Ease Your Financial Payne

4 Things That Are Worth Spending More Money On:

Saving and Investing are two of the most important things to me, but there are some things that are worth spending money on. Things that cost more upfront, but are worth it in the long run!

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

1. Bed related items: sheets, pillows, mattress, etc. You sleep for one-third of your entire life and how well you sleep often dictates how the rest of your day goes. Ultimately, your sleep impacts your entire life.

If you sleep well, you should have way more energy, get so much more done, and be more likely to have a positive attitude. Having a healthy sleep schedule should be one of your top priorities in life, so having nice pillows, sheets, & mattresses should be too!

2. Healthy groceries. Obviously sleep isn’t the only important aspect of your health, your diet is too. You may not want to spend extra money right now on healthy organic or plant-based foods, but if you decide to spend less to get the less healthy option, you will most likely have more health issues as you get older, which means more medical bills and limits on how you live your life.

Also organic and plant-based options are healthier for the planet. Less pesticides & chemicals are used and you will lessen your carbon footprint. If we tell companies we like organic and/or plant-based foods, they will make more which will make it more affordable. We need to keep voting with our dollar to let these corporations know, “Yes, we want more of this. There is a market for these kinds of products.”

3. Certain home improvement items. The items I’ve learned are worth it to spend more money on are: Cabinets, flooring, countertops, tubs/showers, paint (sometimes) and appliances. Buying something that isn’t cheaply made, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s brand new. This also doesn’t mean you need to buy the most expensive one you can find. It just means just don’t buy the cheapest, focus on the quality more.

If you buy cheap cabinets they are going to fall apart pretty quickly, especially if they’re in the bathroom where there is moisture. You don’t want to go through the hassle of gutting your kitchen or buying a new vanity base every 10 years. Spend more for expensive solid-wood cabinets that will last you 30 years. Same with buying stone countertops, rather than those ones that are wood wrapped in a plastic compound.

When it comes to flooring, it needs to be durable. Pets & children may be apart of your household too.

With tubs, showers, and appliances. You’ll know if it’s cheaply made or not. Just feel it. If it bends or warps easily, is made primarily of a flimsy plastic, or is lightweight, that’s how you know.

As for paint, it depends. If you would rather spend less but spend your weekend doing four to five coats of paint on a room, that’s your choice. Personally, from now on, I’d rather spend more money on good paint so I can just do 2 coats and be done.

4. Decent clothing, not fast fashion. Fast fashion is everywhere. It is cheaply made, bought, donated, then ends up in landfill. Then we repeat the cycle.

Rather than buying a cheap jacket from Target for $30 that will get worn out after 2 years of wearing it, maybe spend $100 on a good quality jacket that will last you 15+ years instead. Buying classic pieces or finding your own style rather than following trends majorly helps as well. Trends will constantly change and you will have to keep spending, spending, and spending attempting to keep up.

In conclusion, I hope this post will help you live a healthier and wealthier lifestyle. Choosing these practices will help you save thousands in the long run.

Thank you for reading!

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!
Instagram
TikTok

March 2022 Financial Update:

Hello everyone, hope you’re all doing well! I mainly spent March trying to figure out what direction I want to go with my career. I got a little derailed and lost sight of the path I was on, but now I’m back. 🙂

I’m making content for Ease Your Financial Payne again. I just started to feel discouraged with everything I was doing and had to remind myself of my accomplishments and why I do what I do, even if little to no money comes from it.

Other than thinking about what I want my career and this next year to look like, I’ve mainly just been helping my mom declutter her home which has been amazing for everyone involved.

Also I am leaning towards not going back to school again for many reasons, but I don’t feel like explaining them all right now.

That’s about it for my month. I’m feeling inspired again and have tons of ideas for blog posts.

On to our finances for March!

We took some money out of savings for our 2021 taxes, but we will replenish it eventually. Some good financial news for us this month: our investments went up and so did the value of our home. Of course, our mortgage balance went down too like usual.

