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        • Budgeting Basics
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        • There are some months that have five Fridays, which might lead to an extra payday for you. How do you plan for an extra paycheck? An extra paycheck, doesn’t always mean you have extra income to spend freely.

          How to Budget an Extra Paycheck in a Month

          Creating a budget when money is tight is hard, but it isn't impossible. No matter what financial situation you’re in currently, there’s a way to make it better. But improving your finances requires change.

          How to Start a Budget When You Live Paycheck to Paycheck

          A Budget Calendar can help you create a realistic budget and organize your finances. When it comes to paying your bills and saving money, a budget calendar is a lifesaver, time saver, stress saver, and a money saver.

          How to Use a Budget Calendar

  • SAVE MORE
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        • Cut Expenses
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        • 25 free summer activities the whole family can enjoy. Make the most of summer without deleting your bank account!

          25 Things to Do for Free This Summer

          You can make some easy money when you know how to sell on Mercari. Here is a step-by-step guide to get you up and running and earning cash.

          What You Need to Know to Sell on Mercari

          How are your finances? What would your world be like if you could earn more than $20 an hour from home -- legitimately? This is a real possibility if you decide to teach for VIPKid.

          Make Money from Home: Teach for VIPKid

  • FRUGAL LIVING
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        • Beauty & Health Tips
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        • Before I started budgeting, I had no Christmas spending plan. I ended every year with more debt. But that’s not the end of my story and it doesn’t have to be yours.

          How to Budget for Christmas Gifts

          Some people swear by brand names, saying generic brands are inferior. Have you ever compared the ingredients? I have; the results might surprise you.

          How I Save Money Every Month Buying Generic Brands

          A good gift doesn’t mean spending more money. Here are thirteen inexpensive gift ideas for everyone on your list.

          13 Budget-Friendly Gift Ideas

  • DEBT & CREDIT
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        • Credit Cards
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        • Get Out of Debt
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        • A bad credit score is one that costs you money or opportunities. Learn how to improve your credit score in 5 easy steps!

          How to Improve Your Bad Credit Score

          Struggling with high credit card balances? It wasn't easy, but I paid off $26,000 in credit card debt. Here are 3 credit card debt elimination strategies that work.

          Dealing With Credit Card Debt When You’re in Over Your Head

          Are you financially ready to start tackling your collection accounts? When the time is right, here are three smart tips for paying off debts in collection.

          3 Tips for Paying Off Debt in Collections

  • FINANCE 101
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        • Mutual funds make it easy to invest, however, there are some things you need to know before you invest in mutual funds like ...

          What You Need to Know Before You Invest in Mutual Funds

          You finally have a cushion in your checking account. No what? Here are five things you can do to ensure you have the best plan for your dollars.

          Once You Have $1,000 in Your Checking Account, Do These 5 Things

          We've all heard stories about people who struck it rich buying the right stock low and selling high. Learn how to start investing with little money.

          How to Start Investing with Little Money

The goal with the Instant Gratification Wish List is to turn the “Instant” into “Anticipated.” You will become a patient spender, and your budget will thank you for it.

Instant Gratification Wish List: Becoming a Patient Spender

July 17, 2019
SAVE MORE

There’s absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that we live in an “instant gratification” society. Everything is at our fingertips just waiting for us to buy it. Movies on demand. Amazon Prime delivery. View Post

Filed Under: SAVE MORE, Saving Tips Tagged With: SAVE MONEY, SAVING, SAVING GOALS, SAVING TIPS

It's no fun when we have to rely on credit cards or, worse yet, borrowing money from our families to get to the next paycheck. If you want to have money for take care of emergencies, eat out at restaurants, buy a better car, go on vacations, or save for retirement, you will have to figure out a way to spend less and save more.

30+ Ways to Help You Save More Money

July 3, 2019
SAVE MORE

If you want to get beyond having money issues, you will need to learn how to save money. I know it's easier said than done. If you are like the 40 percent of Americans who cannot handle a $400 View Post

Filed Under: SAVE MORE, Saving Tips Tagged With: SAVE MONEY, SAVING, SAVING GOALS, SAVING TIPS

Your financial vision board can be the perfect tool for keeping you on track with your spending and saving goals. Seeing is believing, and this continual reminder in your line of sight will keep you motivated and focused on achieving your new reality.

How to Stay Motivated on Your Financial Journey With a Visual Board

April 4, 2019
FINANCE 101

I get asked a lot about how I stay motivated on my financial journey. From paying off over $77,000 of debt to saving to buy my first home with cash, my financial journey can feel long and defeating at View Post

Filed Under: FINANCE 101, Financial Planning Tagged With: BUDGET, DEBT, FINANCIAL GOALS, GOALS, MOTIVATION, SAVING, TRACKING, VISION BOARD

Are you ready to save in the new year? Let's save more of our dollars by completing a different savings challenge for every month in 2019!

12 Months = 12 Savings Challenges

December 10, 2018
SAVE MORE

Learning how to save on a regular basis can be hard. But what's even harder is turning saving into a daily habit. Habits aren't formed overnight. In fact, it can take as long as two months for a View Post

Filed Under: SAVE MORE, Saving Tips Tagged With: SAVING, SAVING GOALS, SAVING MONEY, SAVINGS CHALLENGES

Sinking funds allow you the freedom to add some fun to your budget. Save a little every month to use at a later date without the feeling of regret or worry.

