Frugality Archives - Recovering Women Wealth

How Frugal Minimalism Can Help You Repay Your Debt

April 13, 2020 By Deanna 6 Comments

Lately, I’ve become more interested in minimalism as I’ve been consuming Joshua Becker’s stuff. My first revelation of how little I need to be happy occurred while I was paying off my debt. During that time, I made many sacrifices such as living with my folks in my early 40’s, reducing my spending and consumption, and plowing most of my income to my debt.

I recognized I was making all of these so-called sacrifices and yet I was no less happy. The most important things to me, relationships, were still a part of my life. I simply removed the spending money factor from the equation. Sure it required some creative thinking on how to foster these friendships in new ways. However, spending time doesn’t have to cost anything

Over the past several years, I’ve enjoyed a minimalist Christmas. Additionally, as I’ve moved into apartment living, I’ve learned to live in smaller spaces and reduce the number of things I own. BTW, I’ve moved to a new apartment recently and it’s phenomenal. I owe you a post about the sweet deal I struck up!

Additionally, I’ve reduced the amount of clothing & shoes I own and am embracing a minimalist wardrobe. I love, love, love it.

So this article talks about how you can embrace minimalism & frugality together in an effort to pay off your debt. I think we are all a little stressed right now with the COVID-19 pandemic occurring. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever been through before. It’s hard in so many darn ways!

I would imagine that anyone who currently has debt and/or little or no savings and might be feeling the heaviness of this. I used to feel that heaviness, Every. Dang. Day., when I lived paycheck to paycheck.

However, now with the huge downturn in the economy, many folks are additionally facing layoffs. Ugh.

Good Nelly has written the following guest post for my readers on how she sees the intersection of minimalist and frugality being useful to use in paying off debt. Let’s face it, none of us is spending a lot of money right now. So, if you are able to engage in any of these strategies now for future freedom, more power to ya!

Enjoy and happy freedom to you. I’ve added my commentary in blue below too. 🙂

How I am Minimizing My Wardrobe

March 9, 2020 By Deanna 24 Comments

Recently I wrote a guest post on Joshua Becker’s site, Becoming Minimalist. In preparation for writing my guest post, I spent some time exploring Joshua’s information and his journey to becoming a minimalist. First, I spent many hours watching his YouTube channel.

Second, I spent time reading his blog and I found inspiration to minimize my wardrobe. These two articles started me off on contemplated just how I could do it:

Then I was directed to this post by Denaye Barahona about how she embraced a minimalist wardrobe. It was really her post, which is full of pictures, that gave me the final motivation to take the plunge and get rid of a bunch of clothes in favor of more simplistic decisions in the mornings. Additionally, I timed this with my recent move which is a fine time to declutter.

Some before pictures

Lifehacks to Make Your Life Easier & Save You Money

January 27, 2020 By Deanna 3 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of killing two birds with one stone. You know, like riding a bike to run an errand thereby getting a task done and getting fit.

So when I first heard the term lifehack, I was already a fan.

Let’s start by defining what a lifehack it.

Lifehack (noun):

a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way.

I’ll argue, and share some ways, that lifehacks can also save you money. So without further ado, let’s get started…

EveryDollar Christmas Giveaway

December 23, 2019 By Deanna 1 Comment

I am happy to announce my first Christmas giveaway and it’s a good one! If you are interested in taking charge of your money this year, read on…

As a Christmas gift, I’m giving away a 1-year subscription to EveryDollar Plus!! EveryDollar is a budgeting tool created by the Dave Ramsey team. This is a one-year subscription is valued at $129. That’s a nice little Christmas gift, yes?

You’ll need to read through the entire post to learn the rules of the giveaway but I’ll make it worth it. 😉

EveryDollar is a great tool for budgeting! I’ve used it off and on in the past but more consistently have used Microsoft Excel. However, this year, I’m committed to using EveryDollar wholeheartedly. What better way to start out the new year than with a new budget?! And we can do it together and share tips.

Details About EveryDollar

In the first month of budgeting with EveryDollar, the average user finds and extra $332 they were spending without even knowing it
EveryDollar Plus comes with access to Financial Peace University
This giveaway is the equivalent of $129
EveryDollar gives you a game plan for winning with money. It’s built around the 7 Baby Steps to take budgeters through paying off debt, saving and building wealth.
You’ll learn how to use a zero-based budget – where all your income minus all your expenses equal zero.