Believe And Budget
Money Talk with The Maloneys
How a Side Hustle, Unrivaled Wire Wraps, Gave Us Opportunity for More.
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You are stopping by here because you have a side hustle or you are wanting to start a side hustle. I am so glad you decided to join us because a simple side hustle helped us for more opportunity. My husband’s side hustle that helped us, Unrivaled Wire Wraps. Unrivaled Wire Wraps is a business he turned his love of rocks, minerals, and stones into helping people see the beauty of them by creating jewelry. Let us inspire you to take a leap in your side hustle to give you and your family more of what you want.
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Lose the fear
We had to lose our fear of not being able to make it for the 6 months without a job. I feel like God keeps on testing me with my faith. The first time was 3 months without a job for myself, and this time it was 6 months without a job for our entire family. You guys we prepared ourselves financially for these months before we quit our jobs 100% both times. We had a big emergency fund cushion.
I have learned that we have to be like kids and lose our fear that we are not going to make it. God does miracles each and every day and he has done them so much in our life. Yet, we still doubt and try to trust just ourselves.
Just like God led Moses and the Israelites in Exodus. The key verse that was pointed to me was Exodus 33:12 “…lead these people to the land you promised them.” Exodus 33:14 “…I will go with you and give you peace.” We need to stop living in fear and trust and know that he will give us peace.
I can remember when I lost the fear of taking the step out. It was our first big show in Richmond, VA.
A pop up market
We signed up to show off our side hustles, Unrivaled Wire Wraps and Believe and Budget.
I wanted to plant seeds with Believe and Budget because I know and understand that not everyone loves to talk about money. It is actually a big topic people are scared to talk about because they either live paycheck to paycheck or are in so much debt that they do not know how to get out of it, so they keep spending and spending. This is alright because one day they will figure out that they need help and will remember us and build a connection with us to work with us.
Unrivaled Wire Wraps is what was our real money maker. I still can remember that day when we were driving in the car back home to pick up Ember. I am the money person, so I was counting the money and we hit $500. I was like “Babe, we sold $500 worth of jewelry!” oh wait, let me recount, “We sold $515 worth of jewelry!” We have ourselves a true way to help us while we travel full-time! That was just the start of it too!
Accepted as Workcampers
I cannot quiet remember if this was before the show or after the pop up show, but it all happened in one day. We applied to work at a state park in Utah in 2020 and well coronavirus became a thing and everything was locked down, so we reached out to the ranger and told her we are going to stay put in Virginia for now.
As 2021 came around, we kept applying and applying for workcamping positions and never hearing back from places or we were told no. Okay, so I said to myself, “God is just closing doors it’s not time yet.” Well then we were told to reach out to a private campground in Keene, NH , Ashuelot River campground. We had a phone interview with them and it went well. They called us back later that evening and accepted us. No lie, an hour later, the state park ranger from Utah called us and said, “I received your email and would love to have you join us as our third camphost! We already have two which is what our campground needs, but we are doing an expansion and would love to have an extra set of hands to help us in preparation.” You guys, in 2020 they had zero camphost, and then in 2021-2022 season when we were going to join them they said yes to us even though they were full. We prayed and accepted both positions the next day.
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Signed up for show after show after show
After the pop up market in Richmond, VA, my husband kept applying and applying for show after show to make money for our family as we traveled up to NH. Then we were able to travel from NH to Utah because of the extra income we made from Unrivaled Wire Wraps. Yes, we had our savings, but gas prices woah! Are a hit to the budget!
Other Articles You Will Love:
- How to Transition from a Home to an RV
- What to do in George Washington National Forest while on a Budget
- 2 Year Anniversary Living Tiny and We Still Love It!
It was amazing what one weekend would do when we would make over $1,000 from a show. You guys this was more money than we were making in a week with my husbands regular job. Yes, we did not have a show every single week, but it showed us that God makes miracles happen.
If you are wondering if you should take the next step in your side hustle and start it to increase your family’s income. The answer is pray about it, and most likely God will open doors for you too and give you a yes. You must be smart with your earnings though. Like in Genesis 41:35 “…during good years…store it in the cities.” Meaning during your working years or your months that are doing really well. Store up your money so then you can live off of that money. Your dreams will come true!
Yearly Bullet Budget Journal
With this yearly bullet budget journal, we have seen people… Boost their savings Pay down debt fast Increase their networth Have one place for their finances Customize their budget, which means no messy budget Accomplish their money goals faster Reduce the worry about finances
$24.99
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How Do you Figure Out If your Budget Will Work to be A Stay at Home Parent?
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To be able to live the dream of watching your child and live a life you still love can be possible. We want to share with you some of the ways we figured out how we could make it work for our family to be a stay at home mom. I know there are all kinds of people who want to be a stay at home parent, and I know these three things will help you figure out if you can do it financially.
1. Write a bare minimum budget
You will want to write a budget that covers all your expenses and that is it. Expenses like a roof over your head, utilities, water, trash, food, gas, insurance, etc. Everything else you could cancel if you needed to. Yes, you might not want to, but this is where you will have to figure out what the difference is between a want and a need is.
A need is essential in your life to live. (But you must be careful here because eating out is not essential – that is a luxury, that is a want and I want you to have that too!)
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A want is something that is not essential.
When we wrote our bare minimum budget, we were lucky that we did not have to do much to make it work. This was probably because Tom and I were both living by ourselves before we were married. When we got married, we did not increase our lifestyle. We stayed on a one income lifestyle. We can probably thank me for that. We were stashing my income away to savings and we were paying the bills with his income. You need to know that we got married in May, found out Ember was coming in June, and had Ember in January. It all happened very fast so we did not have the opportunity to increase our lifestyle.
