In 2017, we made goals to: 

1. Begin saving for household repairs;
2. Reduce our grocery budget to $650/month;
3. Raise our monthly credit card payment by 50%;
4. Pay off our car loan; and
5. Begin an emergency fund after paying off our consumer debt.

How'd we do? Well... 

1. HOUSEHOLD REPAIR SAVINGS
We saved $2,270 for household repairs (and used some of that cash for roof and washing machine repair)

2. GROCERIES
We made our ambitious $650/month grocery budget once, and came in under $800/month just six months out of the year. Increasing coupon usage, meal planning, shifting all alcohol expenses to our personal spending money, and thrifty food prep like homemade veggie broth have helped some, but this is one area that we'll have to continue to work at. Significant food allergies and a teenager in the house aren't easy on the budget. 

3. RAISING OUR CREDIT CARD DEBT PAYMENT
We eliminated our credit card debt this year! Woohoo! 

4. PAYING OFF OUR CAR LOAN
Yep, we crossed this one off too! Becoming consumer debt free was an amazing feeling achievement. 

5. BEGINNING AN EMERGENCY FUND
During the year, we shifted some of our priorities. Instead of a dedicated emergency fund, we opened Roth IRAs and began saving cash for an additional high-priority item: A family vacation with our teenage son this summer before he starts his Senior year of high school. 

2018 Financial Resolutions

Where does that leave us in 2018? Before we start saving up a general emergency fund, there are some more specific goals we want to address. 

1. Sinking Funds to protect against future large expenses

Having money for larger expenses that may arise is an important part of staying out of debt. In 2018, we are adding dedicated savings for future cell phone upgrades, our son's 2019 graduation, and dedicated dollars for a future replacement car. 

2. Private Student Loan Repayment

Our private student loan payment is the next debt on our list to eliminate. At roughly $24,000, it is no small potatoes. We have set a goal to pay off this debt within roughly two years. 

3. Supporting a financial institution that supports the community

We opened new accounts at Harborstone Credit Union this month, and will be making the transition to using them as our primary bills and savings bank. We're excited to do banking with an institution that is working with local non-profit Sound Outreach to strengthen local families and help them out of predatory lending situations.

There are some benefits for us as well: We'll be getting better interest on our savings/checking accounts and lower fees. We'll also move toward automating much of our finances now that our initial phase of consumer debt repayment is complete. Because we know we can use our credit card responsibly, we'll start putting many of our monthly payments on the card and then paying it off in full each month. We've been earning our 1% credit card rewards on groceries for years now, it's time we started getting 1% back of our regular bills too! (Plus, we're getting 5% back on our cell phone payments through March because it's a bonus category!)

4. Supporting our communities with our spending

In 2018, I'm hoping to wean myself off shopping online. Yes, Amazon is convenient and sometimes less expensive, but it doesn't help me meet my neighbors or keep stores open in the cities where I work and live. I'm hopeful that reducing the convenience of spending money might also reduce how much spending we do. Time will tell. In January, this change meant an extra trip to our local hardware store to get a new fire alarm and a replacement fire extinguisher (safety first, folks). This goal will definitely take some time to perfect though. Convenience is seductive, and I placed three online orders in January before beginning to monitor where I buy the things we need. 

5. Discipline deserves some reward!

After buckling down quite a bit since August 2016 to repay our consumer debt, we began to feel it was time to enjoy some of our earnings. Our 2018 budget includes specific money set aside for date nights, weekend trips, and a few more bucks for the family vacation we plan to take this summer. We also will begin setting aside a small budget for "weddings/babies" so that celebrating new chapters with friends and family doesn't become a stressful exercise in reworking the budget. 

6. Building on success

In 2017, we made some great choices that set us up to have a stable future. We're hoping to keep this momentum going in 2018 by continuing to build on retirement and home repair savings. Our retirement funds were placed in a Roth IRA, so they can be used as a potential emergency fund if we find ourselves in truly dire straights. 

How will we reach our goals?

Whether savings or spending, many of these goals sound like they require us to throw down some cash. It's true. Some of them do. Where will we find the extra, you might ask? Repaying 100% of our consumer debt, refinancing our home, and restructuring our student loans created a notable amount of wiggle room in our budget. In addition, my husband began a new job in last September and my salary got a slight bump up with the new year. By dedicating all our newly available funds to these specific goals, we hope to make some serious financial strides forward in 2018.  

As gym attendance begins to taper down after the New Year rush, how are your resolutions faring?

