The Wanderlusting Penny Pincher

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...