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POPULAR POSTS FROM THE BLOG

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Must-Have Budget Travel Essentials For Women

Budget Better in 2020 With A Budget Binder

Should you pay your kids commission or allowance?

Should You Pay Your Kids Commission or Allowance for Chores?

11 ways to practice self-care on a budget

11 cheap and easy ways to practice self-care on a budget

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Have you tried to budget before and felt like you failed time and time again?? ⁠⠀
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How many times have you gotten frustrated and given up altogether? ⁠⠀
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Did you know that it takes most people 3 MONTHS until they get good at budgeting? ⁠⠀
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I see you. I am you! I probably started and gave up on 10 different occasions over the years until we finally began again and stuck with it!⁠⠀
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Did we mess up? Yep. Did we make mistakes? Hell yes. Lots of them! ⁠⠀
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And we still do...almost every single month, to be honest. ⁠⠀
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Budgeting IS NOT about being perfect. It's not about not spending any money. And it's certainly not about feeling like a failure. ⁠⠀
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Budgeting IS about being prepared. It is about paying attention. And it is about sticking through the tough times and showing yourself grace when you mess up and forget to account for your car inspection this month.⁠⠀
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Keep going. Each month is a fresh start. In fact, each paycheck is a chance to try again...⁠⠀
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If you're messing up a lot try splitting your monthly budget up by paycheck to make it more digestible. ⁠⠀
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Try different methods. Try different tools. Just keep trying. Eventually, it will stick, I promise. ⁠⠀
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Just don't give up. ⁠⠀
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You can't fail if you never give up 👏🏼⁠⠀
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I've shared on here before how I have been making a major effort to reduce our plastic consumption and live more sustainably as a family for the past year...we are definitely not perfect but have been making huge strides!⁠⠀
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My motivation is two-fold: to help the environment and to save money...⁠⠀
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One thing I've been focusing on is to try to reduce the amount of single-use products we use in our home.⁠⠀
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I don't always get it right but I've become so much more conscious or every product I use on a daily basis and what's even cooler is seeing my kids be more conscious of their consumption!⁠⠀
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Today on my YouTube channel I'm sharing 13 of our favorite reusable products that will save you a LOT of money but also allow you to be more eco-friendly! ⁠⠀
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Check out the video in my bio...⁠⠀
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What reusable products have you switched to that you've noticed a big savings from?

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I'm back with a new #budgetingtip and today I want to remind you to scan your receipts each week!⁠⠀
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You are literally leaving CASH on the table if you are not⁠⠀
scanning your receipts with cashback apps!⁠⠀
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Over the past 1-2 years, I have treated myself to MANY Starbucks coffees for FREE thanks to points I've earned from scanning receipts for my normal shopping! I've also received a bunch of PayPal deposits plus cashed points in for plenty of free dinners as well!⁠⠀
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There are quite a few cashback apps out there and personally, my favs are @fetchrewards @rakuten and @ibotta and I've also tried @shopkick which I do like but always forget to use it 🤦🏼‍♀️⁠⠀
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I have links in my bio that you get you welcome bonuses for these apps if you've never tried them...⁠⠀
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I usually scan my receipts right after I get home from the store but I've heard lots of people say they sit down once a week and scan them all at the same time...so whatever works best for you!⁠⠀
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What's your favorite cash-back app? I think mine is probably @fetchrewards 💵⁠⠀

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A few weeks ago I could tell my husband was "off" and I was pretty sure I knew why...⁠⠀
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I sat him down and we had a chat and decided that we needed to prioritize date nights.⁠⠀
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We all know date nights are important in a relationship but I think they become extra important when you are working with a small budget or are on a debt-free journey.⁠⠀
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For years we said we would have monthly date nights "once we had money"...⁠⠀
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Eventually, that turned into "once we got out of debt"...⁠⠀
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Then last year when we became debt-free that turned into "when we finish Baby Step 3"...⁠⠀
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But here we are, a year + into BS3 and still no date nights...⁠⠀
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So after our talk, we decided that the small amount of money I take from my business each month will now be our dedicated date night fund and we will take one date night per month - no matter what!⁠⠀
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It's sooo easy to find excuses. ⁠⠀
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We don't have extra money this month...⁠⠀
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We don't have anyone to watch the kids...⁠⠀
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I have too much to get done...⁠⠀
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But our kids are a bit older and in a few years they will be busy all weekend and it will just be the two of us so we need to make sure we still like one another at that point!⁠⠀
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It is easy to put your spouse last and I am definitely guilty of that so as of Monday I am officially dating my husband again....once a month 😆⁠⠀
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Now, I know we do not need to spend money to have a date but this was also part of his frustration is he feels like we never do anything like going out to eat, movies, etc. and we always stay home (I'm such a homebody) so these will be date nights OUT spending actual money on ourselves and nurturing our 16-year-old marriage to make sure it lasts many more years!⁠⠀
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Do you date your spouse? How often? What are your favorites dates? I need some ideas!⁠⠀