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Post Photo cropped from a stellar image by Paul Volkmer. 

What happened instead was a big pot of stinky, slightly discolored vegetables that had somehow burned while simmering on low. (Much like this nostalgic Disney piece perhaps?) It was a horrible experience, one that kept me buying the one expensive, organic brand of vegetable broth that didn't use tomatoes for the next few years. That all changed this winter. 

Last fall, my friend Hanni brought over a delicious mushroom and potato soup that was delicately seasoned with lively herbs. It was the kind of soup that can warm your whole body after a few sips and make your heart feel a bit fuller. She said that even her adolescent son had approved of the soup (a surprise given his position on mushrooms!). She credited the tastiness of the soup to the way she had made the broth: From scratch... and from random veggie scraps in fact! 

I had seen a clever video on social media before on how easy it was to make homemade broth from vegetable scraps, but it looked overly simple to me, like a "Pinterest Fail" waiting to happen. Turns out, it was very simple... and it works! I have made two batches of this easy-peasy broth, and I would venture that I have saved about $30 so far. I have enough scraps saved up for batch number three, and I'm excited to restock my broth this weekend. As an additional bonus, I'm getting something more from what was once standard kitchen waste and I'm avoiding the non-recyclable packaging of store-bought broth. 

Once in a lifetime homemade soups and stews.

When connoisseurs discuss wines, they often talk about the "terroir" of the wine. In short, terroir (which means soil or earth) is how a wine's origin story, its place of residence in the world, impacts its flavor.

While the comparison might be overblown, I like to think of the broth I make this way as one-of-a-kind, reflecting the unique terroir of my kitchen in the weeks before it was made. While the recipe is inherently flexible and nearly fool-proof, there will be no other batch that is exactly the same as the one resulting from my most recent recipes. It brings a deeper sense of meaning and beauty to the soups and stews I make from my humble, homemade, vegetable scrap broth. Using broth made this way also made for a good "story of the soup" during this week's annual soup swap. 

How to make practically free soup broth.

The homemade broth process starts with veggie scraps. Onion and garlic skins, bell pepper stems, carrot skins and tops, celery bases and tops... All those things you would normally throw away can go on to become broth. Some recipes suggest skipping scraps from cruciferous vegetables (cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc), but I have included small amounts of scraps from this veggie family with no harm done. I have added the stems of thyme and parsley stalks, zucchini ends, sweet potato pieces, tough asparagus ends, and much more. 

I toss all my veggie skins and scraps into a one-gallon storage bag (any container will do), and they are stored in the freezer. Over time, I add more scraps to the bag until it is full up. 

Once the bag is full, it's time to transfer all the frozen goodies to the crockpot. I choose to add some whole peppercorns and, if I have it, a bay leaf as well. None of these extras are required though. If you haven't used very much carrot, celery, or onion over this time, you might choose to throw some in. This is also optional. 

After the whole gallon of veggies is packed in the crockpot, I fill it with water up to about an inch from the top. I set the crockpot on low and let the veggies simmer for 8-12 hours, until the broth has taken on a rich color. 

When the broth seems done, I place a large piece of cheesecloth over a stock pot and pour the contents of the crockpot in (any closely knit, thin piece of fabric will work, but note that some of the veggies might cause mild staining to the fabric). As I lift the bunched edges of the fabric with one hand, the cheesecloth acts like a tea bag or fine strainer, holding the vegetable matter back while the juices run down into the pot.  

I discard the cooked down veggies, and salt my broth to taste. My completed broth is now ready to be placed in canning jars and frozen. I try to use jars that match the amount of broth I commonly use in recipes: 4 cups for soup, a couple cups for making quinoa or rice, etc. You can even use an ice cube tray to make small serving sizes for simmering with meat or other vegetables. 

It's your turn!

If you don't feel quite ready to set out on your own, you can check out this video that we shared on Mindfully Spent's Facebook Page awhile back for a quicker stovetop method.  I'll be sticking to my slow cooker method to avoid a repeat of my first experience.  

Next up... Fruit broth.

Okay, that a bald-faced lie. There is no follow up "fruit broth" recipe, but I kinda wish there was! being able to find a purpose for our veggie scraps felt resource and responsible. I began to wish there was a similar option for fruit scraps as well, but I don't see this happening anytime soon. (If you have ideas, pleas share 'em!)

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Author's Note: The primary image at the top of this post was cropped from a glorious photo by Kyler Boone. Here's what he had to say about the photo: "Recently, I took a trip to Vietnam to visit an old friend. Being a vegan, he took me to many vegan/vegetarian-friendly restaurants around the city. Good time!"