Our minimum expenses was our RV loan at $737, Rent $360, RV/Car/Renters insurance $250, Cell phone $212, Food $600, Gas $150 so we came to about $2,300 for our total expense.
2. Figure out how much your income would decrease
You will want to figure out how much your income will be without your income. So say you make $50,000 and your spouse makes $75,000. Now you will only make $75,000. Can you live off of that? I think you can, but you may have to adjust. It will be okay to do this. Remember it is only for a season of you life and think about the savings you will reap on day care costs and travel costs for you.
We personally went down from about $6,000 per month to $3,000 per month.
Meal Planning 101
Cut your grocery bill! Use the meal planning 101 printable to help you SAVE so much money! What you get? ✓ Pantry List ✓ Grocery List ✓ Monthly Meal Menu ✓ Weekly Meal Menu ✓ Yearly Meal Tracker ✓ How to Steps ✓ Tips ✓ Digital download emailed from believeandbudget@gmail.com within 24 – 48 hours ✓ Everything is ready for you to start savings on your groceries from the experts!
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- 5 Things I Learned Living Tiny and Traveling the US
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3. Ask yourself these questions
You personally have to find out if you can do it yourself. Are you going to be a better parent staying home? Is day care going to be too costly for you? Do you find joy in your work or will you find joy in being in your kids life daily? You have to have a serious talk between you and your spouse. Maybe, you can afford it, but you need to have a little side hustle for extra things in your life. It will give you some parent time alone too.
- Can we afford it?
This question is the big question. Can you afford it? You do not want to become a stay at home parent if you are going to struggle and be fighting about money. Money is the worst thing to fight over. I am lucky that we do not fight over money because we trust God to come through for us each month. There are months during this last season when both my husband and I quit our jobs it was stressful. I am not going to lie. There were months that were over and close. But every single time God came through and he always will if this is truly what you believe he wants you to do.
To make you and your family afford it, do you need to make certain moves to change? This will be habits to change and it will take a couple of months. I always suggest to save one income completely and to live off of the one who will still be working to really see if you can afford it.
- Do we need to downsize to make this possible? Home? Car? Lifestyle?
How much more do you need to downsize to be able to make this dream possible of becoming a stay at home parent. Things to think about. You will not be commuting anymore so your gas and insurance will go down.
Maybe you don’t need a house as big as you have. Think about downsizing your home. Think about it less to clean. Less to buy. Less of a lot of things!!
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What to do in Acadia National Park while on a Budget?
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Acadia National Park is an amazing place that everyone needs to experience. The magical and goodness that is there is unbelievable. I am originally from the midwest and you already know that travel tiny and it has been my goal to go to Acadia National Park up in Maine for a long time. It is such a good feeling to knock it off my bucket list and still travel on a budget there. We want to share with you six things to do in Acadia National Park while on a budget because you are to live your life and enjoy the journey!
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1. Staying at Mount Desert Campground
Here you can stay with a tent or a rv or trailer that is less than 20’. It only cost $37 to $55 depending if you want a regular spot or you want waterfront view. We heard only good things about the campground and it is nice to be on site if you are going to be hanging out in Acadia National Park the entire time.
Where did we stay at when we went?
We have a 32’ RV so we were not able to stay at Mount Desert Campground, which we were sad because we really did want to stay there. We ended up finding a spot at Hadley’s Point Campground. They were super friendly and even escorted us to our spot. They had a quick check in process because you can do it all via your phone before you get there! It was nice for the two nights we stayed.
We spent $100 for two nights and it was in the middle of a field, so I did not take a photo of the spot. I was not that impressed, but we were only staying there to basically sleep since we were either in Bar Harbor or Acadia the entire time. They did have the free shuttle service stop here which was a bonus and the location of the campground I thought was perfect! Not too far, but not too close to the hustle.
We would stay here again when we come up to Acadia National Park again.
2. Bar Harbor, Maine
The town of Bar Harbor, Maine which is very close to Acadia was amazing! It was where we spent our first evening. You get to see the sunset glare off the water and they had a good amount of green space to sit and enjoy watching people or letting the little ones run! They even had music playing while we were there and they were good! Our daughter loved playing in the rocks by the ocean! We couldn’t keep her away from the rocks or the water.
While you are in the green space, you can see the “land bridge” We didn’t physically walk to it because it was during the middle of the tide and not during low tide but you could definitely see where it started! It was pretty cool!
3. Put EXTRA In Your Budget if you plan to eat Lobster
This is one area, where we underestimated on our budget. We went out twice for lobster while we were there. Hello it is Maine and you are only there a few times or only once in a life time! We spent easily $100 on dinner each night so be cautious when I say put extra in your budget if you plan to eat lobster! 😉
Here are our favorite hiking boots. I have the grey ones of this brand and love them! They are comfy and great for hiking!
4. Shops in Bar Habor, Maine
The shops were fabulous there. A lot of tourist items so go to them all to find the best deals! I found a shirt for $5 and my husband found a long sleeve for $9! Can you say great survinour for a great price! Be sure you don’t want to return something as most shops won’t let you return items. We learned this when we saw a better deal and wanted to return one of them. Luckily, I have a charm and the lady let me return it.
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5. Fall Foliage
We went there several weeks before the fall foliage peak, but we still got to see the fall foliage. It was beautiful! If you can, definitely plan your trip to see the fall foliage but be ready for cold nights! The bus driver was telling us it get chilly and it gets really crowded at Acadia National Park. (It was busy when we were there during a Sunday at the end of August, so I could not imagine how much busier it could get)
6. Bus Shuttle
Take advantage of the free bus shuttle. It goes all over the park and then you do not have to worry about your car and trying to find impossible parking! The parking if you do not get there early. (We got there at 7:30 AM and there were plenty of people already there).
