goals

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Welcome to 2018 – the year everyone’s hoping won’t be so much of a dumpster fire like last year. Politics aside, now that I’ve paid off the big credit card, I get to have a little more fun with my goals this year. To recap, my 2017 financial goals were: Pay off the credit card! DONE DONE DONE Build an emergency fund again NOT EVEN KIND OF Go 12-for-12 on sticking to my budget I GOT 50% ON THIS ONE So funny story, it’s hard to rebuild an emergency fund when you keep having emergencies. Losing my job. rather unexpectedly, moving, and my driver’s side window suddenly notRead More →

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In: Budget Beauty & Living

Because I’m a hostess at heart, and the boy and I now live together, I thought it only appropriate that we host a Friendsgiving this year. For the newbies out there, there’s no difference between Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving – except that Friendsgiving is for the family you pick (aww). The added bonus is that it lets you get your hosting desires out of the way if, like me, you’re from a family where the matriarchs refuse to pass the torch. Regardless of those hosting desires, you can’t let your need to be sociable get in the way of your financial goals. But, with a littleRead More →

treat yo self

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In: Budget Beauty & Living

Hi friends, Ever feel like you’re just slowly walking towards your goals? It can be tough watching all of your money pay down debt day after day – especially if you have all your payments automated like us…and it’s going to take you 1.5 years to reach your goal. In order to keep ourselves motivated we’ve been investing in frugal rewards to keep us excited as we reach each milestone. It’s the same idea nutritionists often suggest for maintaining a healthy diet: everything in moderation. Anyways, here are some cheap(er) ideas to keep the gazelle-like intensity: Get that Starbucks grande iced coconut milk mocha macchiatoRead More →

happiness

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Hi friends, Just wanted to let y’all know that Dames in Debt was recently featured on The Pursuit of Happiness! We were part of their 2017 Happiness Day Interview Series! You can read our post here, just look for the Q&A headline. <3 from the Dames For more information on the 2017 Happiness Day Interview Series: My name is Wes, creator of thePursuitofHappiness.me.  I won’t bore you with the full details of the inspiration for the site.  To share a little bit though; growing up in America, I had always been taught about this nation’s founding documents and I heard all the time about the Declaration of Independence andRead More →

payoff series

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In: Debt Repayment

Welcome to Part Four of a 6-part series I’m doing on personal loans, credit card debt, and refinancing – the Payoff Series. If you’re new here, go back and check out Part One, Part Two, and Part Three! 23% of Americans — and 36% of Millennials — experience a debilitating degree of stress surrounding their finances. According to Payoff, this financial stress affects people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors – and don’t I know it. Stress over how to pay my credit card bill is actually what drew me to Payoff in the first place. Refinancing my loan helped me a ton, but there are additional ways toRead More →

2017 goals

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So it’s 2017, and I’ve got resolutions just like everyone else. Except I’ve got a plan in place to actually turn my resolutions into reality by year’s end. But let’s start with a recap from last year. My 2016 financial goals were the following: 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) I did pretty well on them. I saved for retirement each monthRead More →

100 days challenge

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In: Money Challenges

Remember those resolutions you formed around January 1st? How’re you doing on them? I, for one, have failed hard at multiple of mine, and that’s what today’s post is all about. Today (September 22nd) marks 100 days until 2017! Crazy, right? This means you’ve still got 100 days to get yourself back on track with saving money, not spending money, eating better, and working out…or for me, all of the above. Here’s how it works: Consistency transforms behaviors into habits. Adopting good daily habits can only happen if you consistently engage in those habits every day. For the next 100 days, focus on engaging in oneRead More →

We Tried It

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In: Budget Beauty & Living

Stress can be a great motivator, but it can also be terrible for your health. I find there’s a very fine line for me between productive stress to get my finances under control, and hurtful stress that depresses my mood and health. Your health is very important, and during this stressful time in your life, we need to make sure we don’t neglect it. So this week’s post is a 7 day yoga mini-challenge. Boo-ya! #getexcitedRead More →

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In: Money Challenges

I spent money. I know, Jensen, I know. It wasn’t much but it was something I could have waited to buy and was not set forth in the law of my budget. But self-compassion and all that. I made a mistake, it happens. I had a moment of weakness and now I know I need to change my strategy. (And no, beating yourself up about things is not a good strategy.) New strategy: wait to buy. I got out of the habit of saving for purchases, and now it’s time to get back to it. If I see something I want (but don’t need) I willRead More →