It's all too common this time of year. We put ourselves right in the path of all that consumerism -- the holiday advertisements, the shopping malls, the frantic search for perfect purchases -- and it plows over our good intentions like a Mack Truck. 

But this is not what happened to us. 

When we made changes to our finances, it was based on a deep desire of wanting to do more with what we had. Making life change in order to achieve the things we truly wanted (instead of just to cut out bad habits) was empowering.  To keep our motivation strong, our budget is now able to include some big incentives (beyond just debt repayment). One of those incentives is a notable amount of spending at the end of the year dedicated to a very specific purpose. 

This week we spent hundreds of dollars on things that most people wouldn't call necessary Our spending didn't include gifts for friends and family, and we have absolutely nothing to show for it. Still, it is a time we look forward to all year: our annual spending spree on charitable giving.

Being more disciplined and intentional with our finances has meant that we are able to make a bigger difference in the lives of others. For the second year, we have been able to dedicate a larger portion of our budget to investing in hope. While we hope that our future finances will allow us to do even more (I have great aims of one day achieving Dave Ramsey's target of donating 10% of our income), we were excited this year to give modestly to many causes that we greatly care about.

There are many non-profits whose services we use regularly, and we made sure to contribute to those, including National Public Radio and the Washington Trails Association. More important was supporting organizations who help people in immediate need or who make a national impact on issues that are important to us. A couple examples of these organizations include:

• Write 253, an organization that aims to provide youth with meaningful and transformative writing opportunities that cross boundaries and create community. They offer many programs, including a twice monthly writing workshop for youth incarcerated at our local juvenile justice center. 
• Lambda Legal, an organization doing "legal, education, and advocacy work that touches nearly every aspect of life for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV." 

Whether you believe in these causes or would prefer to support others, those who are financially able can (and should!) make a positive impact in the lives of others. Not only will you bring some good to the world, it might be exactly the thing the motivates you to be financially disciplined in the new year. 

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Debt repaid: $16,916!

Net worth increased by $60,603!

Despite the many financial wins that we're celebrating, the biggest gains have nothing to do with money.  

Net worth confessions.

Our net worth is still negative. The housing bubble and student loan debt are real life things and they definitely impacted us. That said, improving our net worth by about $60,000 is something I am celebrating in a huge way. Here's why:

Our negative net worth was a scary and daunting number when I started this challenge.

It didn't seem feasible to crawl out from under the housing market crash or our existing debt to make a notable difference. Now, I feel like that mindset was limiting and, quite honestly, just plain wrong. I had no idea that we could make this kind of change in our net worth in just one year, and it has reframed my thinking on what is possible. I feel confident that time will allow us to move toward a positive (and growing!) net worth, even while we continue to put more focus on life balance and charitable donations. 

Shopping doesn't have to be a habit.

Prior to changing how I spent my money, I would often buy a coffee drink or go shopping for clothes or home goods when I was feeling less than great about life. Unnecessary shopping and consuming calories and caffeine are probably two of the worst ways to deal with worry and discomfort, but that didn't mean much to me a year ago. My fears/worries/anxieties are never truly related to needing new couch pillows or something different to wear. Home goods and clothes were things I fixated on when I was feeling discontent with my life/body/home. In the last 12 months, I drastically reduced my shopping on home goods and clothes, giving myself time to focus on things that fulfill my real needs: family, friendship, health, meaningful work, community, creativity, playing, cozy, and connectedness. 

HOME PURCHASES.
The only home products I can recall purchasing in the first year of Mindfully Spent were a pepper grinder, microfiber cloths to replace our paper towels, a steamer (because tamales!), a bedspread, a vacuum, a shower curtain, and an almost free set of Pyrex storage bowls with lids (yay, coupons and sales!). What is important to me about some of these purchases, is that they were a part of a bigger shift in how we live. We began to move away from disposable items and started thinking about ways we can decrease the amount of stuff our household sends to a landfill. When I felt a need to have a different look/feel in our home, I set aside time to clean, organize, and rearrange what we already had to create a deeper sense of cozy. 

As far as home improvements, I used paint that we already had to freshen up some of our interior spaces. We also completed some minor home repairs (including a shed roof replacement and a new section of gutter) using our new home repair savings. 