Our Partial Financial Independence Goals:

$0 Debt.
Brandon works part time at his job.
I am self-employed. I can choose how much or how little I want to work & when.
We need $2,000+/month in income, whether that comes from investments, Brandon’s part time job, my blog, my workbook, etc. it doesn’t matter.

Our Current Numbers as of March 31st, 2022:

Roth IRAs (Betterment -SRI Sustainable): $30,572.35 and $27,623.42
My small Traditional IRA (From an old 401(k) rollover -Betterment): $1,711.23
Tesla: $1,075.10
AYRO (Free Crypto from signing up with Robinhood): $1.28
Bitcoin: $1,262.00
Total Invested: $62,245.38
Savings: $5,105.55
Debt: -$119,641.16 (Mortgage only) -On track to be paid off by end of 2034.
Just Brandon is working full time.

For me, investing in Crypto & Tesla is gambling. I invested that money knowing full well that I could lose it all and be okay with that. I also don’t include the value of our house & car in our updates, any random cash we are saving up for house projects, or how much we have saved up in credit card rewards.

As always, thanks for reading!

-Meghan

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

February 2022 Financial Update:

February was a wild month, with lots of unexpected twists and turns, especially on the global level. This is a finance blog, so I usually don’t get political on here, but I obviously can’t ignore Russia invading Ukraine. I know this is the work of Putin and a few higher up Russian government officials. I know most Russians do not want this and have been protesting, but getting arrested. I have no military or government experience, so I’m not going to pretend I know what the best next step is for NATO or the United States. I know this is a delicate and messy situation and we are trying to avoid WWIII or nuclear war.

I have tons of Europeans who read my blog and some friends & family not far from Ukraine. I trust your judgement on if or when you want to flee if needed. I know there is not much we can do as individuals, just hope that our elected officials and our leader’s advisors make the best choice that results in the least amount of lost lives, supporting those we know over there, & donating if we can. If you feel strongly about your country needing to take a specific action, you can always protest too.

I was really hoping we as humans were now evolved enough to stop invading other countries for seemingly no reason, apparently not. Honestly, all of this made me appreciate living in the United States a lot more, and appreciate having the strongest military in the world. I think I take that and peace for granted every day.

Now I’m going to attempt to transition back to talking about our finances.

The Wednesday before the attack, I had a fantastic day. It was sunny, had lunch with my mom, and found out I got enough grants to almost fully cover my tuition for my Summer sessions at University! Which is very exciting, I get to go to school for almost FREE.

My Summer Courses Costs:

$4,286.40 Tuition
$485 Laptop
$42.09 Campus Fees
$450 Estimate for Books & Supplies (High)
Total: $5,263.49

My Grants I received:

Pell Grant: $373
Minnesota State Grant: $3,793
Total: $4,166

Which means I need to pay $1,097.49 in cash for 16 credits, or 5 classes. Which is far better than paying the full $5,263.49. I am already planning on selling a few things from around the house and we have some money saved. I will also try to save money where I can on expenses, like seeing if I can get a used laptop or used books.

My Estimated Costs for Fall 2022:

$4,050.09 Tuition
$485 Laptop
$556.75 Campus Fees
$450 for Books & Supplies
Total: $5,541.84

Estimated Grants & Scholarships:

Pell Grant: $373
MN State Grant: $3,793
Transfer Student Scholarship: $500
Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship: $500
Other Scholarships: $?,??? -I don’t know yet.
Total: $5,166+

Which means I will have to pay $375.84 or less for school in the Fall. It should be exactly the same for Spring 2023 as well.

I made some changes to our finances in February, I decided to max out our Roth IRA contributions for 2022. It didn’t make sense to let that much money just sit in a savings account, now I’m kind of wishing I had put it on the mortgage instead. I just don’t like the idea of missing out on any opportunity to max out a retirement account contribution though.

Our Partial Financial Independence Goals:

$0 Debt.
Brandon works part time at his job.
I am self-employed. I can choose how much or how little I want to work & when.
We need $2,000+/month in income, whether that comes from investments, Brandon’s part time job, my blog, my workbook, etc. it doesn’t matter.

