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A life you love on a budget you can afford.

Here on TBM®, I provide you with simple, easy-to-follow solutions to help you budget your money, pay off debt, save more, and crush your financial goals. But more than that, I give you the tools to start doing the things that matter most to you, on a budget that actually works!

Why I Gotta Be Me – My First Ever Instagram Giveaway

April 26, 2016
BLOGGING

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inspiration,be me, expectations,mom,motherhood,children

There are moments in life where we hide who we really are. Whether it's because we feel guilty, or we are completely taken over by other people's expectations, I think we all deal with it in one way or another. As a mom, I am constantly worrying about whether I am making the right decisions or acting the way I “should” be. I'm disappointed because I am not doing what other moms are doing – sometimes I get my son a hamburger and fries from zips, and let him eat a licorice beforehand, I leave the clothes in the washer for WAY too long, my arms are covered in tattoos, and I work full time instead of staying home with my son. With a world full of people who think they know best, and a world that seems to trap us into the same molds, the one thing we must do is differentiate between who we “SHOULD” be and who we ACTUALLY are.

I went into a local gift store (Boo Radley's)  the other day to find a planner to help organize my crazy life, and as I was searching the bookshelf a journal caught my eye. On the front cover it said “I Gotta Be Me.” After reading the front cover, and flipping through the pages filled with inspirational quotes, I thought to myself “This is exactly how I feel.” The words on the front cover completely changed my way of thinking and made me realize these emotions and feelings of disappointment are completely useless.

“A journal to document who I truly am in my heart of hearts now that I'm well on my way to releasing the shame-inducing shackles of others' unevolved molds and expectations, which isn't so easy with families who think they know best and a world that squishes us into the same little school chairs, but one of the glories of adulthood, real or impending, is differentiating between who we “should” be and who we actually are, whether that means excavating an inner child, wearing purple, piercing something, or putting the “me” in “memoir”.”

When I found out I was pregnant, I was so excited to be a mom. I was going to be that mom that made her little boy all natural baby food in the baby bullet, a mom who would never let her son eat inappropriate things, had a clean and spotless home, and I would make dinner and do the dishes in my expensive gap pumps. All of these things that I was hoping and wanting to do, were purely what I thought I “should” be doing – a pretty and organized mold of what I thought a mom should be like. Where did these thoughts come from? How did I get to that point where I thought I had to be all of these things? In reality, this is not who I am. My house is not always spotless, most of the time the floor is covered with toys that I constantly trip over, I have never used a baby bullet, and you will always find me making dinner and doing the dishes in my sweat pants and a bath robe. At times, this made me feel guilty, disappointed in myself, and embarrassed.

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Even this blog makes me feel guilty sometimes. I know what a lot of people out there is thinking. I have gotten comments that suggest I should be spending more time with my son, rather than writing on some stupid laptop. As my son sits next to me right now, coloring in his animal coloring book, and me stopping to help him color in the lines, I realized that a lot of people only think this because they don't see what happens behind the scenes. This blog is a part of who I am, and who I want to be. It does not change who I am as a mom, nor does it make me a bad mom. My mom-in-law Eileen, is a big part of why I am able to have this blog. She is so involved in James' life, and her desire to spend time with her grandson, allows me some down time to pursue what makes me happy – and that's blogging. I have a husband who supports me completely, that makes me blessed, it does not make me an absent parent. What I am learning is that people's' expectations of me, are just that, they are expectations, they don't determine who I ACTUALLY am.

We are allowed to put the “me” in “memoir”, and we should be able to do it without feeling ashamed. To celebrate this, I am doing my first ever Instagram giveaway! I love this journal so much, I wanted to share it with one of my readers. Here is how to enter the giveaway:

|{GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED}| CONGRATS TO @creepycrystal!!!!

I Gotta Be Me Instagram Giveaway
Starting on 4/27/16 (8am PST) – Ending on 4/29/16 (10pm PST)

  1. Go to my Instagram
  2. Follow @thebudgetmom & @boo_radleys_spokane
  3. Like the giveaway picture & tag one friend you love for who they ACTUALLY are
  4. To better your chances of winning, you can tag multiple friends, please limit one tag per comment
  5. For an additional entry, follow me on Facebook

For all of my local followers in Spokane, WA – if you are interested in buying this journal you can find it at Boo Radley's. They have some amazing gift ideas, and have some great inspirational books.

Boo Radley's
232 N. Howard St
Spokane, WA 99201
Tel: (509)456-7479
Hours:
Monday through Saturday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 am – 5:00 pm

 

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Filed Under: Tagged With: BLOG, BLOGGING, CAREER, MOTIVATION

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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.

RECENT YOUTUBE VIDEO

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The Budget Mom
It’s time for another Real Life Budget. I asked my readers to submit their REAL information. Real spending, real debt, and real savings goals.

I am taking those real-life numbers and showing you how I would organize and budget that information using my Budget By Paycheck® Method.

If you would like to submit your budget information to possibly be picked for a Real Life Budget that we will show on YouTube, please reach out to budgets@thebudgetmom.com.

Today, we are looking at TBM Family member Christina's information. Christina and her husband are on a debt payoff journey and feel like they are not making the progress they should be. For the first time, I am showing how to use a debt reduction calculator to show how your decisions affect your debt journey.

Trust me, if you have debt, you don't want to miss this video!

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
03:07 Why & Personal Story
06:04 Income 
07:55 Fixed Expenses
09:15 Variable Expenses
10:30 Debt
12:52 Savings Goals
14:26 Budget By Paycheck Method
21:01 Debt Payoff Scenarios & Visuals
32:28 My Recommendations

➡️ DEBT REDUCTION CALCULATOR: https://bit.ly/3ZqqiNO
➡️ HOW I TRACK MY SPENDING: https://bit.ly/3aIe89I
➡️ HOW TO USE A BUDGET CALENDAR: https://bit.ly/2IzF2Vj
➡️ FINDING YOUR WHY: https://bit.ly/3aJUryj
➡️ THE BUDGET MOM'S FINANCIAL FREEDOM STEPS: https://bit.ly/3cfJXsp
➡️ HOW TO GET STARTED WITH THE CASH ENVELOPE METHOD: https://bit.ly/2vQJaO5
➡️ HOW TO CREATE A PLAN OF ATTACK TO PAY OFF DEBT: https://bit.ly/2wDETxF

ABOUT ME

Kumiko Love is a single mom who empowers women everywhere to regain control of their financial lives. An Accredited Financial Counselor with over nine years of experience in the finance industry, she founded The Budget Mom, a community of millions of women on a path to financial fulfillment.

She's also the creator of the wildly popular Live Rich Planner® and Budget by Paycheck® Workbook. Love has been featured on Good Morning America, the Today show, CNN, CBS, ABC and in USA Today, US News, World Report, Huffington Post, Money Magazine, Parents Magazine, the Washington Post, and Real Simple. She lives in Spokane Valley, Washington.

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