post, some of you may have had the knee jerk is-that-even-a-question-? reaction. I get it. Where I grew up, in the very affluent Johnson County, Kansas, it was the norm/expectation that you went to college right after high school. Before I say anything else, let me be clear that I highly value education, knowledge and higher learning. I have two degrees (a B.A. in music and a B.A. in psychology) that I am very proud of, but I know people without degrees who make just as much if not more money than I do and never had any debt to boot!  I do not recommend college at all (especially not right after high school) unless the following is true:  1. You have a focused/specific career plan (doctor, lawyer, teacher, engineer etc.) Do NOT get a generic degree in something like philosophy, history, communications, etc. that will cause you to be $60,000 in debt but only make $30,000 a year! I know this because while I am proud of my degrees, they...

Hello to all of my wonderful readers! I would like to connect you to some information and tools that are financially beneficial: 1. There are many great books out there about money. I have recommended a few in some of my previous posts, but if you can only stand to read one, let it be Your New Money Mindset  by Brad Hewitt, the CEO of Thrivent Financial (the awesome company that helps me on my wise with money journey), and James Moline, a licensed psychologist. Here is a quote from the book that sums up it's message and my heart's cry: "Before you can remake your habits, you need to remake your heart." That deserves an Amen! I would also like to encourage you to take the free online assessment tool from the book. It will give you insight into your current money mindset and how you can grow. It's brief and fun!  Click here to take the assessment. 2. Switching gears, my next helpful tidbit is an exciting new offer! In a previous post, I recommended keeping your ...

Right off the bat, allow me to answer the titular question; credit cards are not your friend!  We hear about the growing epidemic of credit card debt all the time. I recently read a statistic that said around 75% of American adults have at least one credit card. That means that 75% of American adults are in the habit of buying what they cannot afford outright.  Yes, many people claim that they only use their credit cards for the essentials they already plan to buy in order to accumulate airline miles, points or cash back "rewards" and that they pay off the balance every month. That sounds sensible at first, but let's explore it further.  Many credit cards have done away with annual fees...aaaand many haven't. The fees often negate any "rewards."  Here's a public service announcement: Cash back rewards are designed to make you spend more and to increase their bottom line.  How many times have you been shopping with every intention of on...

Welcome to the Wanderlusting Penny Pincher blog! I have taken an unintentionally long hiatus from posting as I was moving and traveling and then regretfully never got back into the routine of posting...until now! The pastor at my church has been doing a sermon series the past few weeks about having a godly perspective on money. ( Click here to listen ). This series has gotten me so fired up as it echoes my heart's cry about money and much of what I have written about in my previous posts. So here I am, back at it just in time for the upcoming holiday season!  For many, what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of year, has become the most stressful, anxiety-inducing time of year. It all starts with this question:  How will I be able to afford nice, meaningful gifts for all of my loved ones?  But friends, it doesn't have to be this way! You are not obligated to go broke and max out your credit card(s) to buy gifts for your privileged peers!  "...

I'm sure many of you have heard the old adage, "Necessity is the mother of invention." When I was on my journey to debt freedom, necessity became the mother of my frugality. I really had no choice; it was sink or swim, and I've never been one to choose to sink. In my previous posts, I've discussed how I became a master at cutting back/sacrificing, prioritizing, budgeting and saving. In this post, I would like to share how I became great at finding a deal to save money when shopping. 1. Don't be a retailer snob/brand snob:  I am not the least bit ashamed to admit that Wal-Mart and Aldi are my favorite stores. Why? Because the shopping experience is superior? NO. The prices are the lowest around and that is all I care about! Growing up in Johnson County, I have heard every excuse imaginable as to why Wal-Mart and Aldi are not acceptable places to shop. Some of the most popular excuses are that the customer service is terrible, they see themselves as above t...

I was recently watching one of my favorite shows, Shark Tank (If you have entrepreneurial dreams/ideas and need inspiration and encouragement to pursue them, I highly recommend this show!). One of the sharks, Kevin O'Leary, frequently says, "Money is my military, each dollar a soldier. I never send my money into battle unprepared and undefended. I send it to conquer and take currency prisoner and bring it back to me." In my last post, I mentioned that I am committed to the journey of learning how to invest, market and sell. I think this is exactly how you accomplish Mr. O'Leary's point. After becoming debt free and building up my emergency fund, I quickly realized that my newfound soldier dollars (discretionary income) were reporting for duty and needed a purpose. (Corny I know, but hey, that's me and I'm proud of who I am!). Anyways, as you know if you read my post on stewardship ( Click here to read ), I am passionate about giving and managing my mon...