Our Current Numbers as of February 28th, 2022:

Roth IRAs (Betterment -SRI Sustainable): $30,061.88 and $27,190.67
My small Traditional IRA (From an old 401(k) rollover -Betterment): $1,739.62
Tesla: $797.16
AYRO (Free Crypto from signing up with Robinhood): $1.12
Bitcoin: $1,077.91
Total Invested: $60,868.42
Savings: $6,004.79
Debt: -$120,313.36 (Mortgage only) -On track to be paid off by 2034.
Just Brandon is working full time.

As always, thanks for reading!

-Meghan

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

Returning to School as an Adult:

As some of you may know, I am planning on going back to school starting May 2022. As a 23 year old, I now am noticing a lot of differences this time around. This post is for people who are going to college and what to possibly expect from others.

First though, let me explain why I am going back to school. I am not going back to school to get a job, I am going because I genuinely want to learn, which I’ve learned most people have a problem wrapping their head around. I am also going now because I have the opportunity to because I lost my job and I realized it would be far better to get my bachelor’s degree done before we have a child. If I don’t, I think I’ll always wonder “what if I had gone back to school?” I also really want to meet new, intelligent people who share common interests with me, University is obviously great for this.

As for paying for school, because I am a returning adult student, had a 3.6 GPA for my Associates degree, and lost my job so we have a small income, I get all sorts of scholarships and grants that I couldn’t receive last time around! My plan is if I can’t get 85% or more of my education costs covered by grants and scholarships, then I’m not going back to school because I refuse to go into debt for it. Then you may be thinking that applying for all of this was a waste of time, well it’s not. I would then know that I couldn’t pay for it and gave it my best shot at trying to go back, so I could rest easy knowing it wasn’t the path meant for me. I also already have met so many new people through this process and am sure I will get many grants & scholarships.

People are also confused as to why I chose the Major I did too, Global Studies and World Languages, with a Minor in Spanish. It sounds out of left field for me, but it’s not. I’ve always loved learning about other cultures & languages, and have always made friends with people from other countries.

Since I already have a two year degree in Business Management, have a License in Life & Health Insurance, read lots of business & finance books, and have 4 years of work experience in the financial industry, I feel comfortable and confident with my knowledge of business and finance. My goal is to learn something new. I have talked with friends who have graduated recently from the College of Business at the University I’m attending and they said themselves they don’t think I would get a lot out of a Bachelor’s degree in Business or Finance at this point, it would be redundant. I already get job offers to work for different insurance & financial businesses all the time to make decent money. So I’m not concerned about getting a job post-graduation, if needed, because Brandon’s income alone covers our living expenses. I of course am open to any career or job opportunities this new degree may bring me too, but if it doesn’t yield new job opportunities, I don’t really care.

When I looked at the different major options, I wanted to choose a major that I wouldn’t hate and lose motivation after one semester and quit. Everyone and their mother has been saying I should go into Computer Science or Engineering, here’s the thing: I have never had the slightest interest in that field and all of the courses looked awful to me. I also know tons of people doing those degree programs, we can’t all get degrees in Computer Science or Engineering. I understand it’s a great field with lots of high-paying job opportunities, but that’s not my goal, just read the previous 4 paragraphs again if you’re confused. In the past, I definitely have said Liberal Arts degrees were usually pointless, but I’ve learned things change and it really depends upon the person and their goals!

People will have a lot of opinions about YOUR schooling without knowing all of the facts or what your goals are now. In the end, it’s my time and my life, and my choice. If I’m paying next to nothing for the degree too, then who cares?

This post is just to give people a heads up that if you decide to go to college. It is up to you which opinions you take seriously or not. If they don’t know your plan, goals, passions, etc. then ignore it!

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

How to Become an Extreme Minimalist -The “Moving Across the World Method”:

I thought of a new method on how to become a minimalist… Act as though you need to move across the ocean and fit all of your belongings in a carry-on suitcase, back pack, and large checked bag. Obviously people have done this before, but my idea is to pretend like that’s what you have to do, even if you’re not really moving across the world!

Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Pexels.com

Someone has probably thought of this before me, but looking at my stuff through this new lens has been immensely helpful! I now realize how much I can really live without by asking myself the simple question: What needs to come with me in those three bags? Then ditching the rest. Obviously, you’ll need to keep the essentials like pots & pans, plates, towels, your couch, your bed, etc. if you’re not moving to another country, but other than things like that, only keep enough clothes, toiletries, books, décor, sentimental items, etc. that can fit in those bags.

This is just an idea for those who want to try to become extreme minimalists!

If you want to hear some insane facts about how much stuff people in the Western world have and how much we spend on non-necessities, check out this amazing, quick post by Joshua Becker: 21 Surprising Statistics That Reveal How Much Stuff We Actually Own. I highly recommend you read this post!

It’s really sad in the US, that we have little culture. Our culture is hyper-consumerism. So, I wanted to share this idea on how to help people become minimalists! I know this new way of looking at my things definitely has helped me, so I hope it helps you too!

Here is what I realized I would want to take in my 3 bags:

Family photo album
My clothes & shoes:
- 12 tops -gray sweatshirt, black sweatshirt, black long-sleeve, gray cardigan, black tank top, yellow & black flannel, green & black flannel, 3 black tee-shirts, a Christmas sweater, and my black & gray sweater.
- 3-4 pants -black jeans, light wash jeans, black leather leggings, & black ripped jeans.
- 1-2 pairs of shorts
- 1 black suit
- black winter jacket
- tan trench coat
- 6 shoes -2 black boots, sneakers, flipflops, black flats, & black casual slip-ons.
- Patagonia vest
- 1 LBD
- 2 Summer PJs, 2 Winter PJs, 2 comfy/at home pants, & black leggings.
- My wedding rings, 1 belt, 1 sunglasses, 2-4 necklaces, & my sunhat.
- 14 pairs of underwear (6 period), 2 bras, 7 winter socks, 7 summer socks
- 1 romper, 1 swimsuit, & 1 coverup
A couple of Leo’s toys & a bit of food. A portable litterbox & water bowl for him.
My toiletries, grooming stuff, & a bit of makeup.
Reusable Water Bottle
Laptop, charger, mouse, & headphones. Phone & charger.
Vitamins & masks.
Wallet, passport, & papers.
My planner
My glasses, glasses cleaner, case, & rag.
Notebook & 2 pens

Then if I still had some room, here are other things I would want to bring: -These are wants though, and I can go without them.

Harry Potter & Lord of The Rings Movies
Highlighters & post-its
Lint roller
The Office DVDs
A few books
My fav pillow cases & duvet cover
Our reusable bags
A few décor/sentimental items

My husband can already fit all of his belongings, other than his tools in 2-3 suitcases, easily! I’m jealous lol. Here is what his 3 “bags” would look like:

Our Cat Leo in a carrier as his carry-on. Then a backpack and large suitcase full of the following:
His clothes and shoes -Less than what I would bring.
Toiletries/Grooming -shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, trimmer, etc.
His phone, watch, chargers, & headphones.
Wallet, passport, & important papers.
Vitamins, masks, & creams.
A reusable water bottle
Family Photo Album
Utility Knife
And if we moved, would need a fan for white noise at the new place.

I think that is everything we would take with us if we moved across the ocean! The rest we can live without or would be at our Airbnb/apartment, like towels and pots & pans. By the looks of it, I think Brandon will have extra space too, so I could always put more of my stuff in one of his bags.

Hopefully this post is helpful for anyone who wants to live a minimalist lifestyle!

Thanks for reading! New blog post every week, follow for more!

-Meghan

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

Why You NEED to Know What You Want to Do After Retirement:

Many people who choose the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) way of life, have a rude awakening once they reach financial independence and quit their jobs: All of your problems don’t magically disappear and it turns out your job and money weren’t what was holding you back.

(This blog post was inspired by the Madfientist, who I think I discovered in 2018 or 2019. His Podcast majorly helped me get my husband and I’s finances on track, and on track to F.I.R.E.)