CLOTHES & ACCESSORIES.
Altogether, I purchased 15 items from my clothing budget in the last 12 months. These items did exceed my annual $400 clothing budget a bit, but I don't regret any of them. Most purchases were to replace something that had worn out or no longer fit quite right: 

• A replacement strap for my wallet
• A replacement work bag
• Ballet flats (aka, winter work shoes)
• Two pairs of shorts
• Two pairs of tights
• One button-down shirt
• Black Leggings
• Summer work shoes in black and tan
• One pair of Jeans
• One pair of socks
• Hiking pants
• One pair of casual shoes

Clothing exchanges, clothes shared among friends, and a little repair work here and there helped add some variety while keeping unnecessary purchases down. Confession: This list does not include a few additional items I purchased but wisely returned. 

Everyday Expenses are no longer adding up...

PARKING.
I used to waste about $100 each month on parking. My typical cost now: Zero dollars and zero cents. I had one unexpected $2 charge for parking in the last two months. As an added benefit, I now get about 1,600 steps in exercise on work days.

COFFEE. 
My monthly coffee purchases averaged more than $131 when this journey began. Now? Soy lattes are still one of my great pleasures, but my coffee costs generally run around $50 per month. After admittedly going overboard in August, my two month average on coffee purchases at the one year mark was $63.13.

Monthly bills reduced

When we began doing a better job of tracking our expenses, some household costs went up to more accurately reflect their true impact on our budget. Despite these increases, we were able to reduce our monthly bills by $865 per month over the last year. This effort required a mountain of paperwork, some renegotiation, persistence, and a whole lotta debt repayment. This number would have been even lower, but we missed our goal on lowering our grocery costs. 

We anticipate that we will be able to lower these costs further in 2018. I also anticipate that I will be negotiating with our internet service provider again to lower our monthly rate. #bringit

For those who like to dig deep into financial details, we set aside money for holiday spending, pet expenses, minor medical costs, and groceries in our monthly bills. Our monthly bills don't include our monthly spending money, entertainment, hobbies, savings, charitable contributions, and the extra funds we voluntarily dedicate to debt repayment. We hope to continue increasing our charitable contributions.  

Cash money on the rise.

If we cut our monthly costs but blew the extra money on frivolous things, we wouldn't be much better off. Luckily, that's not what we did. Instead, we've got our money working hard to take care of the priorities we've identified... and I found a couple ways to earn a little extra too!

EARNING CASH.  
While I put at least as much value on my time as I do my money, there were two opportunities to earn a little extra money that I didn't want to pass up: 1. A garage sale raked in some extra cash while helping us declutter, and 2. I took on a side hustle writing quarterly features for a local company's blog. Total extra earned: $994.

PAYING IN CASH. 
We escaped all of our consumer debt over this last year, and we have no plans to return. In order to stay on track for this goal, we have to have cash saved for major expenses, such as house repairs, car repairs, new cell phones, replacement vehicles, travel, vacation, charitable giving, and our teenager graduating high school in 2019. These costs add up quick! The home repairs, cell phone, and car savings alone are $535 per month.

The level we're saving at won't provide for much of a car when the time comes to replace a vehicle, but the peace of mind of being able to fix our washing machine or replace a refrigerator feels awfully good. What feels even better? Getting to slip away for a little weekend travel now and again. We're hopeful that 2018 might even allow us to take a modest destination vacation as a family. 

SAVE CASH FOR LATER.
Being more mindful with our money means thinking about the future. In 2017, we began saving for our first-ever retirement contributions that were not part of an employer plan. Just after Mindfully Spent's one year anniversary, we met our goal of saving $4,000 to open personal retirement accounts before year end. We hope to continue making modest monthly deposits in 2018, along with increasing the payroll contributions that my husband is making through a new employer. 

The real gains have little to do with net worth.

The greatest benefit over this last year has been the change in my perspective. First and foremost, I have become better at accepting things as they are. What's even better is when I can move beyond accepting and truly appreciate things as they are. My body is able. Our home is safe and warm. We were able to get my son some new school clothes. Maybe our house isn't real estate market perfect, but as the rainy season rolls in, our newly repaired shingles and gutters will be holding back damage from the elements this year. 

Life gives each of us the opportunity to make choices about what is important to us as individuals, and I am feeling more much comfortable and more confident doing just that. I do not need a magazine worthy home to open my door to friends. I do not need my car to be shiny and new to get to my job or to the places where I like to hike. I do not need to look like a model to be loved, support a friend, or enjoy time with my family. 