Happy New Year, friends!! I took a little holiday hiatus from posting, but I'm so excited to be back at it with more tips to help you get your finances under control in 2018! All of my previous posts have focused mostly on saving and cutting back, but for this post I would like to switch gears and talk about creating more income/opportunity. I like to start with saving/cutting back because it's something that we have direct control over and can be done immediately. Also, as I have mentioned before, your habits and mindset need to be in the right place so that you will be able to properly manage and actually realize any additional income.  So notice a little earlier that I said I wanted to talk about creating more income. I don't just mean getting a different job with better pay. If you land that opportunity and it will truly be better for you in every aspect, go for it! We should always be trying to increase our income and decrease our outgo (expenses), as Dave Rams...

Alright y'all. Listen up. There's about to be some major truth-bombing real talk happening up in here! As you already know if you have read any of my previous posts, I am a big fan of making sacrifices to achieve my financial goals. It is how I became debt free after all! I have heard countless people (true story) talk about how they are tired of being broke and wanna get outta debt. I've heard people say this through their iPhones while they are wearing Abercrombie and Fitch and watching cable TV. Oh and the day before they went shopping and are now sporting a new $300 watch and a $100 Halloween costume (and the list goes on and on). The frivolity and irresponsibility honestly blows my mind! When put like that, the problem and solution seem painfully obvious, yet it doesn't seem to dawn on many of these people that they need to change their habits. The "answer" is always, "I just need more money." Yeah...no you don't. With those habits and t...

If you have read any of my previous posts, you already know that I am a huge fan of Dave Ramsey, whose teachings helped me eradicate my debt. Fast.  A common misconception about paying off debt is that you have to attack the largest balance and/or interest rate first, but depending on the balance, that could take quite a while, especially if you are making payments on several other debts as well. What you want to do instead is attack the smallest balance first by applying every extra dollar that you can squeeze from your budget while making only the minimum payments on all of your other debts. Because it is a smaller balance and you are attacking it aggressively, it will get paid off much faster than a larger balance would. Then you can attack the next smallest balance. Everything that was applied to the previous balance can now be applied to the next one as well as every extra dollar that you can squeeze from your budget. Repeat this cycle until your debt disappears! Mr. Ramsey...

Around the same time that I was learning about financial peace and budgeting from Dave Ramsey, the Lord lit a fire in me to get serious in my pursuit of following Him. I have always been a believer, but my heart began stirring at the realization that I needed to fully surrender my heart to Him in order to experience true life. When you draw closer to the Lord, He plants truths in your heart that blossom into beautiful, transforming things in your life. For me, one (among many) of those things was a passion for good stewardship. Mr. Ramsey, who is also a believer, encouraged and inspired me to remain steadfast in this newfound passion. There is a beautiful song by Casting Crowns called "Oh My Soul." ( Click here to listen ). My favorite line of the chorus is, "There's a place where fear has to face the God you know." I believe the same is true of our finances. The way they face and reflect the God we know is through practicing good stewardship. So what does t...

As I mentioned in my first post, I didn't have any lucrative job prospects at the time I began my journey to financial stability, so for the time being, making more money was not going to be the means to that end. Of course, making substantially more money would have been the easiest and most ideal option, and I was trying, but I needed to make an immediate adjustment, so I got creative with what I had and I would soon realize that I needed to cut back. Around this same time, I participated in a corporate study of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at my church, which was one of the best things I have ever done in my life. Dave Ramsey is amazing. Aside from giving great financial advice, he inspired me to be brutally honest with myself and ask the right questions. Read his books. Listen to his radio show. Go to his website. It will change your life. www.daveramsey.com  (You're welcome!) I asked myself: Is there anything I buy that is not an absolute necessit...

When I graduated college back in 2010, degrees in hand, I had stars in my eyes and spunk in my spirit. I was young and carefree, the world was my oyster and I was excited about the future. There was just one problem. Between student loans, credit card debt, and an auto loan, I had accrued about $55,000 of debt. I also had no job prospects, at least none that justified my newly earned music and psychology degrees and/or would be much help with attacking Debt Mountain. I was also an impulsive spender. The fact that I wasn't making a lot of money combined with the fact that I had a lot of debt and a bad habit - let's just say my starry-eyed excitement was fading fast, and I knew I needed to act. It's amazing, the things we can accomplish when we have to. I prayed, researched and brainstormed every possible thing I could do to become debt free. Doing all of that took me on a life-changing journey; so much so that I feel compelled, obligated even, to share my story. I am so exci...