Preventative Care for Our Finances

April 25, 2019 By Deanna 3 Comments

Preventative care is a big thing in healthcare right now. As a matter of fact, all Affordable Care Act-compliant plans include preventative care at a zero dollar cost to members.

Who wouldn’t rather prevent a condition versus treating it? Some things are preventable with good habits and early detection.

Unfortunately, there is also rotten luck and genetics; although, that doesn’t negate the importance of preventative care. 😉

I propose that as we do preventative care for our physical and mental health, we can also do it for our financial health.

Prescriptions for our Finances

If there is a financial problem like debt or not enough money at the end of the month, we need to treat the problem. I’ve written several prescriptive articles pertaining to such things:

However, once you’ve treated the problem and cleaned up your debt, you now get to focus on the prevention of these things occurring again. And I would argue that prevention is a bit more fun! 😉

Financial Self Care in Recovery

April 15, 2019 By Deanna 3 Comments

When a person enters into recovery from addiction and/or alcoholism, they learn about self-care. The term, self-care can encompass a lot and it definitely includes finances. There is a lot more to recovery than just putting down the drink or drug.

Admission is only the first step.

If a person wants a lasting recovery, they are going to need to embrace self-care in all of its many facets:

Reconciliation with the past
New daily habits
Nutrition
Exercise
Mental health
Professional Development
Financial literacy and wellness

This post is geared at how to start with the basics of getting your financial life on track.

How To Do Zero-Based Budgeting

March 7, 2019 By Deanna 9 Comments

The first step in gaining control of my finances involved getting on a zero-based budget. Essentially it means assigning every dollar to a category. If we don’t know where our money is going, how can we learn to save more?

As I’ve evolved through the years financially so has my budget. However, I still track my expenses and assign every dollar to a category. This post is designed to help you know how to use a zero-based budget.

Before I get into my article, I’d love to put out a request to you…what topics do you want me to write on? What would you like for me to research and report back on? I’m open to your suggestions and you can reply in the comments or send me a private message.

Now onto budgeting…

How To Budget With A Credit Card

September 10, 2018 By Deanna 10 Comments

Cash Is King But How About Those Travel Reward Miles?

So if you’ve followed my story you know I came out of the Dave Ramsey camp. I followed the debt snowball method and it worked. I’m now completely debt-free and on the path to achieving Financial Independence (FI). Woohoo!

The further I go down the wealth-building road, the more I learn about the value of travel reward miles. Let me make one very important disclaimer before I go any further:

I only recommend using credit cards within your budget if you have the discipline and means to pay off the balance in full each and every month!