We took advantage of the bus shuttle at the end of Ocean Path by Otter Cliff. That way we did not have to back track on the trail, which I am glad we did because the trail was super busy when we got back to our car around 3:00 PM. We took the shuttle bus to Jordan Pond and had our packed lunch. It is the place to be for lunch and dinner so just know that Jordan Pond! It was an amazing view though for lunch! The clear water so gorgeous!
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How we paid off our home early
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First, I want to start off we paid off our home, which we do not live the traditional lifestyle most American live. I fully believe that a home is where you make it. A home is something that keeps a roof over your head, food is served, and warmth is all around you with love. We live tiny in a 32 foot Thor Four Winds RV. We bought the RV for $47,000 and the loan we took out was for $50,000 in March 2019 and paid it off 100% by May 2021. Our income was under six figures as I was a stay at home mom, but this really doesn’t matter because we made the biggest dent in our loan when we made under six figures than we did when both my husband and I were working and we were making well over six figures. So if you are on the edge of should I pay off my home fast even though I “don’t make a lot of money” yes, why yes you should! You then have so much freedom with what you can do with your money. You can save it. You can give it. You can spend it. You can invest it. It is amazing!
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Kept Track of Our Net Worth
We recorded every single month what our Net Worth was and this always encouraged us to pay off more. I find it was my job as a stay at home mom to find ways that we could cut costs and pay off our home even faster. When we hit a number like $23,117, we would put an extra $120 dollars towards our debt because it would make use under $23,000 and get us to only $22,000! I did this a lot you guys because our payment was $737, so it was easy when we stayed under budget in other areas of our budget to add a little extra to it.
Yearly Bullet Budget Journal
With this yearly bullet budget journal, we have seen people… Boost their savings Pay down debt fast Increase their networth Have one place for their finances Customize their budget, which means no messy budget Accomplish their money goals faster Reduce the worry about finances
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Budget Every Month
Yes, we did the old fashion budget every single month. We did not just write a budget and hope we made it. We would budget 3 times a month. What? Really? Yes! We would write our first budget at the beginning of the month to discuss things we wanted to do that month such as traveling, date nights, and fun money. Then middle of the month, I would track all of our spending to see where we were at in our budget and if I needed to adjust or change anything. Which most of the time, we had to do this because life happens and things come up. Hello, when we just fixed our windshield of our car, and then we had another huge crack in the new windshield in the same month! No, our insurance did not cover it because our deductible is high to make it a better price for us every six months. Then at the end of the month, any left over money would go straight to pay off more of our home the next month.
Total 2019 payments: $11,778.79 (This is when we were making well over six figures)
2020 Payments:
January 2020: $737.40 (Stayed at home mom started and lived off of one income)
February 2020: $737.40
March 2020: $737.40
April 2020: $5,737.30
May 2020: $737.40
June 2020: $3,637.40 (This is when we sat down and really said let’s pay this off next year lets raise our minimum automatic payment next month!)
July 2020: $1,150
August 2020: $1,150
September 2020: $1,150
October 2020: $1,150
November 2020: $1,150
December 2020: $2,150
Total 2020 $20,244
Here is our 2021 payments for our home:
January 2021: $2,150
February 2021: $1,650
March 2021: $10,300
April 2021: $7,350
May $4,966.07
Total of $26,416.07
Our total interest on the RV was $8,438 and we paid it off 2 years and 2 months early too! Think about how much we would have paid on interest if we would have just let our normal automatic payments go through. This saved a lot of money plus this is how we were able to go travel full-time because we did not have any payments over our head.
Tracked our spending
As mentioned in point two when we budget, we track our spending. Our main focus in 2019 was paying cash for a wedding and then came Ember in early 2020. So then our focus was saving up for Ember to have her without any hospital bills. Our 2021 goal was to pay off our our home. We successfully have had a great 3 years of accomplishing goals with this tip! I highly suggest it if you do not do it.
Reduce our Food Budget
Hello meal planning! Yes, we meal planned like a champ! This is when meal planning 101 came to Believe and Budget. We had to figure out a way to use what we already had in our cupboards and use them with purpose for our meals each week. We had to figure out a way to have an empty refrigerator when we went food shopping each week. We had to almost become a no waste household. We spend less now on a family of 3 then I did by myself when I was single. Wooh really? Yes! I tracked my expenses for awhile now you guys. I did not really mind spending a lot of money on food when I was by myself because one I was always on the run and I did not want to cook a meal for myself to have left overs to just throw out. Luckily, with meal planning with a family of 3 we always eat our left overs and we always cook delicious meals every week! If you are really trying to reach a financial goal then I would tell you to go to this next!
Meal Planning 101
Cut your grocery bill! Use the meal planning 101 printable to help you SAVE so much money! What you get? ✓ Pantry List ✓ Grocery List ✓ Monthly Meal Menu ✓ Weekly Meal Menu ✓ Yearly Meal Tracker ✓ How to Steps ✓ Tips ✓ Digital download emailed from believeandbudget@gmail.com within 24 – 48 hours ✓ Everything is ready for you to start savings on your groceries from the experts!
