Dave Ramsey teaches in The Total Money Makeover that the first baby step to getting out of debt is to establish your emergency fund. Your emergency fund must be a minimum of $500 or ideally $1000 cash that is strictly reserved for life’s unexpected scenarios. It’s imperative that all members of your family or your [...]

Dave Ramsey and I teach that if your combined household income is $40,000 per year, you should have a $1,000 emergency fund. If you earn $20,000 a year, then you should have a $500 basic emergency fund set aside. If you make $80,000, you should save $2,000 for emergencies. This basic emergency fund is your [...]

Now that you’ve written down your monthly expenses, I’m sure you have started to see spending areas in which you can cut back. Remember, when you are getting out of debt, it is imperative to make short-term, temporary sacrifices now so that you can win financially long-term. Everyone’s situation is different, and everyone has different [...]

Many individuals and families find setting a budget to be a daunting task and can’t seem to keep a budget intact for very long. The key to not feeling trapped and bossed around by a spreadsheet is to consider it a ‘spending plan’. YOU get to determine where your money goes! Spend your money by [...]

Today’s blog is a reflective exercise to acknowledge what is going well and not so well with your finances. If you’re not in a place where you can write your answers now, please consider your answers to these questions until you can complete the exercise fully.To get started on your debt-free journey, it’s really important [...]

I’m thrilled to have my article How to Create Your Millionaire Mindset appear on Melinda Emerson’s SmallBizLady site. Here is the beginning of the article: 1.  The first step to creating your millionaire mindset is writing down the lessons you’ve learned on your journey. If you’re like most of us, you’re probably not too happy [...]

Regardless of income, we all deserve to enjoy the holiday season with friends and family. Start to plan out your holiday budget now so that you don’t find yourself digging out of more than snow this January! Here are some ideas to get you off on the right track to responsible spending and joyful sharing! [...]

As I shared in my last post, I’ve learned a ton about inaccurate money beliefs and fears while working with hundreds of debt-free coaching clients over the years.  I discovered first-hand how they can hold us back in our career and life. Have you ever stopped to really think about what your beliefs are around [...]

In the spirit of winter, I’m inspired to write about a tried and true tactic for getting out of debt that is taught by Dave Ramsey and me – The Debt Snowball. This sounds daunting, but is surprisingly pretty fun once you get going with it! Here’s the gist of the strategy that you can [...]