If you own a business, work for yourself or are an entrepreneur, one thing is for certain: You will encounter a low. It can be devastating financially and emotionally. Even tougher to swallow is that businesses are more likely to fail in their fifth year than their first, suggesting that even if you make it…
Finances
How We Paid Off $70K of Debt — and Bought Our Dream Home
Last summer, my husband, Ben, and I found our dream home. It was 74 acres of fields, woods, ponds and even an orchard teeming with fruit trees. We saw the opportunity to build a farm and a business for my husband; to give our four children, ages 3 to 9, freedom to grow. The house…
My Goals For 2016
I’m currently in the midst of taking an amazing business course from the very talented Amanda Tress, whose scopes, I admit, provide the background to me doing my dishes every single night. I’m addicted to listening to her smart and savvy business tips and frankly, I love having a female entrepreneur who isn’t afraid to…
How I Paid Off 30K of Debt In One Year
This year has been a year of debt-blasting for me. So far, to date, I have paid off over $30,000 in student loans for my husband and me, and I’m proud to say that we are now officially totally paid off for two Bachelor’s and one Master’s degree. I was also able to save up…
Learning To Let Go
This week, I lost one of my steady writing jobs. And since the moment I read that email and came across the importance of freelancers also having a back-up plan, I’ve been in slight panic mode. I realize that the third trimester of pregnancy probably isn’t the best time to start job hunting, but it…
Money & Marriage: Till Death Do Us Part
While browsing through Facebook the other night, I came across a posting from a woman who said she was “hiding” a purchase that she had made from her husband. Nobody tell my husband, she wrote. I have to butter him up first! I know it was meant to be a semi-joke, but her posting got…
Money Saving Monday & Weekly Meal Plan
Yesterday marked my week three of continued meal planning and budgeting. Considering I was easily spending over $170 a week at the store, I’ve saved us about $200 so far. This week was a little harder because I was out of some costly pantry items (olive oil and maple syrup alone cost me $30!) and…
Overcoming My Fear of Budgets
For the past (almost) five years of my marriage, I will admit that I have shunned budgets of any kind. There have been moments, in a burst of financial do-goodness, that we have sat down and tracked our expenses and wrote down everything we spent and vowed to do better. But it has not lasted….