As regular readers know, coming to greater peace with my money, my choices, and my life over this last year has helped me start letting go of some pretty big worries. I used to spend too much of my time preoccupied by thinking of the judgements of others or how we would pay for an unexpected expense. These worries kept me focused on scarcity and they prevented me from enjoying what I did have. They were a frivolous waste of my energy, my wellbeing, and my time.

While I always intellectually valued many things more than material things or the appearance of wealth/beauty, it took a year of focus to begin realizing how much I was being influenced by societal pressure and expectations around these things. I know these pressures will reappear in from time to time, but I also know more now about the discomfort I feel when I make decisions or judge myself based on outside influences instead of my own gut values. 

In the year to come, I will be focusing on far more than financial goals. I hope to double down on being a part of the community where I live, making a difference in the community where I work, exploring the world with curiosity and enjoyment, supporting my health, and deepening my connections to family and friends. I'm going to keep reading things that challenge me to grow and understand the world from the perspective of others. These are the ways I can be sure that my days are mindfully spent. 

A belated thank you for a year of reading, providing support, and weighing in. It is appreciated more than you know. Please feel free to reach out and share a bit of the journey you're currently on. <3

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Mindfully Spent subscribers get periodic email updates on what's new, and we share every post as it happens on our social media accounts.

But F*ck You Money may not be as important as it seems. In fact, for some, it can serve as a convenient excuse to hide behind. 

I was recently sick. I was not deadly sick (I was almost fully recovered after about a week), but sick enough to let this blog lapse for a month. More seriously, I was sick enough for my husband and I to momentarily wonder if I'd be able to go back to work. In the scariest moments, I was reminded of family members whose health forced them to leave their jobs and go on disability. My job requires a high level of reading, writing, and data analysis, but at the height of my illness I had to have my husband complete forms and answer questions about my own health history. 

Regular Mindfully Spent readers will know that the work I do for money is work I chose to do because it is exceptionally meaningful to me. In this moment of illness, I felt some terror about the inability to return to the work that I love. I did not, however, feel the kind of panic that I expected about the potential loss of a regular paycheck. 

What would life be like without a regular paycheck?

While we outwardly focused on taking care of my health and our household, my husband and I were each quietly thinking about what our life might look like if we had to live permanently on half our current income. What we discovered is that all either of us needed was each other, our family, some kind of cozy roof over our head, medical care, a library, and to be able to put food on the table for the five of us (if you count the dog and the cat as well as our teenage son). Deep down, I'm not sure if any of us really need much more.

We had some clear advantages going into the emergency room: I have the luxury of good health insurance. I have the luxury of having a working partner. I have had the luxury of working the last year to pay off all our consumer debt. But we've just begun to save for basic things like home repairs. We are far from having a real nest egg of any kind, and we are no where near the bare minimum of one year of income that we'd have to save to qualify as having F*ck You Money in the world of personal finance. Still, we felt deep in the center of our chests that we would be okay.  

In the long run, continuing to live in our small home would be optional. Any purchases outside of food and utilities would be optional. A second vehicle and the insurance that comes with it would be optional. Our smart phones are optional. Travel, as much as we'd miss it, is optional. Saving for retirement? Well, we would like to be among the Americans who can continue to do so, but so many do not have that luxury. When forced to consider what we could strip away from our lives, very little was essential. 

Life is precarious. Show up like it matters. 

A car accident, a quiet disease, an act of violence, or a breach of our mental health could leave any of us on a much different path than we have planned for our life. I had the luxury of recovery. Even more, the time in the hospital let us know that our love and the love of our family and friends is at the foundation of who we are. As long as we can meet our most basic needs, very little else matters. 

We haven't had time to revisit our budget since this all happened, but it made me think about the past. It made me think about the workplaces where I've witnessed or been the subject of wrong doing. A young woman with very few of the luxuries I have today, there was not always much I could do. There were times when I was precariously employed and solely responsible for putting food on the table. #MeToo. But, that is no longer the case.

While I haven't born silent witness to any wrong doing at my current employer, my experience has reassured me that I will never have to be silent again. None of us needs a whole year of income in the bank to speak up or change jobs. And you definitely don't need a couple million bucks before opening your mouth. 

Life is short. The quality of your life and the lives of others are too valuable to be wasted. 

Personal finance writers talk about the ultimate freedom of financial independence. Once achieving it, certainly they will have the freedom to live as they please in early retirement. But the personal finance writers I admire most talk about the quality of the life they live just as frequently as they discuss the quantity of their savings.

When F*ck You Money Might be an Excuse.

