Beating Broke

Is It Time to Give Up Your Debt Free Dream?

May 17, 2017 By MelissaB 3 Comments

From the time my son was three, I’ve been a big Dave Ramsey fan. When my youngest children were young (two under two), I quit my job to stay home with our three kids. We decided to get gazelle intense with our debt. Since my husband was working part-time and attending graduate school, that meant I had to work from home. Work I did. I worked a lot, and I compromised my health.

While we reduced our debt a lot, we never got debt free.

Then we had a cross-country move.

We also had significant medical bills this last year when one of our children had a medical crisis, the treatments of which were not all covered by insurance.

Our income, while more than it was years ago when I was gazelle intense, has never really grown much.

My husband and I were talking about finances recently, and I mentioned that I’d like to get gazelle intense again.

But, my husband, not so much.

Give up on your debt free dream — Is there a better way?

He sees our children growing up, and he doesn’t want to work, work, work trying to pay off debt. Instead, he wants to spend more time with the kids, take vacations with them, and just enjoy them before they fly the nest. As fast as time is going, that will be all too soon.

Turns out, my husband is not alone in this sentiment.

Recently, I stumbled upon a Daily Worth article where the author’s husband felt exactly as mine did. He didn’t want to spend all of his time working and penny pinching, not enjoying life, in the hopes that he would one day be debt free. The author writes of her husband, “He didn’t want to wait another five years to take our first family vacation. He didn’t want to give up a decade of our lives in order to live my extreme version of the American dream. He wanted a house in a better neighborhood that was actually big enough for our family. He wanted to spend some of the money he had worked so hard for. He was done.”

So, too, is my husband.

That doesn’t mean we’re going to go crazy spending. What it does mean is that we will save money to take a vacation with our kids. (The only vacations we’ve ever had were when we took the kids along when my husband attended conferences. I took the kids to see fun things while my husband worked—not exactly a family vacation.)

We’ll finally start putting money in the kids’ college funds, and we’ll also start funding our Roth IRAs. (We didn’t want to do these two things until we became debt free.)

My husband is expecting a substantial raise soon, and we will use some of that money to pay down debts, but we’ll also use some of that money to enjoy now. After all, you’re never guaranteed tomorrow. . .or retirement.

If you’re in debt, is your goal still to be 100% debt free, or are you choosing to live and enjoy your life now while paying down debt?

4 Alternative Spring Break Vacation Options

March 5, 2017 By MelissaB 1 Comment

Spring is right around the corner, and for many, that means spring break. However, if you are a college student or you have a child who is one, know that spring break for many kids doesn’t mean traipsing off to a beach location to spend the week drinking and partying. For many others, spring break can be a time to help others.

The best of both worlds is traveling to new locations AND helping others. There are plenty of spring break options to let you do just that, and the opportunities aren’t just for college students.

While there are many reputable companies that you can choose from, these are a few to get you started.

International Spring Break Options

Alternative spring break vacation — Original img: Kristin Klein on Flickr

GoVoluntouring. This company lets you choose your volunteer opportunity based on age, the amount you can spend, duration, and what attractions and countries interest you. GoVoluntouring has projects in many, many different countries from Croatia to Fiji to Iceland, just to name a few, and has opportunities from teaching abroad to environmental programs to wildlife programs.

Earthwatch Institute. Earthwatch Institute’s focus is on environmental trips including climate change, ocean health, and wildlife expeditions. They have trips available in every continent. Another nice feature of Earthwatch is that if you spread the news about the company via social media and other avenues, you can receive a discount on your own travel. Just sign up to be an Earthwatch Ambassador to take advantage of this program.

National Spring Break Options

American Hiking Association. If you’d like to volunteer without getting a passport, you might consider the American Hiking Association’s opportunities to travel within the U.S. and volunteer. You can search by the state you’re interested in traveling to. Then, you’ll see how difficult the volunteer opportunity is, ranging from Easy to Very Strenuous, with three additional grades in between. A moderate project (one step up from easy) might be performing trail maintenance at Fort Pickens in Florida. A very strenuous project might be one that requires 6 to 10 miles of hiking a day in addition to trail clearing and maintenance including removing dead trees and repairing or installing turnpikes on the trails.

If you want to serve here, be aware that each trip generally only has 6 to 13 participants, so space is limited. They currently still have openings in their program.

The United Way. The most cost-effective alternative spring break program is with the United Way. For a cost of approximately $275 to $395, you’ll have the chance to volunteer for a week and work on projects such as building houses, maintaining gardens, and assisting youth.

Of course, you don’t have to go with one of these companies. There are likely plenty of opportunities to volunteer in your own community or to take a trip to a foreign country to help others through your church.

If you’re going to spend money on a spring break getaway, why not also do good while you’re there? You’ll likely experience the country and its people more than if you just sat on a beach as a tourist watching the sunset.

Have you ever taken a volunteer vacation? If so, where did you go and what did you do? If not, would you consider taking one?

3 Strategies to Keep Track of Your Purchases To Save Money

February 20, 2017 By MelissaB 3 Comments

I’m a big fan of buying in advance for items that I know that I’ll need. For years when my kids were little, I’d go out shopping a day or two after Halloween to buy my kids discounted Halloween costumes for the next year. I never paid full price for a Halloween costume, and after Halloween was over and the kids were done with the costume, I sold the costumes on eBay for close to the price I paid.

That’s the way I like to shop, and I know it’s how many others shop, too. After all, shopping this way is a smart strategy to stretch your dollars.

The problem is that as life gets busier as the kids grow older, I’ve found that sometimes I forget what I bought in advance. Then, I desperately go out shopping for the item I need, not realizing I had already bought it in advance.

Case in point: Last year, right after Christmas, I bought my daughter a green ruffled dress on clearance at a steal for this year’s Christmas. But, I forgot I bought that dress, and come November, I spent a lot of my time searching children’s resale stores for a dress that wasn’t unreasonably priced. I had no luck. A few weeks ago, I was digging through some storage tubs in my closet, and I found the dress.

So this year, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to implement a strategy to keep track of all of my deals. Here are some techniques I plan to use:

Keep all of the deals in one location. I have a corner of my walk in closet where I keep a large storage tub filled with discounted items I buy whenever I see a good sale on things I’ll need later. I use these items for my kids’ birthday and Christmas presents. I have added another tub to this one. I’ll store other items like seasonal dresses in these tubs so I know everything I’ve bought in advance is in one location.

Keep a spreadsheet of gifts. Even if you keep all of your items in one location, you don’t want to constantly have to rut through everything to find what you’re looking for. Keeping a spreadsheet of the items you’ve bought in advance as well as who they are for will make it easy to see at a glance what items you have. This can also prevent you from overspending and buying more than you need.

Use the libib app to track books. I frequently give books as gifts. We also homeschool, so when I see a good sale, I’ll buy books in advance for the next year or two of school. The free app libib is a great way to keep track of your books. Simply scan the barcode with your smartphone, and you can create an inventory, even categorizing by person you’ll be giving the book to or genre. You choose.

Buying things you’ll need in advance is a great way to save money. . .as long as you don’t forget about what you’ve already bought!

Do you buy items in advance? If so, how do you keep track of them?