Sinking Funds – What Are They & How to Use Them

October 22, 2018
SAVE MORE

Let's imagine for a second that tomorrow your washer machine breaks. Laundry is piling up, and your anxiety is building wondering how you are going to get caught up.How do you plan on paying for a View Post

Filed Under: SAVE MORE, Saving Tips Tagged With: BUDGET, Featured, SAVE, SAVING, SAVING MONEY, SAVING TIPS, SINKING FUNDS

Being in debt while you are still working can be a nagging problem and even prevent you from saving for retirement. But carrying that debt into retirement can also be dangerous, and in some cases, even more so. When you are in retirement, you are working with a fixed income. The simple truth is, you can't afford to have a majority of your income eaten up by debt payments. To get the most out of your retirement, you need to make sure you have as much money as possible to fund the lifestyle you desire. Here are three types of debt you should work on eliminating before you retire. Read: How To Save For Retirement When You Are Self-Employed UNSECURED DEBT If you are living with a fixed retirement income, you might not be able to afford to make the extra payments on the money owed. If you are spending years in repayment, much of your fixed-income ends up going to high interest payments. Credit card debt can not only wreck your credit score, but it's also costly to pay off. For example, if you have a credit card with a $5,000 balance with 18% interest, it will take you roughly 84 months to pay it off. Not only that, but you will pay close to $4,320 in interest over that period. HOW TO PAY IT OFF It's best to come up with a plan to eliminate unsecured debt during your working years. An easy approach to paying off credit card debt is to list out your present debts, figure out which cards charge the most interest and pay those off first before moving on to the ones with less interest. Here is a list of articles that will help you come up with a plan to pay off credit card debt: Pay off Debt With the Debt Snowball Method How to Pay Down Debt Using the Avalanche Method How to Create a Plan to Pay Off Debt Taking advantage of balance transfers to eliminate debt faster might also be an option. You can transfer your total balance to a card with a lower interest rate than what you are currently paying to save time and money on interest payments. Read: Saving Money When You Have Debt – What You Need to Know STUDENT LOAN DEBT Student loans are often viewed as a "younger-aged" problem, but the truth is, more and more older Americans are finding themselves on the hook for educational loans. Not only is this debt they took out for themselves, but the major problem is when parents take out loans for their children's education. The process of being accepted for a Parent PLUS loan is minimal. There is only a basic credit check and no underwriting to determine whether the borrower has the income or ability to repay the loans. With emotions involved, it's easy to take on more than you can handle. You may not realize it, but in retirement, even a small amount can prove difficult to repay. Funding your child's education can be an emotional topic. I would love to help my son attend college without feeling financially stressed, but I won't sacrifice my own retirement to do so. Instead, I took another approach and started planning and saving early for his educational costs. Two weeks after my son was born, I opened a UTMA account. Throughout the year, I save my leftover change from my cash spending and invest it in his UTMA at the end of the year. I will save what I can during my working years, and I will help him as much as I can financially, but only to a limit that I can honestly afford. The truth is, helping my son pay for his education is important to me, but he also has more time than me to pay off his student loans. When I am a senior living on a fixed income, I will not be able to generate more money to repay these debts, and I can't replace the retirement savings that I take out for repayment. HOW TO PAY IT OFF When you are in a financial bind, there are different ways to you can repay your student loan debts that make it a little easier on your budget. For example, if you only have Direct Loans, there are Income-Driven repayment plans that allow you to make a monthly payments that is based on your income and family size. If you decide to use one of these options, you have to keep in mind that it will extend the period of time for your loan repayment. I recommend using these options if you are in a financial hard spot, but to make your time on these plan limited. If you can, I recommend sticking to the Standard Repayment Plan, which will pay of your student loans in the shortest amount of time while saving you the most money on interest. Read: Should You Consolidate Your Student Loans? MORTGAGE DEBT Many people who own homes or property take out 30-year mortgages in their early 30s and manage to pay off their loans by the time they retire. But what happens when you buy a home or property later in life? If you end up carrying mortgage debt into retirement, that will make what's already your greatest monthly expenses even more burdensome. Just like with people, the older a home becomes, the more money it costs to keep them "healthy." Dealing with a mortgage payment and the upkeeping costs of owning an older home during retirement can cause substantial income restrictions. If you work on getting rid of your mortgage payment before retirement, that's one significant bill you don't have to worry about. If you can pay off your mortgage before retirement, you can significantly decrease your housing costs, eliminate your biggest expense, and you can make your savings last much longer. If you can, try buying a home on the low-end of what you can afford and avoid refinancing your home, which usually extends your repayment period. HOW TO PAY IT OFF One way to tackle your mortgage debt is by making extra payments to your loan. Think of it this way, the more extra payments you make on your mortgage, the more each one of your regular payments goes straight to the principal balance. Try making an extra house payment every quarter or dividing your mortgage payment by 12 and add that amount to each monthly mortgage payment that you make. Just a word of caution. If you are thinking about making extra mortgage payments, make sure you talk to your mortgage company because they might charge prepayment penalties. When completing an extra mortgage payment, make sure it's getting applied to the principal balance of your loan and not next month's payment. It's critical to take steps to ensure you have an effective debt management strategy in place and to take early action steps to eliminate debt before you retire.

3 Debts You Should Eliminate Before Retirement

August 1, 2018
FINANCE 101

Being in debt while you are still working can be a nagging problem and even prevent you from saving for retirement. But carrying that debt into retirement can also be dangerous, and in some cases, View Post

Filed Under: FINANCE 101, Retirement Tagged With: FINANCIAL PLANNING, PAY OFF DEBT, RETIREMENT, SAVING

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Hello, I'm Kumiko, but everyone just calls me Miko. Welcome to my blog, The Budget Mom. I am an Accredited Financial Counselor® , and mom to a rambunctious boy. Come along with me as I strive to live a life I love on a budget that I can afford. Read more about me.

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