Not everyone can quit on a dime. There are a lot of vulnerable and precariously employed workers out there who truly cannot leave their job without a safety net. Only you can tell whether that applies to you. 

If you're doing work that directly conflicts with your moral beliefs or if a lengthy commute is preventing you from showing up as the partner or parent that you want to be, it might be time to give notice. The time you spend on this earth is just as finite as the money we earn, and both should be treated with care. Who you show up as in your lifetime means something. In fact, it usually adds up to a whole lot more than the balance of any investment account. And there are times when the impacts affect much more than just our own lives...

Who are we if we show up at the workplace thinking only about our own paycheck and turn a blind eye to what is happening around us? 

What kind of workplace culture allowed famous Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and Fox News Anchor Bill O'Reilly to perpetrate ongoing sexual harassment? Who were the coworkers silently sitting by while Abercrombie, Wal-mart, and Denny's leveraged racial discrimination against applicants, employees, and customers? An unspoken code of silence and fear (and sometimes more insidious kinds of compliance or support) allow these kinds of abuses to happen in plain sight. Especially when it comes to the workplace, these acts rarely happen in isolation. And they only end when someone speaks up. 

Women across the country have broken their silence to say #MeToo. At the same time, our friends and coworkers of color and those who belong to the LGBTQ+ community are carrying even more weight, even if this moment of history hasn't provided it with a pithy hashtag.

Only you can know if it's safe to come forward. However, if you're waiting to save up a couple million bucks before speaking up about harassment or discrimination in your workplace, if you're experiencing those things yourself, or if your employer is breaking laws that have a direct impact on your coworkers' safety, it is probably time to stand up.  

Resources for race and sex discrimination in the workplace: 

FROM THE UNITED STATES EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION:
If you believe that you have been discriminated against at work because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information, you can file a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Worried about speaking up? An individual, organization, or agency may file a charge on behalf of another person in order to protect the aggrieved person's identity.

Local enforcement agencies and resources may also be available in your area. 

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I was taught from a young age that there are more important things in this world than money, fancy work titles, or impressing other people. My upbringing had a definite effect on what career growth means to me. For many years, quotes like this have guided my work goals: 

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
- Albert Einstein

The second factor that has guided my career goals was a strong desire to keep learning, expanding my comfort zone, and trying new things. In short, I would rather tackle the most daunting tasks than be bored. An interesting job assignment is a high priority for me. 

Because money and the traditional version of success aren't my core values, it was uncomfortable to have discussions about wages or title changes with my employers early in my career. In addition, it was difficult to be convinced of my value in those years when I had so little experience under my belt.

My initial discomfort was reinforced when some of my first conversations with employers about pay rate went sideways. In my first professional office job, I asked an employer for a raise to a wage closer to market rate. My request unleashed a fury of swap-meet-style haggling that caught me completely off-guard. While I did receive a bump up in pay, I also realized exactly how ill-prepared I had been to negotiate. 

Even the "good" conversations about compensation could be uncomfortable when I was insecure about my value: Later in my career when I was making a solid living wage, I was embarrassed by a supervisor advocating for me to get a title change and pay raise. This was true even though the supervisor's request was due to the greater responsibilities I had taken on at work. At one point, I even tried to wave off the salary increase as unnecessary. Luckily, he continued to believe that all employees should be compensated with fair pay, and he felt strongly that my hard work warranted an increase. 

I learned while working in human resources that setting a respectable salary is the first step in finding and keeping great workers, but it took me some time to understand that these concepts applied to my own work as well. While money and impressive achievements are still not high on my list of values, I have become much more comfortable talking about things like pay rate and job titles. Although I have absolutely no regrets about where I've ended up, feeling confident about the value that I was adding to the workplace would have allowed me to more successfully advocate for myself along the way.

Mapping a lifetime of income. 

Wage is just one aspect of career growth, but it's an important one. When it comes to finances, how we spend our money is only half of the equation. What we earn can make a huge difference. 

A retirement calculator I used recently asked me to project my wage increases for the remainder of my career (I have a pension plan). I'd heard that wage growth is much stronger in the early half of one's career, and I estimated conservatively. However, the question made me realize that I didn't have much awareness about what kind of wage growth I'd experienced so far. My curiosity was also piqued by stories of people job hopping to get large bumps in pay instead of the average 3% per year raise. I have only had three employers since the age of 19, and I was concerned that I was missing out.   