$9.99
Reduced our utilities
We asked our landlord if we would be able to work around the property to reduce our utility bill to zero dollars in our budget. This helped us so much and really made us think about work camping at other parks. We did not start reducing our rent though until after we paid off our home 100%
With these 5 tips, tracking our net worth, budgeting, tracking our spending, reducing our food budget and our utilities is really how we paid off our home so quickly. Plus we lived in a home that we could afford. Yes, we could have afforded a $200,000 home, but that was not our goal. We did not know where we really wanted to put down roots. We did not know if we were going to stay in Richmond, Virginia for 5 or more years. We wanted to travel. We wanted to see the country and go to all the states. We wanted to retire in our 30’s rather than waiting to retire when we could not go on all the trails and ride bikes and enjoy the beauty of all the parks.
Stay tuned though, our next goal is to pay cash for a house and rent out our current home to someone who wants to live tiny next.
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2021 Full-Time RV Travel Budget in Review
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Full-Time Traveling in an RV is an experience that everyone needs to take. The views, the people, the different cultures, and so much more to be able to take in during a year. If you have ever want to full-time travel or you want to do it, you need to. We want to share our budget form 2021 from you and I will give you as much details as I can. Here is our 2021 full-time travel budget in review.
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Food
This is a tough one to break the budget in a house or traveling full-time. I will tell you with the change of places it is hard to get used to a grocery store or knowing what the prices will be. We even have 10 years of grocery store experience and had struggled with finding really good deals and so you just go in and shop and leave.
Our grocery budget is usually around $400 every month give or take some months we would try to stay under $300, but that is really hard. We spent a total of $4,464 for 2021, which breaks down to an average of $373.02 per month. Now, we do not have any food allergies and do not necessary only eat organic either, but we do eat healthy. We buy a lot of food from the produce department because my husband was a produce manager for years. It is just in our nature now to buy a bulk of our food from this department. I am also from the Midwest so my mom made a lot of meat, potato, and veggie, therefore I do this too. It is easy and fast.
Our eating out budget varied throughout the year, but we always planned to go out to eat at least twice sometimes four times a month so I was very surprised by this number. We spent $1,044 on our eating out budget for the year and that breaks down to $87.04 per month. Now, some months we took full advantage of apps such as fetch app to receive free gift cards. We also are very wise on where we eat out at. We love to support local pizza places because we can usually get out of there only spending $25 with a tip. We also sparingly had lobster night and went all out of those nights, but only went out to eat twice that month.
Gas
Our gas budget this is one where it will vary on what you drive and what you pull. We drive a 2012 Thor Four Winds 32 foot RV and pull a 2015 Chevy Cruze. We traveled from Virginia to New Hampshire to Utah, which is approximately 4,000 miles with extra stops along the way. Our gas budget for the travel months was insane! We budgeted $500 and thought we would be dandy, well I was wrong. One month we spent $700 and the other was $800! Our total 2021 gas spent was $4,144.21, which averages out to be $345 per month. We were also stationary from January through June in Virginia enjoying paying off our RV 100% to be 100% debt free.
Rent
Our rent we paid $360 per month in Virginia and worked out utilities off this was for 6 months. We work camped in New Hampshire from four months and received free rent, utilities, and laundry. We also work camped in Utah at a state park two months and received free rent and utilities. When we stayed places along the way we choose frugal places, such as state and national parks. We also stayed at a few crackle barrels, wal-marts, and bass pro shops. Our rent for the year was $3,293.35 which comes out as an average $274.45 per month.
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Maintenance
Our RV maintenance was low this year because we knew we were going to travel full-time in 2021, and therefore we really prepared in 2020 with making sure our RV was ready to travel that many miles and not leave us somewhere on the side of the road. We prepped ourselves with a tire pressure gauge, air pump, and always checked our levels before we left a site for safety reasons. Our total maintenance for 2021 $1,086 and this does include our tow dolly purchase as well for $700 off of facebook marketplace. Averages per month is $90.54 for us.
Yearly Bullet Budget Journal
With this yearly bullet budget journal, we have seen people… Boost their savings Pay down debt fast Increase their networth Have one place for their finances Customize their budget, which means no messy budget Accomplish their money goals faster Reduce the worry about finances
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Laundry
We were really lucky on this to receive free laundry for 4 months. It was nice and helped our budget a lot plus when we stopped at friend’s house and our parents houses. We spent $193 for the entire year of 2021, which is an average of $16.13. We usually budget $40 per month and we do laundry twice a month. This means we wear our jeans more than once you guys, and we have enough socks and undies to last us 2 weeks!
Other Articles You Will Love:
- How to Transition from a Home to an RV
- What to do in George Washington National Forest while on a Budget
- 2 Year Anniversary Living Tiny and We Still Love It!
RV propane
We filled up our RV propane in January, February, and May once, and it cost us $100.08 for the entire year. Luckily Virginia was mild and we did not have to use that much propane. To reduce this cost, we use two small electric heaters to keep our home warm. We also prepared for the winter by making a home-made skirt and insulating our windows. We used a big comforter to keep the draft from the front cab of the RV and we mostly kept upstairs closed above the cab.
Our total spending for our 2021 Full-Time travels was $14,506 for the year. We had 2 camp host assignments, which helped our budget a ton. July – September which allowed us to have free rent, utilities, laundry and November – December to have free rent and utilities. Overall, I think we did excellent on our budget and if you do not care about all the amenities that certain parks have than you can do it on a frugal budget too. We really care about having a nice view, paths to enjoy, and close or on water.
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5 Ways to Build Your Credit Score
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Do you want to learn how to increase and build your credit score, but don’t know exactly where to start? I have some realistic and practical ways for you to do it. I am living proof you can raise your credit score. I have done it. I have helped people do it and I want to show you through stories to help you know you can build your credit too for your next big purchase whether it is a home or a second home.
1. Call your Credit Card Company to Increase the Limit
This seriously works and it is easy to do. Call your credit card company and simply ask for them to increase your credit limit.
