A little about me

 

Hello there 😉 Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I have been going around and around about blogging for awhile. Its exciting but is something I am nervous about. It sounds stupid to say that but because ya know…I just hope I have stuff in common with people…..If that makes sence. Anyway, I figured the best way to do anything you are unsure of is just to do it. So I am.

My name is Melissa I live with my husband, three kids and two dogs. I spend my days doing what I can for my family. Being a mom to three teenagers and a wife I am pretty sure that I am not the only one that has the interests, problems, stresses and thoughts I do. However, one thing is for sure if I didn’t have faith and trust in my anchor and the light in the storms I don’t know what my life would be like. I give glory to my Jesus, my savior!

Phillipians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Everybody has a journey and a story. This is mine and I wanted to share it. Are you ready to go on this ride with me?? Ok! Here we go!

 

 

 

Saving Money!!!

When you are living pay check to pay check and struggling to pay your bills you start to think that saving money is not a thing that can happen in your life. Well! You are in for a treat because it can happen! Yes, you can save.

There are a couple different ways. And they aren’t hard to do at all. With errybody having a smart phone now a days saving is as easy as setting up an app and forgetting about it. Here are the ones that I recommend.

~ Dobot is an app that you download on your phone and link your credit or debit card to. When you link your card to Dobot Dobots bots look at your account balance and your spending habits to figure out safe savings amounts that ensure you have enough to meet your spending needs while still saving. Your savings is then put into your Dobot account where the money is held and saved for you. Dobot saves your money without you even realizing it. In the app you do have a choice to make savings automatic or manual. Also, you can have peace of mind about your money and information because Dobot is FDIC insured up to 250000$. I use it! Granted I started a little late but I labeled my savings goal Christmas. Follow my referral link below to get a free 5 bucks just for signing up with Dobot.

mydobot.com/r/qxkm5

~Qapital  is another personal finance app.  Qapital directs each of its users to set savings goals, then automatically transfers money from their checking account to an account for savings. Qapital uses different rules to trigger savings. For example the round up rule is my favorite every time you make a purchase with your linked checking account Qapital will round up to the nearest 1$ and deposit the difference into your savings.

~Mint is a free,  personal financial app/website. Mint won’t save your money for you like the apps above but it’ll help you become more organized with your finances. Everything is organized in a nice little all in one package where you can link all of your accounts, cards and bills you have. See what you have and what you owe. Understand where money goes and where you can cut back. Create budgets, track investments, discover new ways to save and more. Nobody likes to budget, and some people don’t know how to make a budget but it is so much easier and simple with mint.

~Flipp is an app/website that has almost every store ad you can imagine. While the app won’t actually save your money either, it will definitelly help you save on stuff you buy. Say I need milk and I want to find out where its on sale. I go to my handy Flipp app type “milk” in search and it will show me the stores that have milk on sale. You can do all sorts of cool things with this app when it comes to saving at stores. If there’s a coupon available it will be attached to the sale item, you can either print the coupon or add it to a store card. When you are looking at a store ad you can add the item to your digital shopping list just by pressing on the item. I suggest you check it out! A very useful and beneficial app when you’re couponing or just trying to save money on groceries.

~Dollar Shave Club. Who here hates the prices of disposable razors?? Me, I do, I do! Yes, you could always coupon for razors but come on with everything else you need it is nice not to have to worry about razors or how much they are. With DSC you don’t have to worry! Here’s how it works….Pick a razor with blades for 1$, And in your next shipment
DSC will send replacement cartridges for either $3, $6, or $9 a month. No long-term commitments, cancel anytime. On your schedule, you can choose to have your cartridges sent every month or every other month. My husband and I use them. Way better than the cheap disposable razors! Here’s my link http://shaved.by/gpLbK

 

Money $$$ A BIG stressor !!

For health reasons I do not work, I receive disability benefits, yes its definitely nice to have a more stable income. I guess its the silver lining to being disabled, I feel blessed to be on a fixed income. Its better than having an unstable one. Before I applied for disability benefits there were years and years of struggling to pay the bills, asking for help to get the bills paid, and then there was giving our money to somebody else for rent. I would not want to go back to those years for nothing! I’m not sure how my husband and I did it. Most of the time things were getting paid from his income. However, there were times when he didn’t have a job. Btw, he also has his own set of issues for the reason why he receives benefits also. A couple years before he did get rewarded his benefits we were in a jam where we had to move in with my mom and step dad, boy oh boy that was not an easy living situation! However, while we were living with them we found a reputable credit repair company that started us on the road to homeownership! Here is the link to the credit repair company http://www.trinityenterprisesllc.com.  I know here in Florida there is assistance to become a first time homeowner. There are two that I know of. The one that we went through is called the Florida Hardest Hit Fund Down Payment Assistance Program. With the HHF we were able to obtain a 15k$ down payment! Along with the requirements of a certain fico score, said house had to stay within specific counties and you have to stay in said house for 3 years. Talk to your loan officer to get more details on what is available for you in your state.

The above picture is of my back yard. I got up to get the kids up for school one morning and while sipping my coffee I would walk to the sliding glass door, look out to our back yard and think how surreal it was that I finally was a homeowner to a beautiful spacious back yard and a house that is perfect for our family. I feel beyond grateful and blessed to be able to afford my bills and mortgage. I haven’t always been serious about going to church, worshiping, or praying. However, when I was told that if I was straight up honest with the lord and was specific with him that whatever I was praying about he would deliver. I know…its crazy talk. But he really did! After a year I still get emotional thinking about it. All those years of struggling, living in other peoples homes, living in too small or crummy places because the rent is too high…is over. Thank the lort!

Yes, money still  stresses me out. And you know what its my own fault for getting caught up in the hype of  wanting nice pretty things. It would’ve been ok if I would have stopped while I was ahead. Yes, my husband does have a voice but I think the reason why he didn’t stop me from making the poor money decisions I did was because he thought I was good at taking care of our finances…..um no, I am not. Moving in we paid cash for the necessities to make the house new to us…our house was built in 1961. Kitchen and laundry appliances, flooring, painting, texturizing, some furniture, the fence some of the kitchen. My husband was an electrician so he is the one that did all the electrical in our house. Its a truly beautiful thing to make your house a haven without going into debt. But, sadly, that didn’t last. Trust me, and I hope you listen and abide by my warning. Only buy what you need and if you do use credit only buy what you actually need. For example if you need a couch because you don’t have one, ok then, fine. If you buy an entertainment set, a kitchen table, and a pool….BUT you don’t really need them because you already have them. Unfortunately, that’s what I did. And now I feel like I am juggling paying my immediate bills verses my credit cards 😦 Please learn from my mistake. Do not give in to credit cards and loans. No matter what.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 

From here I’d like to move in to the next post. Wait for it…..are you ready??!!

Saving money!!! Isn’t that on everybody’s mind…. I know I am always thinking “man! I wish saving money would be so easy. Then I wouldn’t be so temped to use credit!”