If you now have the time and the money to pursue all of your goals and dreams, what could possibly be holding you back then? The answer: Self-doubt. You’re scared you won’t succeed or already believe you won’t. The thing is, with enough practice, anyone can do anything, in my opinion. You just need to be dedicated and disciplined. Allow yourself to make mistakes and time.

Another issue that may come up is: what you thought you wanted to do with your time, you actually don’t, now you’re left feeling lost and empty. OR whatever task/hobby/passion you thought would be enough to get you out of bed in the morning, actually isn’t.

An entirely different outcome can also be: You feel content with your life and like you’ve accomplished everything you wanted to, which leaves you feeling bored & needing to want something again. This then causes you to make problems out of thin air, often in your relationships, especially with your partner. Think about it, you have all of your wishes granted, there is nothing left to strive for or work towards, it then becomes difficult to stay motivated enough to keep living your life. You NEED problems to solve and goals to work towards.

Just being aware of these potential problems is immensely helpful, so you can notice if these start happening in your life.

So, how can we avoid all of these not so great outcomes I listed, post-F.I.R.E.?

PLAN and brainstorm.

Write a huge list of potential goals, hobbies, or passions that lie entirely outside of money and your job. Things that you as an individual can work towards when money no longer adds to your happiness. I’ve already somewhat experienced this for myself. I remember when we hit $100,000 net worth feeling really proud and excited for a couple minutes, then I felt exactly the same forever after, so far. Same with when I lost my job, I felt a sense of freedom and excitement for a few minutes, but now I feel pretty much the same as I did before, even though I no longer have a boss telling me what to do. Luckily, I had built up my blog already, so I could really throw myself at it. Even so, my business only takes up about 20 hours a week. Then I clean for roughly 30 min a day, which we are now at a total of only 23.5 hours a week. Then I sleep for 56 hours, which leaves 88.5 hours a week that I am awake and have free time. As a result, I have been bored quite a bit recently. I do want to say though, being bored isn’t always bad, boredom often leads to creativity and connection! Ever since I cut out social media now, I have had SO many different blog post ideas come to me, a lot easier than before. It’s also not as bad in the warmer months, but it being the middle of Winter in Minnesota, during Covid, isn’t great. In the Summer I can go biking, walking, hiking, canoeing, spend time in my yard, garden, sit on my back patio and read, etc. There are just so many more options. This is a big reason why I have decided to go back to school, I just have so much time and energy that is being wasted right now, which I don’t like.

My list of ideas of what I can work on now in my free time and when I am post-F.I.R.E.:

Pick a martial art and try to become a black belt.
Go to a weekly, or more than weekly, yoga class.
Do home & landscape improvement projects.
Grow the garden.
Write more workbooks and/or book(s).
Keep writing and growing the blog.
Start up the podcast again with Eric.
Go for a daily walk as long as it is above freezing.
Go back to school.
Have a baby/focus on raising a child.
Annual or monthly reading goals.
Travel to all the places I want to.
Prioritize being by friends and family.
Keep decluttering our house.
Try to reach the top level of a video game I love. Most likely playing with a friend.
Meditate every day.
Volunteer! and donate money regularly.
In the non-super cold months, go hiking, canoeing, & biking.
Get back into skiing again. I used to love skiing in middle school -downhill.
Plan to go to concerts through out the year.
Go to museums.
Practice an instrument or instruments. I could even pay for lessons, including singing lessons.
Learn a new language (or multiple).

Some of these things are for when money is no longer tight. Also, I may discover some of these ideas are not for me, and that’s okay! Trial and error. Hopefully my list helped you get the idea. Notice how they’re not about buying things? They’re mainly about what I can do to challenge myself to learn and grow as a person. Your list may look entirely different from mine, but make sure your goals are meaningful. The goal is to feel motivated, content, and like you’re learning & growing, so you can avoid feeling lost, unmotivated, and a subconscious need to create unnecessary problems.

Like always, thank you for reading and I hope this helped you!

-Meghan

New blog post every week! Follow for more!

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Stuff Done!