Script: “Hi, I am a credit card holder of XXX company and I would like to increase my limit.”
Once you get the increase limit do not use it. It will maximize your power to increase your credit score. They key thing is to not max it out – if you do there is no point in doing this easy step. You will have now less debt to your credit limit.
I will show you.
Say your credit card limit is $15,000, and you have spent $10,000 on your credit card. You call and ask for them to increase it, and they increase it to $25,000. Wow, look at that you are using less of your credit and it better on your credit score!
The credit score thinks it is excellent to have a total available credit of $50,000+, so keep asking for an increase in credit and do not use it.
You can continue to pay it off and make progress increasing your score.
2. Pay off your Credit Card in Full Every Month
This may seem like a simple task, but I am here to tell you. People think it is the “norm” to not pay off your credit card each month. People think it is the “norm” to use only their credit card.
I want to tell you a secret credit card companies do not want you to know.
It is not the norm to not pay off your credit card.
It is normal to pay off your credit card in full every single month!
So, if you have a balance on your credit card. You can and should pay it off! You can do it!
Yearly Bullet Budget Journal
With this yearly bullet budget journal, we have seen people… Boost their savings Pay down debt fast Increase their networth Have one place for their finances Customize their budget, which means no messy budget Accomplish their money goals faster Reduce the worry about finances
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3. Leave your Credit Card Open
Once you pay off a credit card, do not close it. Leave that Credit Card open and put it in a draw. Use it now and then, but not all the time. You will be successful building your credit.
It is a silly thing, but it really does matter how many accounts you have open and how long they are open for your credit score.
My longest account open is 11 years and it is considered good, but excellent is over 25 years! So most of us have some years to go! I would have had to open my credit card at 5 years old to have excellent in this area.
If you’ve paid off your credit card, great! I am so proud of you – and leave it open!
4. Use your Credit Card for One Category of Your Budget Only
This is key to a successful credit card usage if you are learning how to use a credit card properly.
I first got my credit card in college, and my father told me to only use it for gas. I was only going from school to work to home, and wasn’t going anywhere else really. I would fill up twice a month, so it would have maybe $80 on it every month. This built in a great habit to use my credit card, and then pay it off every month.
As I got more comfortable using my credit card and knowing I would pay it off. I changed the purpose for my credit card, and it became my big purchase credit card. I only used it for big purchases that were planned in my budget at the beginning of the month.
I would buy flights with my credit card that would cost around $350, but I had already had the money accounted for and planned for this big purchase. Paying it off in full each month. Plus I only traveled two or three times a year at this point.
Using your credit card for only one category in your budget works, and it has worked for me and many other clients I have worked with, which brings me to the next point.
5. Get a Budget Coach
Hire yourself a budget coach. These are great investment!
I am thankful for my budget coach who helped me when I first started my journey. I mean no one teaches you all you need to know about budgeting.
- How to be successful in a budget.
- How to follow up on a budget and make adjustments.
- How to plan for big purchases.
- How to feel good about your money.
- How to increase your credit score.
- How to reduce your spending in an area and hold you accountable.
- How to make a good relationship with money instead of saying it will always be this way.
1:1 Remote Budget Coaching
1:1 Budget Coaching Session – 45 minute budget sessions – Set up one budget – Follow up with one budget
$159.00
I will be the first one to tell you from experience. Hiring a budget coach is the best thing that ever happened to me, my husband, my family, and many other clients and their families who have worked with me as their budget coach.
I have helped clients increase their credit score by working with them in both my 1:1 Budget Coaching Session and my Back to Basic Course.
Here is a REAL testimonial for you:
Hope you have learned a little more about how to increase your credit score with practical ways. These have helped me and many other people, so cheers to learning and improving your life! You are on your way to improve your financial story!
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Refresh Yourself. CREATE BETTER GOALS.
This post may contain affiliate links, and they are no cost to you!
Want to set new years resolutions for the new year or any time of year? It does not always have to be physical wellness like setting up a gym membership and losing weight. What if it looked different this year or month and you set goals for your financial wellness? We have just want you need for your new years resolution for this year or even this month to get you financially fit!
You can look different this year compared to prior year or even month. We need to jump on the ark and build wealth because we do not want to be in the same spot as last year. I mean if we all could do 2020 over again we probably would as far as wealth goes. Maybe, have a bigger emergency fund, have more investments, or even less bills to pay month to month by getting out of debt. 2021 was a little bit better, and you know 2022 is going to be domination mode.
Weight loss goals? Nah…let’s make meal planning goals instead!
We have found many people love this goal of meal planning goals instead of weight loss goals because you get the benefit of even more than just planning out your meals.
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Benefits of meal planning goals:
1. Saving money
- Sticking to meal planning for each week
- Do not spend an outrageous amount of money
- Know what you are going to have for dinner each night
What we love about meal planning goals and saving money as a benefit?
We love that it helped us reduce our monthly grocery bill from over $600 to less than $400 a month and some months we even get it down to less than $350! This allows for our money to go towards other goals like traveling!
What we know you will love with meal planning goals and saving money as a benefit:
Saving money to put your money somewhere else for you rather than just eating it. I mean we all love to eat, but do you want to really think about how your money is just being wasted on food?
2. Losing weight
This may blow your mind, but seriously my husband has lost over 10 pounds by us meal planning our dinners out because we have a purpose for our food and the amount of food we prep. I lost 35 pounds. Disclaimer: I even had a baby in the middle of all of this. I am almost a year postpartum as of writing this.
What we love about meal planning goals and losing weight?
