by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 22, 2018 | Debt
When you’re ready to tackle the process of how to get rid of debt quickly, you’ll need to establish some habits to make sure it sticks. Use these ideas to win the fight.
Figuring out how to get rid of debt requires three things: passion, determination, and a willingness to completely change your life.
You know you’ve got the passion when getting out of debt is all you think about.
Your friends and family know about the big goal, and they sometimes mention it when you’re together. “How’s the big plan going?” or “Do you want to just come to my place instead of meeting at the bar?”
Side note: if you’ve got friends and family that are supportive like this, be sure to hold on to them tight!
A sign of the right kind of determination is when you surprise yourself by saying “no” to something you usually spend money on automatically.
Because you’re determined to get that debt free life you know you deserve far more than any impulse buy.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 19, 2018 | Ways We Saved This Week
Winter feels like the perfect time to hang out in the kitchen. Why not warm yourself up by the oven while you bake yummy foods for your family? As a bonus, you can make more from scratch and spend less money on fast food or convenience foods from the store!
Thanks to my 30 day money challenge, I was inspired to get back in the kitchen again. Lately I’ve made white chicken chili, homemade lemon meringue pie (even the pie crust was from scratch!), Chex Mix, hot chocolate mix, and several batches of cookies.
And now I’m working on a resource that will help you make more from scratch, too! Keep an eye out for that in the next two weeks.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 15, 2018 | Grocery Tips
Grocery shopping on a budget feels restricting sometimes. But you can feed your family well using less money than you think. Here’s how.
While wasting time on Facebook one day, I saw a challenge:
Try to feed your family on “just” $5 per person per day. When I did the math, my mouth dropped.
For a family of 7, that amounts to $245 per week.
My grocery budget is $300 for two weeks worth of food for my family of 7.
Feeding my family at $5 per person per day was no challenge. Shoot, we could have steak on that budget!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 12, 2018 | Ways We Saved This Week
Did you know that only 8% of the world’s currency is actual physical bills and coins? We definitely live in a digital age. The fact that we are less and less likely to actually touch our money makes us detached from it.
Does that make you want to use the envelope system more?
I think it’s a good idea to get more intimate with your cash. But I also think that if we have a habit of using debit cards, that can create more problems. If your sub conscience is convinced that you have backup cash in the account, you might blow through your cash too quickly.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 8, 2018 | Debt
While I’m a huge fan of January 1st, we usually don’t have any goals written by that date. The last week of December is filled with holidays, birthday celebrations, and seeing how long we can wear pajamas each day. Not a lot of room there for brainstorming our future.
But once the new year begins and we settle back into our routine, that’s when we’re ready to imagine our future.
Setting these goals was the most fun this meeting has been in years! While finishing off debt is the first thing we wrote down, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. We should send the last payment to the credit card companies in the next couple of months.
I can’t begin to tell you how sweet that feels.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 5, 2018 | Ways We Saved This Week
It’s a funny thing, but the more you collect money saving tips, the more you’ll find. It’s another one of those creative muscles that can be flexed into something beautiful!
So aside from the money saving tips you find in this weekly series, you can find daily (weekdays, anyway) money saving tips on my Facebook page. Like Medium Sized Family on Facebook to keep collecting tips!
But those tips I’m sharing on Facebook do not (usually) come from my book. So if you really love to save money, you’ll find over 500 money saving tips in the book. Go here to learn more about that!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Jan 1, 2018 | Debt, Saving Money
Feel like you’ll never stop living paycheck to paycheck? Learn how to get ahead in life with these 7 ideas you can put to use right away.
The mailbox is full of bills, a kid just had an expensive trip to urgent care, and the car is in need of a repair. Now you are just hoping that there’s enough food in the pantry to get you through to the next paycheck.
But deep down, you know that you’re just going to find yourself running out of money again.
So how can you get ahead in life when you feel like you’re just falling further and further behind?
Let’s talk about some money goals that you can set for yourself to make this mess a little neater. Don’t be discouraged! These are goals that people in nearly any financial situation can take use.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Dec 29, 2017 | Saving Money
A few financial moves can make a huge difference in your bottom line. Try these ideas that helped one family pay off a big debt in one year.
Not everyone loves New Year’s resolutions, I know, but I happen to be a huge fan. You have to love the chance at a fresh start, and what better time to make big changes than at the start of a new year?
But before we sit down to establish our goals for next year, we should look back at how we did this past year. What went well? What could have gone better?
For two years, our main goal has been to pay off all of our credit card debt. So let’s take a look at the best moves we made this year to set our finances straight. Here’s hoping you can put some of these ideas to work in your own life!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Dec 27, 2017 | Saving Money
Everyone could use a little extra spending money…or saving money! The point of my new book, 500 Ways to Save Money: Build a Cash Jackpot for the Best Things in Life is just that. I want to help people stretch their budget as much as possible. This book gives you ideas for saving money that you can put into use right away.
To make sure this book gets into the hands of as many people as possible, especially in time for New Year’s resolutions, let’s make this fun. I’ve got a $25 Amazon Gift Card to give away!
Use the Giveaway Tool below to get entered!
This giveaway is not affiliated with Amazon or any social media companies in any way. All opinions are mine. For questions, contact me.
Good luck! And I hope you enjoy the book.
by Jamie Jeffers | Dec 21, 2017 | Debt
If getting out of debt feels like a dream only meant for rich people, let’s find out what’s holding you back.
Have you ever just decided to stop looking at the little box that tells you how much you owe (total) on your credit card, because at this point, what’s the difference?
It was too high a year ago, and it’s surely worse now.
And nothing you have tried has worked to make it go away.
Well, let’s sleuth out the thing that’s messing up everything in your debt plan.
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