Many people struggle with motivation and inspiration, especially when it comes to things like art, cleaning, work, school, & exercise.

I’m going to provide you with four great tips on how to actually stop procrastinating and find motivation!

First though I want to say that your value as a person isn’t solely reliant on your productivity. Things like rest, sleep, your relationships, and having fun are just as important!

(All of these tips can be used in any area of your life.)

Tip 1: Just start and do 5 minutes.

Have no expectations. Do not expect it to go great and remind yourself that something is better than nothing!! Often people set the bar too high, get overwhelmed, and end up doing nothing instead. For example, thinking if you can’t make it to the gym to do a 45min workout, then you’ll just do nothing instead. Going for a walk is exercise, doing yoga is exercise, dancing around your living room is exercise. If you’re not feeling motivated, just set a timer on your phone for 5 minutes and say you’ll quit after that. Then usually you’ll feel motivated and want to go for longer than 5 minutes! And if not, then you still at least did 5 minutes rather than doing nothing! I will say it again, something is better than nothing!

You can also use the 5 minute, 10 minute, or 15 minute tidy for cleaning. Set a timer and see how much you can clean within that time frame, make it a game/challenge. You will be shocked at the progress you can make in just 10 min!

Also, you will not magically receive motivation from someone else and especially not from social media. Social media often drains us without us realizing it and causes us to compare ourselves to others. I get most inspired with ideas to write about by just sitting alone with myself thinking or reading books. I know everyone is different, but I suggest taking a step back from socials if you’re trying to get motivated.

Tip 2: Write down how long the task will take next to it.

We often put off tasks for SO long and let them hang over our heads and stress us out, that often will only take us 5-15 minutes. For example, the dishes. Unloading and loading the dishwasher really takes about 5 minutes, but people will put it off for days. Or putting off an important, but simple call for work or an appointment are common things people procrastinate on too! Just writing how long the task will take you so you can see and think about it will make you realize the task isn’t as bad or as big of a deal as you feel it is.

Tip 3: Circle the top 3 most important tasks for the day.

Again, we overwhelm ourselves by making huge lists of things we need to get done. I suggest, after writing out your longer list, figure out the 3 things that will have the biggest positive impact on your day or that are the most necessary to get done. For example, let’s say this is your list for the day:

Dishes (5 min)
Laundry (10 min)
Go for a walk (15 min)
Dentist appointment at 2:30pm (45 min)
Vacuum under bed (10 min)

So, you know your appointment needs to be one of the top 3 most important things you need to do today. Then you realize you need clean dishes to eat off of so you have to do that and that today is the only day warm enough to go for a walk over the next week, so you really want to take advantage of it for your health. You realize the laundry can wait until tomorrow and so can the vacuuming under the bed.

Now you can just focus on getting those three things done and you realize it will only take an hour and 5min of your day! If you still feel motivated after accomplishing those things, then you can choose to do the laundry or vacuum under the bed. Or you can choose to not, and not feel guilty about it because you already know you got the three most important things done for the day!

Tip 4: Figure out what time(s) of day you feel your best and most energized & focused.

This will be very different for everyone! You can figure this out by reflecting on what times you notice you get the most done and feel the most focused throughout the day. Or you can take this quiz to find out your chronotype! Knowing your chronotype is great, because you can then be more mindful about how to schedule your time! Here is even more information about chronotypes. Your type also changes over time!

I personally feel my best usually between 8am-12pm, so this is often the time I do my focused work. I wakeup usually around 7am or whenever sunrise is. My lowest energy and lowest motivation point of the day is usually 2-5pm, so I know to go easier on myself during this time and allow myself to relax, read, sit outside, or nap. Then I get a bit more energy again from 5-7pm, then it tapers off with me usually asleep by 10pm-ish. I’ve taken the tests too and I either come out a Bear or a Lion, I believe I am a mix of the two.

This concludes my 4 tips on how to become motivated and get things done! I hope you found it helpful!

-Meghan (A recovered procrastinator)

New blog post every week! Follow for more!

