asking

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In: Personal Finance 101

We talk a lot on Dames in Debt about ways to save money or smart spending, but let’s not also forget another very important piece of the no-debt puzzle: increasing your income. You can scrimp and save all you want, but at some point, you just can’t save any more. It’s unfortunate in this day and age that many of us technically considered “middle class” full-time employees can’t earn enough to live off of our 40 hour a week earnings. The answer? You need to make more money. Today’s post is about the quickest, easiest way to increase your earnings: asking your boss for aRead More →

finlit

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In: Personal Finance 101

Since starting our debt-crushing journey, I’ve read a couple of the “greats” in #FinLit (a.k.a. famous personal finance books). What I’ve realized is that not all money books are equal. For instance, Your Money or Your Life  was wholly disappointing to me. I found it outdated, somewhat condescending, not practical, and poorly written. That being said, I know a lot of people who swear by it. Well, after reading four #FinLit books…I’ve gotta say, I’m Team Ramsey. #FinLit Summary The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey is definitely my favorite thus far. I found it engaging, motivating, and I loved that Ramsey managed to teach acceptance overRead More →

fire

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In: Debt Repayment, Personal Finance 101, Saving Money

  If you’re a pro at FIRE, then welcome. If your new to hearing this word in a non-burning context, also welcome…welcome to the wide world of nontraditional living. From minimalism to passive income to early retirement, there are multiple paths to whichever ending you’d prefer, and FIRE is one of them. Today, I’m talking about why I’m rejecting one of these more popular goals in the personal finance world – FIRE specifically. Let’s get lit! (Sorry, I had to) FIRE – It’s an Acronym! FIRE is a term that refers to Financial Independence and Retiring Early. While these two might seem awfully similar, they areRead More →

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In: Money Challenges, Personal Finance 101

I like to think that I’ve always been good at handling my money. I’ve been tracking my spending and using a budget since undergrad. I opened a Roth IRA while still in law school, and I’ve been trying to save whatever possible for an emergency fund. Despite doing all these things though, I never really made progress on any of my financial goals: I was spending more than I earned, my credit card debt increased, and I had approx. $25.44 in my emergency fund. This year, I set my goals for my financial life like I usually do, but then, I decided to do somethingRead More →

Take Stock

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In: Budget Beauty & Living, Personal Finance 101

 ***This post contains an affiliate link. <3 from the Dames*** In order to make a plan to get out of debt, we need to know where to start. So we’ve already discussed taking a good hard look at my finances and determining what to focus on, now it’s time to get organized. This week I’m going to take stock of my assets.    No, no, it’s not like that – promise! I just finished reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and that really served as the source of inspiration for this purge. I need a space that helps me maintain focus,Read More →

budget basics

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In: Personal Finance 101

Becoming  a millionaire is so passé these days, becoming a billionaire is the new goal. Or …maybe it’s being able to stop living paycheck-to-paycheck. If you are anything like me, you got pretty excited when you signed your first job offer letter. That yearly salary sounds like more money than you’ll ever need, until of course, you crunch the numbers and realize you have a discretionary budget of $12.50 per month. Now that you’ve figured out your debt and made smart money goals, it’s time to get down to brass tacks and tame your transactions. It’s time to make a budget. So, where to start? Many well-known, financialRead More →

This is Your Life on Debt

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In: Debt Repayment, Personal Finance 101

Remember all of those “This is your brain on drugs” PSAs that ran in the ’90s? Well, consider this your debt wake-up call. Debt is bad, and it’s bad for your finances. To understand just how bad debt is, think of it like you would a smoking habit – costly, definitely not “cool”, and seriously expensive.   The average U.S. household with debt carries $15,762 in credit card debt and $130,922 in total debt. (Courtesy of Nerd Wallet) While some of this may be related to poor spending decisions or eating out too much, not all of this debt is from reckless spending. More Americans than ever areRead More →

affordable housing

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In: Personal Finance 101, Saving Money

Finding a new apartment can be daunting. I know, I’ve done it about 6 times way too many. So since I just got my new place (and hopefully won’t be moving again for awhile), I thought it would be a great time to share how I find affordable housing in LA for cheap. First, let’s talk about rent. Rent is way too expensive everywhere, but especially in LA. Thanks to record keeping in Mint, I can see how much I paid for rent, and in the last 12 months, I have spent over $12,000 on rent. Oof! And I had a decently priced apartment forRead More →

goals

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In: Personal Finance 101

SO, it’s March, the third month of the year, and we’re all well into maintaining our New Year’s Resolutions, right? Hahaha, yeah, me too. While my healthy eating goals are on hiatus (it is Girl Scout cookie season), my financial goals are doing pretty well. Here’s why: First, what are my financial goals for 2016? Pay down my credit card (goal is to have it paid off by July 2017) Build an emergency fund (goal is to have $2500 saved up by the end of the year) Save for retirement (no real goal here for the moment…just contribute something each month to my Roth IRA) Second, whatRead More →

Take Stock

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In: Personal Finance 101

Hola folks! This is an addition to a previous article, but sort of deserved it’s own space as well. If you haven’t read part one yet, check it out here. In the previous article we took stock of our finances and prioritized our debt, but we only really looked at the overall amounts of what we pay. Today let’s take a closer look. Exactly how much are you paying each month for recurring bills? We need to look at each of these things and do some research to see if we are paying more than we need to.  Things like: car insurance car payments phone plans student loansRead More →