To discover how my personal wages had grown over time, I first had to gather some data. I used old tax returns and my social security earnings record to map out my financial past and determine my year-to-year wage growth: 

Mapping my income since graduating high school included some interesting surprises. For instance, it seems counter intuitive that my income increased after having a child (more about that in Strategy #3). It was also a reminder that I lived on less than $400 per month as a single mother in order to go back to school for my bachelor's degree and pursue a career that I love. (I had some additional help from scholarships, grants, and student loans for which I am eternally grateful! Not to mention the friends who snuck boxes of Cheerios into the kitchen cupboards of my tiny apartment. #stillgrateful) Luckily, my economic situation has changed drastically since those days. Below, I identify 5 reasons for the career growth I've experienced. 

The 5 ways I've built a more meaningful career and, by default, increased my annual income

I love my job. Like "Capital L" Love it. It's challenged me in all the best ways, allowed me to give back to my community, put a roof over my head, given me the chance to grow as a human being, and it sends me home feeling accomplished most days. 

Looking back, I can see that the moments when I did the most to advance my career all involved taking risks. I concur with Forbes contributor Margie Warrell when she writes, "In an increasingly competitive, cautious and accelerated world, those who are willing to take risks, step out of their comfort zone and into the discomfort of uncertainty will be those who will reap the biggest rewards."

The risks I took can be considered small compared to what entrepreneurs or people in highly competitive fields endure to find success. In retrospect, maybe they will all sound like calculated measures bound to have a positive impact, but that is not at all how they felt at the time. Here are five ways I've built a more fulfilling and meaningful career:

1. Sacrifice for long term gains in a field you love.

Sometimes career trajectories are not smooth upward lines. Sometimes you have to sacrifice to find success in a field you love. While I think I first read this advice in a magazine for teenage ladies, Actor Jim Carrey makes an incredibly elegant argument for this kind of risk taking:

So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never dare to ask the universe for it. I'm saying: I'm the proof that you can ask the universe for it.

My father could have been a great comedian but he didn't believe that was possible for him. So he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job and our family had to do whatever we could to survive.

I learned many great lessons from my father. Not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

Short-term sacrifices can come in the form of student loans, absences from the workforce, or a step down in pay to enter a new field. These options all involve risk, but they can also have big rewards. Working in a field that I am devoted to has motivated me to perform at my best, and, at various points along the way, my supervisors have taken notice. 

Here's how my career changed paths:

While working in human resources, I found myself yearning for a career in public service that would allow me to make contributions to the community. However, I had little experience or education in this field. I didn't have a Bachelor's degree of any kind. I also had all the financial responsibilities of parenthood. 

Returning to school meant descending temporarily into poverty level earnings while raising a young son. There was also no guarantee that I would find a job upon graduation (especially with a political science degree and zero interest in doing campaign work). As someone who had already been in the workforce, I knew the value of experience. To gain some experience in public service, I took on unpaid internships while working, being a mom, and going to school. For my final quarter in school, I immersed myself in an internship at our state legislature that offered a small stipend for living expenses. These internships didn't offer much in the way of financial success themselves, but I am convinced that they helped me immensely when I began job hunting.

After graduation, I stuck with my goal to find work that felt meaningful to me. This meant turning down a well-paid human resources job at a private college when I didn't have any other firm employment offers on the table. Eventually, I was able to secure a lower paying job in a City Clerk's Office. It wasn't a glamorous first job, but it helped me break into public service and begin an incredibly meaningful career.

In addition to finding work I love, there have been financial benefits to these risks as well. Overall, I've experienced average wage growth of 13.7% per year since attaining my bachelor's degree. 

When I began to reach the end of my career trajectory for an employee with only a bachelor's degree, I returned to school for my Masters in Public Administration. Yeah, the cost of grad school hurt, and I'm absolutely going to be paying it off for awhile. However, my wage history reflects a 22% increase in annual pay the first year after graduating with my Masters. I have been able to move into even more challenging and meaningful work, and I am hopeful that the financial dividends of investing in my education will pay off over time.  

2. Take the projects that no one wants. 

Local leader Lyle Quasim made a profound statement that changed my life. As a speaker for a leadership class, Quasim advised us to take on the immensely difficult work assignments that no one else wants to tackle. If we failed, he said, no one would blame us. But if we succeeded, we would have achieved what seemed to others to be impossible. 

