Paige Power

  Not sure how to begin paying off debt? Here’s a couple of ways to begin your frugal living journey and get you on a path to debt free living . Broken record I feel like I keep going on and on about the key to financial freedom, and I fear I might become a broken record. But being debt free has been the most impactful part of my financial life and I won’t stop going on about it until I stop finding articles about how hard it is for people these days with low wages, inflation and other factors that are keeping them back. Times are tough I agree that times are difficult. Inflation is taking its toll. Wages are terrible. Opportunity is odd, with companies posting jobs that don’t exist. CEO’s want people to go back to the office, even though people have proven they are capable of working from home. When I consider all the challenges we face, it’s no wonder people feel trapped with debt. Understand your income and expenses The three most expensive areas of life are in order, hou...

  What is an emergency fund and how can you build one that will work for you if you have an emergency? Get out of debt first First things first, don’t build an emergency fund while you have debt. I think of it like this, if you want to fill a bucket with life sustaining water, you first have to plug the holes in the bottom of the bucket. Debt is a bucket with holes in the bottom, the only way to plug the holes is to stop using your credit cards or open ended loans, and then pay off your debt. Once the holes are plugged and your debt is paid off your bucket will overflow. What would Warren do? I think it was the billionaire Warren Buffet who said he does not know of an investment that will pay 18-20% returns. When you have credit card debt, you are paying 18-20% returns to the credit card company. Figure out first how to eliminate your debt , and then build your emergency fund. When planning an emergency fund consider how much you truly need. I like to have about three to six ...

  In August of 2023, citizens of the United States of America topped one trillion dollars in credit card debt! That is unfortunate. Bad credit Credit card debt is “bad debt” in that it is used to purchase consumables, versus assets. Additionally, credit card debt is open-ended ended, offers high interest rates and low minimum payments. What all that adds up to is people paying for their pizza at 20+% interest over the course of many months. Yum, pizza! For example, let’s say you bought a pizza to enjoy with your family on streaming movie night. A large cheese pizza is about $20.00 in most of America. I will presume your family either adds toppings or needs more than one pizza for this demonstration and the total for your pizza dinner is closer to $30.00 including tip. If your credit card has no other charges and your credit card company requires a minimum payment of 10% of the balance amount, it would take one year to pay off your pizza. Most people who are comfortable usin...

  In 2007 my marriage failed and my finances took a huge hit. In addition to losing my home, I was struggling with a lot of debt from credit card debt, a car loan, and student loans. It took me a while to figure out that with all the debt I had I would never get ahead financially. Commitment In 2008 I committed to getting out of debt and just under three years later I achieved that goal. I’ve lived debt-free since 2011. It was hard and took sacrifice, but being debt-free has allowed me to live in the way that I want to live. Here is a strategy you can use to become debt-free. This is the method I used and recently learned that it is called the avalanche method. Avalanche        Create a spreadsheet that includes all your income and expenses. If you don’t want to create one you can find free spreadsheets on the internet. Knowing where you are starting will be a big help and having a record of your progress can be a big boost when you get off trac...

  The benefits of living debt free. Did you know that 23% of Americans live debt free? That is all debt, mortgage, credit card, car loans, student debt, and personal loans. I’m impressed with this number. I often find statistics about the challenge Americans have managing their money and it’s a little depressing, but I like this statistic. Being debt free is the single most impactful financial goal you can achieve that will offer a tangible results on many areas of your life. Personal fortitude For example the process of becoming debt free requires a significant amount of personal fortitude. When you work towards the goal of debt free living you’ll have to set aside minor comforts in order to achieve your goal. That will teach you to be more mindful in your approach to purchases. You will become more mindful of the individuals around you and their values. You’ll learn to live lean, find fun with creativity and value experiences over stuff. That’s massive change for most of us...

  Recently I was watching a money guru on YouTube speak about what he would do if he wanted financial stability in 2023. He had many interesting things to say, primarily that you should always have your money working for you. I agree that investments to help your money grow should be a big part of everyone’s financial plan. He said that people who focus on tightening their budget are going about personal finance all wrong. I disagree with this sentiment. If you are a person who can increase your earning power to the point you can live off your investments - fantastic. However if you are part of the rest of us who are barely numerate, budgeting can be a way to gain financial stability if you don’t have the wherewithal that the millionaire class has. Not all of us will be able to identify opportunity in the stock market. If we could there would be no issue of poverty, everyone with a buck would be investing and earning. Only one in three Americans say they are financially secure...

  Trading one vice for another can be a tool to achieve frugal living. When I speak of vice I’m not speaking about alcohol, or use of pornography or drug use, I’m writing about more pedestrian forms of pleasure. Entertainment is a form of pleasure that many of us are willing to part with our hard earned dollars to partake in. We are accustomed to having constant input so boredom is always lurking in the shadows waiting to assail us with peace and quiet. Recently I was chatting with a friend of mine. He mentioned that he was investigating a new streaming service because he couldn’t find anything good to watch, and he’d heard good things about the service he was looking into. It was affordable, certainly less than the other services he is subscribed to. Naturally, I encouraged him to drop all his subscriptions and find other ways to keep entertained. I understand that this is not a popular opinion, but hear me out. There was a time when none of us had subscriptions. What did we d...