We lost weight and did not even mean to, and we feel great! We can both go adventures with Ember and the dogs without being tired or sick.
What we know you will love with meal planning goals and losing weight as a benefit:
You can lose weight too or maintain your weight without having to hop into a gym. Personally have not been to a gym for over a year!
3. Less Waste
You stick to a 7 day plan of food and have a purpose for each thing you buy. You do not even need to stock up to save!
What we love about meal planning goals and less waste?
We have tiny storage for all our dry food, fridge and freezer food so everything has to have a purpose hence less waste.
What we know you will love with meal planning goals and less waste as a benefit:
You can have less waste in your house so you do not feel like you are throwing away perfectly good food or money! You will have a purpose too for you food!
Gain muscle? How about gaining wealth!
Gaining wealth is so much fun!
Personally, I love watching our networth increase more and more each month!
It is fun to be able to give to others and spread joy. We always pray for our friends to build their wealth too! Hence why we do a personalized 1:1 remote coaching. We have the knowledge, the experience of building wealth, and God definitely gives us challenges just like you to be able to help you in your situation to build wealth too.
“When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before.” I know that we cannot gain wealth without putting the Lord first.
1:1 Remote Budget Coaching
1:1 Budget Coaching Session – 45 minute budget sessions – Set up one budget – Follow up with one budget
$159.00
Benefits of building wealth goals:
1. More security
What we love about building wealth goals and more security?
Feel more secure when life happens.
Yes, life happens to us too just like you, but what makes the difference is we are prepared.
We have a fully funded emergency fund to help us when all three of our cars break down at the same time! No lie this recently happened to us.
Let me tell you about it!
First, Suzie the Subaru transmission has something wrong with it. The tech guys cannot figure it out.
Our option 1, change the fluid.
Option 2, get a new one.
We went with the cheaper option first and well let’s just say we are going to need to go with option 2.
EXPENSIVE!
Second, our chevy Penelope cruze is leaking oil everywhere and has a horrible smell of burning.
Yep, I personally do not want to get blown up so it is just sitting in our drive way until the part comes in to fix it.
Third, our basement of our tiny home has water damage again!
We thought we fixed it the first time but it came back. So off to trying to fix it again.
Luckily, we have an emergency fund to fix all of these loving life challenges!
Which means we are more secure and not racking up credit cards.
We are able to pay cash and have options on what we want to do with the decision we make.
What we know you will love with building wealth goals and more security as a benefit:
You will too have security when you build your wealth. You will feel a sense of peace when life happens. You will have options to choose from. You will not put more debt on your credit cards. You will feel peace and say well that is inconvenient, but at least we are prepared with our finances.
Yearly Bullet Budget Journal
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2. Paradise
What we love about building wealth goals and paradise?
It seriously feels like paradise when we see our wealth increase when I am a stay at home mom, and we are living off of one income.
People we make less than $70k and our networth increase $47k and it is not even the end of the year. We have faith the Lord is providing for our family each and every month. We ask him for answers. We set big wealth building goals and ask him for it.
My husband set a goal to sell 12 necklaces this month and he sold 15 so far!
What we know you will love with building wealth goal and paradise as a benefit:
You will feel paradise too. Just start where you are. Create a wealth building goal. Do not let it be weak, but so big you are afraid of it. Watch this year is your year! I believe it and see it!
God says, fall 7 times this can be your year to get back up.
“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.” – Proverbs 24:16
3. Accomplishment
What we love about building wealth goals and feeling accomplishment?
The sense of accomplishment. Both my husband and I want to see accomplishment in our life. We love when we do our monthly networth check up and see our networth increase by $600 or even $5,000!
I started upside down with my networth. My husband started with being upside down you guys. Now, we are on the journey of building an empire because we have God on our side and we have the mindset that we will accomplish so much more. That is our favorite part to be honest! Dreaming and dreaming more and achieving those dreams!
Here are some dreams we have accomplished so far read them to inspire you:
What we know you will love with building wealth goals and feeling accomplishment as a benefit:
We all start somewhere with a foundation to build wealth. Whether you are accomplishing something from zero, negative, or a little bit of positive networth. You will get to your dream.
Isaiah 44:28 “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please’ he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”
We hope your new years resolutions are so big and scary you think they are out of your reach, but know that when you set them you are taking a first step to build your financial wellness. We know that if you have the right mindset this year and want a new start that you can achieve any financial goal you want!
Want to make this year the best year yet? Start today!
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5 Money Books Will Change Your Life Financially!
This post may contain affiliate links. When you purchase from our links, it helps us keep educating you from Believe and Budget. Thank you!
Do you wonder if it is possible to read 5 easy to read books to move your finances forward? This post will show you the 5 books that have taught over millions of people how to be on their way to a millionaire. Take the stress out of finances! Plus Christmas is just around the corner — add them to your list!
Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
What we think will change your life.
This book is 100% on how to set it and forget it. No one really wants to think about money all the time and have it be consuming your life. This book is the best to teach you how to set up your money life to be able to be automatically so you can live your life where it matters.
What we loved about it.
We were doing like 85% of these items he talked about so it was an affirmation for us to keep going on our path. Gave us an easy read. I mean I read it in 2 days with a baby. I usually cannot finish books or it takes me a long time. I am learning though as a SAHM I want to enjoy reading and learning to keep my brain fresh of topics to teach you all!
The new thing we learned.
We do not have a mortgage of course because my goal is to pay for a house with cash, but it did teach me you can pay your mortgage biweekly to pay off your home early! Most mortgage companies do this. Just ask! Or if you do not want to pay biweekly you can pay one extra payment once a year to pay off your home early. (Which I figured this as we pry all did) please laugh at the humor!