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

Why I Share Our Finances Online:

I’m writing this for people, especially those who may know me in real life, who wonder why I share our personal finances publicly, or think to themselves something along the lines of, “that’s such an invasion of privacy, I would never do that.”

Here are my reasons why:

First of all, and the most important reason why I do, is to help other people. People can see exactly what we are invested in and can watch our finances slowly grow and change month by month, it’s great. It’ll be super helpful to look back 10 years from now and see how far we’ve come, exactly HOW we did it, and the ups and downs along the way. This keeps things super transparent, relatable, and realistic too.

I have seen thousands of people’s personal financial information and helped them. If people feel comfortable enough to share their information with me, I feel comfortable enough to share mine with them. To me, it’s about mutual respect and transparency. I want to show I practice what I preach and that we are doing well financially for our ages, so people know my methods and tactics actually work.

Second, you do not need to share what you are not comfortable with sharing. If you don’t want to share you finances, don’t! Also, I can choose to stop at any time. Of course what is out there is out there, but I can stop sharing those numbers whenever I want to. -Don’t worry, I don’t want to yet.

Third, there is a large community of people online that share their personal finances as well. Most of them in the F.I.R.E. community. I have always appreciated other people that do this and found their posts helpful, so I wanted to add to the community as well. Everyone has a completely different scenario that is playing out for them. Some people make 120k/year, some make 30k/year, some want kids, some don’t want kids, some want a home, some want to travel the world, I could go on and on. So some people out there may relate to my husband and I more than others in the F.I.R.E. community.

Finally, I want to have a record for myself and me sharing it publicly has allowed me to connect with others simultaneously. I’ve really enjoyed looking back every once in a while to see how far we’ve come. It also helps keep us motivated, because we can see the progress very clearly.

Well I hope that clears any questions or concerns about this topic. No one asked for this, but I like to make sure all my bases are covered now that I’m sharing my blog with people I know in real life.

Speaking of sharing finances publicly, here is our January Financial Update that came out on Monday. 😉

As always, thanks for reading!

-Meghan Payne

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

January 2022 Financial Update:

As most people know, there was a market correction in January, so our investments went down quite a bit, which is okay. If you invest, you need to expect corrections and crashes every now and then.

Not much happened in January for us, some more of our relatives got Covid and we were by someone who tested positive so we mostly just stayed home. Also it has been in the negatives outside.

Then I had one of my rare hemiplegic migraines that mimic a stroke on Monday January 24th. I’m okay, but my head hurt for a week after the event. They suck to have and are scary for those around me. I couldn’t talk or function for 24 hours and had no appetite. I even threw up for the first time since 7th grade from the pain, it made me so nauseous. I need to go to a neurologist again because this isn’t okay and apparently as I get older they will happen for longer and more frequently, which I do not want. When they happen, nothing helps. Of course I’ve had Tylenol, Advil, even Ativan and Triptans. They do nothing for the pain and I think they just make me loopy. They have prescribed me triptans, but there is actually research that says they can increase my risk of stroke with a hemiplegic migraine, so I don’t feel safe taking them. Doctors disagree on how to treat this rare migraine.

Other than struggles with migraines, I am very healthy and this has only happened 3x in my life, but like I said I lose my ability to speak and get very confused at everything. Part of me goes numb and I can’t remember the date or who the president is or write my name correctly. And it is by far the worst pain I have ever felt. Because these migraines mimic a stroke, they always say to go to the ER just in case, which I did.

I can tell when they’re coming because my vision goes funny, a little blurred or a zigzag line, then my hand goes numb, then about 15-45 min later the pain begins and lasts for about 24 hours. Then I usually panic and text Brandon at work and he takes me to the ER. I don’t know if it will ever go away or if we will find a treatment, but I hope so! I guess now we will have an expensive medical bill to pay unexpectedly this month… got to love the U.S. health system.

Edit: I have realized that the day before my migraine I ate multiple foods that can trigger one! I also didn’t eat breakfast right away which is apparently not good too and was mildly stressed, so the combination of those things resulted in the migraine! Then I also did a lot wrong when it came to treating the migraine… apparently I was supposed to put an icepack on my head, I did a hot compress. I also went out in the light, I should have laid down in complete dark and silence. Now I know!