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I know I'm flooding you with Christmas posts and it's not even turkey day yet but I finally experienced a wonderful Christmas last year without money stress and the worry of more debt and I made up my mind right then and there that every holiday season would be that calm and chaos-free!⁠⠀
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Not stressing about money will definitely make for a better holiday but there are other steps to take as well that will help you have the best Christmas ever!⁠⠀
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I have an article sharing 3 steps to help you calm the Christmas chaos and have an amazing holiday season!⁠⠀
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Click the link in my bio to read the full article...⁠⠀
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What do you find most stressful about the holidays?

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We don’t know them all but we owe them all... Many thanks to all our veterans for their service and sacrifice and for that of their families too ❤️ {my hubby is in the middle}

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A lot of you out there have something that you've been wanting to share with the world. Maybe you've dreamt of sharing your message through a blog or a YouTube channel? Maybe you've always wanted to write a book or open an Etsy shop?⁠⠀
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I want to share this @brenebrown quote with you because I love her and she's a genius but also because I love the simplicity of it. ⁠⠀
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We cannot move forward in our lives without failing. Period. There are so many things I have begun to create in my business over the past 2.5 years and have stopped because I didn't want to fail. ⁠⠀
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Two years ago I started offering budget coaching. I had some really great feedback from the few clients I helped and then I got scared. Who was I to charge someone to do their budget for them? What if I made a mistake? What if they didn't like the suggestions I gave them? So I took it down off my site so no one to buy my packages. ⁠⠀
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Here I sit two years later wondering how many people I could have helped in the last two years had I not been too scared to fail?⁠⠀
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Almost two years ago I also started creating a budgeting course and again, the fear of failure crept up...⁠⠀
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I have such a small following. Why would anyone trust me and purchase my course? This was my dream when I first began my business, yet there it sits on my laptop with only half a lesson completed. ⁠⠀
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How many people could have learned to budget, paid off their debt and changed their lives in the past two years if I hadn't been too scared to fail?⁠⠀
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I'll never know...⁠⠀
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When I was at the Ramsey Influencer Event a few weeks ago @daveramsey addressed us at the opening reception and told us of so many struggles he debt with and failures along the way to his success. ⁠⠀
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Imagine if he had given up? Imagine if he didn't create or innovate the past 30 years because he was too scared to fail? ⁠⠀
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I know my life would be radically different today...⁠⠀
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He told us to never stop sharing our message. Whatever it was. Whatever it took. Regardless of how many times we failed. ⁠⠀
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So if you're waiting for a sign, here it is! We have a few weeks left in this year...how can you share your message?

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I've been getting a few questions lately on the state of our finances and one specifically stuck out to me!⁠⠀
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Today on my YouTube channel I'm sitting down and updating you on our current financial situation...⁠⠀
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Chatting about our financial goals. Are we still following Dave Ramsey? Will we continue to share our journey moving forward? ⁠⠀
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Check out the link in my bio to watch the full video 💵

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This is the time of year when I start to feel like my spending is creeping up a bit. Even though we budget everything for the holidays and the spending is intentional, it somehow still triggers old habits for me.⁠⠀
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Does anyone else ever feel this way? It may be just me but I'm pretty sure some of you must feel the same anxiety when it seems as though your spending more than normal?⁠⠀
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Well, good news...I may have a solution for you! ⁠⠀
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Doing a no-spend can help...if you haven't heard of this before, it's simply committing to spending no money for a specific amount of time. ⁠⠀
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It could be a full month or even just a week. You decide on the parameters...Do you count food? Do you allow spending from envelopes that already have money in them? Do you cut alllll spending across the board? The details are up to you...⁠⠀
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But one thing I think is important is tracking it. This handy dandy little printable is included in my C+P newsletter tomorrow for free! ⁠⠀
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If you'd like to snag it for yourself head to https://CentsandPurpose.com/join or click the link in my bio!⁠⠀
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Print over and over each time you want to reign your spending in or save some serious cash!⁠⠀
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P.S. In the interest of full disclosure I want to mention that I don't normally do no-spend challenges for myself anymore because I find I end up buying everything I refrained from once the challenge has ended, which kind of defeats the purpose 😳BUT I know this is a very effective budgeting tool for many!⁠⠀
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So tell me...do no-spend challenges work for you or do you feel as though it results in more spending after the fact??

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