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Sober Women Managing Money & Mental Wealth

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Planning a Simple Frugal Wedding on a Non-Budget

March 27, 2021 By Deanna Leave a Comment

 

Photo by James Orr on Unsplash

 

Okay, I know it’s been like forever since I’ve written a blog post. However, I’ve been planning a wedding and getting ready to become a wife! Whoa, I feel the gravity in even writing that sentence.

Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the ways we are keeping things simple and the costs low but also doing it on a non-budget (Don’t worry I did save for this; I’m just not counting every penny!!).

Also, if you prefer to do a budget (I usually do) check out this awesome blog post by my friend, Andrea.

What Matters Most

Take a look at the theme picture of this post and that will clue you in on what matters most. The reality is that it’s all about joining two lives into one. It’s a lifetime commitment and the most important part is the bride, the groom, and the pastor or officiant. Family is a close second but everything else is fluff!

The party and the celebration can be a fun part of it. However, my take is to focus on the main reason and the other stuff will come together.

We are being counseled by pastors in all things pre-marital. It’s been fun, challenging, thought-provoking, hard at times, filled with gravity, and oh so worth it. We have good pastors bringing up tough topics for us to consider. We’ve had some conflicts in these sessions and/or even after these sessions.

You know what? Conflict is a part of life and the bigger thing is to learn how to work through it lovingly. Always focus on the mend when there is a rift. We are getting better at it.

No doubt, we’ve decided we want to spend the rest of our lives together so we are willing to put in the work.

Keeping it Simple

Neither of us wanted to spend lavish money on a big reception. Although, we did want to have a celebration with family and friends. The best part about it is that we planned our wedding one afternoon on a walk. We kept bouncing ideas off of one another and voila, we had our wedding details planned.

The ceremony is the most important to us so we are basically doing a flip. Since the ceremony is what matters most to us, that is the longest part. We are doing some unique things that I cannot reveal just yet but this has been literally the most fun part about planning the event.

Since we are inviting a bunch of people to get together for our ceremony, we decided to include the second most important thing, cake!  We are just having a simple reception of cake, coffee, and sparkling lemonade. Oh, and a bride/groom dance but that’s it.

I saw this on social media somewhere but I have no idea who made it! If you know, let me know so I can give them credit!

Attire

Here’s where things can get expensive but they don’t have to! I bought my dress for under $200 online at this website. I paid the extra $20 to submit my measurements and have it custom-sized.  It fits perfectly (unless I lose more weight which is a good problem to have). I love it and it’s exactly what I was hoping for!

My matron of honor and junior bridesmaid both got their dresses for under $30 at Dillard’s and JCPenney. I knew what colors I wanted and then it was an open game to find some dresses on sale that would work. Simple. Easy. Frugal.

Now Tom’s suit was another story. We took one walk into Ticknor’s and were sold on a fabulous suit for him & his best man. It cost more than my dress but what guy couldn’t use a good suit! He’ll be wearing it again; me probably not on the dress.

One piece of advice on Ticknor’s…just don’t let them sell you the $200+ pair of jeans.

Decorate

The decorations are another area that could add up real quick.

I have a lovely friend who is gifted at decorating and she happens to be retired. I decided to ask for her assistance in this department. She was thrilled to help and is blessing me so greatly with her skills at making the tableware pretty. Here is the one place I was going to set a budget. Although, quite amazingly she is gifting me with much of it. Whoa!

I was all set to make our bouquets and floral arrangements for our wedding. But…I have a good friend who does weddings and is hooking me up with his florist for a super-duper friend and family discount. Whoa x2!

The thing is on all of this is, to look to trade and barter with friends who are skilled. Everyone loves a trade!

P.S. making floral arrangements is fairly easy if you are looking to cut corners. I made some for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary ♥.

Check out that good looking family celebrating my parent’s 50th ↓↓↓

Pictures

So this is a fun story. We hired my friend’s daughter who is in high school because she is a budding photographer and did my photos for my blog (see three pics below).

Anyway, we wanted to give her a chance at growing her skill and because she’s inexperienced we were able to settle on a price that doesn’t break my bank but still blesses her.

 

 

Then another surprise came to us in this department. Our pastor’s wife offered her photography services as a gift. Whoa x3! We found a way to meld the two as she will be mentoring our young budding photographer. Win-win!

Honeymoon

Now we’ll never tell where we are going cus we want some privacy 😉

But, I can tell you that we decided we didn’t need to go far to “get away”. We did splurge two nights on a very special and costly place but then the rest of our trip is at an Air BnB house in a very remote area. No flying necessary.

One thing to keep in mind here is that when you don’t travel far, you can splurge a little more on a fancy hotel. I learned that trick from my boss.

Happily Ever After…

So we are not yet living together and are kind of old-fashioned in all things surrounding marriage.

Anyway, my fiancé is renting a house currently and I’m renting an apartment. We are opting to have him move into my apartment after we get married. The reasons are:

  1. We love the area by my apartment
    1. Close to both of our jobs
    2. In between our parents
    3. Close to biking/hiking
    4. Close to some ski resorts
  2. We can save beaucoup money for a future house

We also figured what better year to do tiny living than the honeymoon year ♥♥♥

Sidebar: did you know that fiancé is the male version and fiancée is the female version? I just learned that myself 😉

Closing Thoughts

My final summation is simple. Focus on what matters most and then build from there. Save money – as soon as we started courting we both started saving. Additionally, lean on people in your own community and find ways to trade and barter for services. Lastly, take a chance on novices because it’s nice to give newbies a chance to shine!

 

Shopping for Automobile Insurance

August 24, 2020 By Deanna 2 Comments

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

 

Every six months our car insurance policies come up for renewal. Sure the easiest thing is to just renew it and forget about it. However, since my debt pay off journey and my general interest in personal finance/ financial independence began, I look for the best deals. Maybe shopping every 6 months is not necessary but I would argue that shopping your automotive policy once a year is a prudent exercise.

It takes a little extra time but it can be a worthwhile exercise. I had been with the same insurance company, Allstate, for years and I liked them. However, when I decided to shop them and found I could save over $100 for a new 6-month policy if I switched to Progressive. I made the switch.

Now, I shop it every renewal or at least once a year. Although, my progressive rates have remained competitive for three years so I almost didn’t shop it this renewal, but as you’ll read on, I’m so glad I did…

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In Recovery, How do you Know When it’s Time to Work on Your Finances?

July 27, 2020 By Deanna Leave a Comment

 

 

 

 

Photo by Chronis Yan on Unsplash

 

Most recovery programs have steps and a specific order in which they are to be worked. There’s a reason for that. Some things are more urgent and need prompt attention; otherwise, the thing you are in recovery for might be in jeopardy.

This post is designed to give you some insight into knowing when to work intensely on your finances. Additionally, I’ll share some small ways to stop the bleeding now with your financial life. Everything I share is spoken from a place of experience. I share what worked for me as well as any mishaps I’ve had along the way. As always, I suggest consulting God for his directives and order of precedence on your unique journey.

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How Frugal Minimalism Can Help You Repay Your Debt

April 13, 2020 By Deanna 16 Comments

Photo by Evie S. on Unsplash

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. 🙂

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About Me

My name is Deanna and I am happy to be on this redemptive path. I got sober from drug addiction/alcoholism in 2010 and returned to a faith in Christ. Additionally, I finished digging my way out of debt in 2017. Today, I’m learning to be a wise steward/investor of my resources while helping other women find their victories too. More about me.

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