Complete Guide to Money by Dave Ramsey
What we think will change your life.
It is a back to the basic book that will change your life! It will give you all you need to know to get started paying off your debt and on your path to debt free. If you are already debt free, it will give you motivation to stay out of debt.
What we loved about it.
As we took the Financial Peace University, this book was a good reminder tool for us when we had days we just wanted to spend a little bit too much or when our budget was getting out of wack. We are human and sometimes even professional budgeters have to pull themselves back into the budget! That’s why people love working with us because we are real and down to earth!
The new thing we learned.
I love the story of Ben VS Arthur. It shows Ben starting to save at 19 and invests $2,000 until 26 and ends up with $2.2 Million. Arthur starting at 27 and invests $2,000 until 65 and ends up with $1.5 Million. The power of compound interest!
Add these books to your Christmas list and start saving for the Holiday!
I Will Teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi
What we think will change your life.
You have to find what brings you joy in life and how you want to be rich. He sets an entire chapter on spending and spending money on what you love. I love this because he explains that his friend spent $21,000 per year going out guilt free. If your marriage strives by having weekly date nights, then I would say you need to spend money if you have it and not on a credit card. Maybe, not as much as $21,000, but you do you! Have no guilt if it is paid with cash and you’re saving for your future!
What we loved about it.
It is a different perspective than Dave Ramsey. We love how he embraces that everyone is different and have a different importance to how they will be rich.
The new thing we learned.
If you want to spend $5 on coffee every day because it makes you happy. Do it! Do what makes you happy! You want to spend money on travel because it makes you happy do it! There is a happy medium between spending money and savings.
The Money Book for the young, fabulous, and broke by Suze Orman
What we think will change your life.
Chapter 4 talks about student debt and a lot of different scenarios. It will give you the information you need to repay your student loans whether you are just married and both of you have debt, or you are single, or you have lost your job.
What we loved about it.
It is a good book to reference each part of your life. We got this book back in college and used the student loan section to really get hyped about paying off student loan, then once my student loans were payed off. I referred back to it for the car section to pay cash for a car. Now, my husband and I referred back to it just this year when we were looking at buying our first home. However, after reading it we realized we are still not quite ready to buy a home! Because we want to be financially prepared yet. It is in our path though! Patience is key. Patience. Patience.
The new thing we learned.
A higher deductible on your car insurance reduces the rate by 30% and keeps you in the insurances companies good grace. We all love ways to save money on car insurance even during the pandemic!
The Cheapskate Nextdoor by Jeff Yeager
This book was actually a gift from my older sisters and even shares a good card in it for me to remember money is a gift from God and where ever we are is a gift from God.
What we think will change your life.
They mention the power of communication and compromise. This will hit home for you if you are marriage, and will even do so if you are single and, in a relationship, and thinking about getting married in the future. Because frankly you want to ensure you are on the same page financially. It will save your marriage! Most marriages end up in divorces because of money fights – do not let it be you!
What we loved about it.
It gives you good ideas on how to cut costs. We are all about looking for ways to cut cost and it reminded us we can do a meatless money for our meal planning.
The new thing we learned.
The key to negotiate. He shares 12 of his bartering tips and the basics of bartering. It is really neat how it works because it really did work for us and the car we bought with cash!
Bonus
Everyday Millionaires. How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth- and How You Can Too by Chris Hogan
What we think will change your life.
Many people they surveyed in the book were just regular people and telling us how they did it. If you are in the middle of your financial journey and are feeling a rut. This is a must-read book and to show you anything is possible. Nothing is impossible! Everyone can become a millionaire!
What we loved about it.
Knowing we are on the right path to become millionaires, and we can teach you how to become a millionaire to when you keep following and reading our blog.
The new thing we learned.
A little nugget we took from it was that when we buy our dream home once we are done living tiny. We can upgrade our home if we buy a fixer upper in our time frame and financially pay cash for it. This means saving up $5,000 to redo a bathroom, and then doing it. Then saving up again another $5,000 and doing another room. Instead of taking out a home equity loan to redo it all at once with a $20,000 loan.
Thanks for reading! We encourage you to take one step and move your finances!
Those are some amazing books, right? 5 easy to read books that millions of people have read-does it get any better than that? You can check out more articles that will help you move your finances.
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Need help with your next shopping trip and your budget?
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Shopping is a habit for many people. It gives you joy. It gives you an emotional healing. It gives you happiness, but sometimes our shopping habits become out of control. Do your shopping habits become addictive? Do you do it out of emotions? Do you do it out of a bad day? Well good for you, you can learn from us these three easy ways to help you on your next shopping trip and your budget.
You will not find deal every shopping trip – not always true!
Say to yourself, “This is it. The shopping trip I am going to find a deal!”
That is not how it works, but it can.
Sometimes God works magic in that way!!
Let us tell you a story:
A few weeks ago, we stopped at the markdown sections and did not find any goodies. We ended up just leaving the store with one thing. Milk. We needed it, so we got it.
Then one day we went on our regular trip to the store on Sunday to just see dad at work (He worked at a grocery store – Kroger). I wasn’t planning on buying anything…not even a muffin! It was rainy so we were not going to go to the park. Usually we go to the park, and have a breakfast in the park. It is fun and frugal.
Going inside any store, I always check out the markdown sections or the known places that have markdowns to see what kind of deals there are. Guess what, I scored… diapers and wipes!
Hello Bello diapers for $6 for a 72 package…originally $29 each!
Huggies Natural Care Wipes .50 cents…originally $2.00 each!
This was me just walking by the markdown section! You never know what you will find!