Okay, that’s enough about my migraine problem! It’s the only interesting thing that happened this month. On to the finances!

If you haven’t checked out my financial planning e-workbook yet, I suggest you do! It’s a great tool that will make you and/or save you thousands of dollars, if not more, for only $9.99. I’m really proud of it and know it will help people so much! Feel free to click here to read more about it!

Our Partial Financial Independence Goals:

$0 Debt.
Brandon works part time at his job.
I am self-employed. I can choose how much or how little I want to work & when.
We need $2,000+/month in income, whether that comes from investments, Brandon’s part time job, my blog, my workbook, etc. it doesn’t matter.

Our Current Numbers as of February 1st, 2022:

Roth IRAs (Betterment -SRI Sustainable): $24,470.66 and $21,457.76
My small Traditional IRA (From an old 401(k) rollover -Betterment): $1,783.86
Tesla: $837.61
AYRO (Free Crypto from signing up with Robinhood): $1.13
Bitcoin: $1,041.91
Total Invested: $49,592.93
Savings: $18,003.18
Debt: -$120,983.82 (Mortgage)
Just Brandon is working full time.

As always, thanks for reading!

-Meghan

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

Do You Fear Change or Crave It?

I’m addicted to change. I can finally acknowledge this and say it out loud. I’m not talking small changes like dying your hair or painting a room. I love big changes and accomplishments, like moving, getting married, starting a new business, traveling, having a child, going back to school, etc.

I’m not sure whether this is good or bad, or neither & just how I am.

I’ve noticed most people hate change, and try to avoid it unless it is one particular thing they really want or need to do.

Again, I don’t know if this is good, bad, or just how some people are.

I crave change. I’m obsessed with being outside of my comfort zone. I have this deep need to constantly be growing and learning, in intense ways. Because of this, the last two years have been challenging for me. They have been very stagnant, to me.

I’m only 23, already married, own a home, have a 2 year degree, have started different business ventures, and have traveled quite a bit for my age. I’m longing for the next adventure.

All I’ve done over the last two years is work alone in my house either for my former job or on my own business. I also read a lot. But that’s it; no major life events, very little travel, no formal education other than my insurance license, etc. I want to do more, I want to be challenged again. It doesn’t help that it has been averaging at 0 degrees Fahrenheit here in Minnesota and all of our family has been getting Covid, leaving us often alone at home. Losing my job in October & focusing on my business was a challenge, but I’m craving a different kind of challenge, something new.

Options I am highly considering moving forward:

Going back to school for my bachelors degree. I’ve already talked with an advisor at a local university and applied. I am 90% sure I am going back to school starting in May of 2022. I want to learn more again in a formal setting and meet new people. I might do a work study and travel study as well.
I want to travel again in 2022. I haven’t seen my best friend and my uncle since 2019. One lives in Oregon and one lives in Germany. I want to make my best effort to see them this year.
I will for sure keep working on, improving, and adapting my business. My main focuses are this blog and selling my workbook.
Brandon and I want to become extreme minimalists. We actually have tickets to see THE Minimalists soon in person!! We are so excited!
Having a child, sometime over the next 3 years. This really depends on school and if we decide to move or not, which leads me to my final idea…
The most wild thing we are considering for approximately 1.5-2 years from now, is moving to another country and renting out our house, most likely Germany. This one is a HUGE maybe and really depends on how the next two years go and what we want to do about a year from now.

See what I mean by saying I’m obsessed with making big changes? I’m not saying all of these will happen, but maybe they will. Life is unexpected and uncontrollable. We may decide against a lot of these options, you never know. All I know is that I want to learn and grow as much as I possibly can in this life.

Do you relate to this? Do you hate change? Do you love change? Have you ever moved to a foreign country and are you glad you did? Tried minimalism? Let me know in the comments!

My Link Tree! -All of my links. -Including affiliate & referral links to my workbook, BetterHelp, ThriftBooks, Betterment, Back Market, and my business email. 🙂