It happens!!
Call me crazy, but putting in a good prayer before you go to the store and say, “Lord, help me find good deals that we need.” This works too! If there is nothing you need, God will make it possible to not have anything on sale or a good deal. Just walk out with the one item you went in for. It is okay! You will feel good about it!
1:1 Remote Budget Coaching
1:1 Budget Coaching Session – 45 minute budget sessions – Set up one budget – Follow up with one budget
$159.00
Find out what you’re willing to pay a little extra on when you find it.
For many people, you need to find your proper priorities.
Priorities for our family is being on the same team. I often call my spouse not because he is controlling, but in order to win in our finances I call him when I find a good deal and it is not exactly in our budget for the month. He does the same thing with me.
Be on the same team!
For example, those diapers that I found a good deal on. It was not in our months budget because we still had about 2 week’s worth of diapers at home. However, we could make it work because they were the next size up.
Finding out what you’re willing to pay a little extra for in a budget will help save you long term.
If we wouldn’t have purchased the diaper deal and waited until we needed them, we would have spent $103.96 on them instead of $24. Saving us $79.96 in our budget to put to somewhere else! That is DATE NIGHT for us or TRAVELING!
Give yourself grace
One month you will dominate.
Write it down to go back to it.
That is 100% what we do and it works!
Want to do it too? Get our Bullet Budget Journal to try it too! It is only $2.99 on Etsy you can afford it! I promise you!
The next month when you are having trials. You will have to hold on tight that month. Go back to those domination months to remind yourself of what you have already done.
Oh I love this part of my life, and God wants it to help you create peace in your life! This many be the new thing you need in your life to help you on your journey. Let it be and try it.
“I am creating something new. There it is! Do you see it? I have put roads in deserts, streams, and thirsty lands.” Isaiah 43:19
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Let us tell you 5 ways to create a new life for you.
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Let us tell you about this new life, God wants for all of us, it is the debt free life. This is something that is not what we planned on our own. God was 100% behind it the entire time.
During the scary pandemic, when we thought it was the hardest. Locked up in our tiny home with no friends, huge debt, and two jobs. He told us, Kailey, you should stay at home with your child and not go back to work. I put all my faith and trust in him telling him even though I didn’t know how we would pay off our debt in one year, but with God all things are possible. I stayed positive. I stayed faithful. I stayed talking to God daily. Ask my husband, my journal was full in less than a year. I was building a closer and closer relationship with him.
Save over 60% of our paycheck
Our new life, the debt free life, we are able to plan ahead our harvest.
We still budget and no we are not poor. We have plenty of money. We have a six figure networth, and you can to if you follow and have faith in him! We save over 60% of our paycheck per month instead of having it go to payments and debt! It is the best miracle on this earth.
Nothing is better than living the life that Jesus died for us.
Give the impossible
Our new life, the debt free life, we are able to give over and beyond.
Show other people his blessings and kindness. The month, May 2021, the month we became debt free as a family with our tiny home. We have supported so many small businesses and we do not even feel guilty doing it. We are giving them a light and a hope that they can build their empire and be out of debt too. We supported a mom with her small book business. When we receive a new client, we buy a book from her and give it to children to help the next generation.
We are doubling the love of God when we get just one new client.
Pray Daily
Our new life, the debt free life, we still pray every day.
We still ask for forgiveness, yes we sin. We are human and make mistakes. But the real amazing thing is that the Lord puts ideas and dreams in our minds that seem impossible. If you are thinking about them you are like no way? We will not be able to do this, such as, buy a house with cash and travel the entire country…city to city…spread the good news of our new debt free life.
- You can!
- You will!
- You can do the dreams and ideas he puts in your mind!
Teaching others
Our new life, the debt free life, we get to receive the joys to teach others the way God taught us how to get out of debt.
The tactics to be successful and to find positivity during the pain and the hardship in the middle of a mess. The ways to quickly get up and keep fighting the battle to get to the other side. God will part the way for you just like he did the sea. How do I know? Because he did it for us! When we thought we were going to have to add another year in pay off our debt, because of the pandemic because I gave up my career, God said, no I was just seeing if you would trust me. I am going to still get you to pay off your debt by 2021. We kept knocking and knocking the debt down, and God rescued us just like he will rescue you too! If you want help, we can help you. God uses us to teach people just like to how to get to this new life of the debt free life.
1:1 Remote Budget Coaching
1:1 Budget Coaching Session – 45 minute budget sessions – Set up one budget – Follow up with one budget
$159.00
We return and rebuild
Our new life, the debt free life, we keep following up with people to encourage, to let them they have people who will help them return to the lord and follow him.
We want to encourage the building of the relationship. The rebuilding of the credit score. The rebuilding of the savings. The rebuilding of the life you can have. We will always wish everyone well because they are capable of returning to this new life and building a life for themselves.
As we mentioned at the beginning, of course, you will have hard times, and people will be watching you how to react.
People will want you to fail, but I want you to succeed!
They will think that you will not be able to get to this new life of the debt free life, but know that it is possible. God doesn’t want you poor. He wants you to help the poor by blessing them and giving so much to them. He wants you to get to this new debt free life to be able to build a harvest. You will have to resist the devil and you can do it!
If you know you want the new life, the debt free life, like this post.
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We are the Maloneys!
We are here to help you live a better life by believing, budgeting, and growing your networth!
We paid off 112k worth of debt in 6.5 years, cash funded our $10k wedding, saved $10k for our baby, paid for 2 cars with cash, and grew our networth to six figures!
We travel the US in our RV and create handmade jewelry!
GET YOURS TODAY!
1:1 Grocery Budget Coaching
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