With a prior employer, I had the opportunity to work on highly-visible community issues where the community held divided opinions. Parking, homelessness, urban wildlife management, housing for sex offenders... These were areas where neighbors held strong (and sometimes deeply divided) opinions and where the impacts touched people in their day-to-day lives. While these kinds of projects came with a high level of challenge, I also found them to be extremely rewarding. As Quasim predicted, my supervisors gained significant respect for me when I was willing to take on the most daunting assignments. This was true even when I was just one member of a work team and not the project leader.

Not all "undesirable" projects come with a lot of flashy visibility. I have taken on my share of assignments that were seen as highly technical as well as some terribly tedious file organization projects. I have also volunteered to take part in continuous improvement efforts of all kinds. These lower visibility projects also earned the respect of my peers and superiors. More importantly, theses projects fulfilled my personal goals to add value to the organization and be genuinely helpful. 

Being willing to take on the projects that others avoid has had results. While I have only had three employers since the age of 19, I've held at least nine job titles in that time due to increasing responsibilities. My experience has been that career progression can happen without hopping to a new employer if you're able to demonstrate successful outcomes in demanding situations and if your employer promotes from within. 

3. Ask for it!

Asking for what you want sounds like basic advice right? But Leadership and Management Consultant Cheryl Hilvert says that we don't do it enough: "It sounds pretty simple, but I have also found that way too many people sit back and wait for things to come to them." Asking to work on projects that are outside your regular duties, negotiating your salary, requesting specific benefits, and letting management know when you have an interest in an open position are all ways that you might be able to achieve career growth with your current employer. I've used all of these strategies over the course of my career.  

Expressing interest in a promotion:

Before I had my son, I had worked my way up to an assistant branch manager position with a local financial services company. The company was not a large one, but they often promoted from within, which gave a lot of opportunity for advancement. While I was out on maternity leave, a Human Resources position opened up that had a better schedule and would greatly expand my job experience. I did what any ambitious mom might do. I marched my stroller down to the library and emailed the CEO to request the HR position.

To my surprise and delight, the executive management team responded favorably. I returned from maternity leave with a raise and a promotion. If this sounds like a too-good-to-be-true-fairytale, I should note that laid the groundwork for a promotion well before my request. I went above and beyond in my work even as an entry-level teller, starting a company newsletter to help break down silos and help staff that didn't work at the same branches get to know one another. 

Asking for a raise:

There are a lot of great resources on negotiating a salary, but I want to emphasize this: Your title and salary are not temporary. They do not exist in just the current moment. Our salary becomes the baseline that an employer uses when deciding our next raise. And, at some point, our salary and job duties become the launch platform for whatever opportunity will come next. 

"Women who fail to negotiate their salaries at the start of their careers could leave up to $2 million on the table."
- The Art of Negotiation Series, League of Women in Government

You can find more salary negotiation resources at the end of this post.

Negotiating for "fit" and work conditions:

There is far more to consider than a starting salary when considering a new job. No matter how hard you work, it will be more difficult to find success if your goals don't align with your employer's. We all weather hard times on the job, but work stress and burn out are easier to survive if you work for an employer whose mission moves you. Fit matters, and it is important to remember that the interview process is not just about getting the job -- A job interview process is your time to discover whether the opportunity is a good fit for you as well as for your potential employer. 

In the interview process, it's okay to ask about workplace culture, shared values, and how the company feels about work/life balance. Is there an expectation that you'll work 60 hours per week? Does the employer offer flexible scheduling that allows both your personal and professional life to flourish? Are there mentorship opportunities? What kind of skills do they value most in the position you are interviewing for? What kind of input do managers at the organization solicit from their staff? 

In the best scenarios, employers care deeply about the professional goals and life balance needs of their valued workers. I've been lucky to have bosses who take the time to ask me what I wanted for my professional future and who have a real interest in helping me get there. Many of the positive changes I've made are due to having first-class mentors and champions who believed in the value I could bring to the organization. Now that I'm a supervisor, I try my best to be that kind of boss and to model the supportive leadership that my best mentors gave to me.

Finding a supportive work environment doesn't mean that workers should expect a pampered cake walk with no problems. Building a relationship with your supervisor and demonstrating your worth to your employer take time and effort. Great workplaces still encounter big hairy problems and deeply stressful situations, but it's easy to survive them in a positive workplace where everyone is pulling together. 

4. Practice lateral leadership.

You don't have to be the boss to get leadership experience. With lateral leadership, you can help a team achieve results even if you're not technically above them in the company hierarchy. Usually, this kind of lateral leadership comes in the form of managing or coordinating projects. Not only can you demonstrate to others that you are capable of helping a team unlock productive outcomes, lateral leadership requires a level of finesse that authoritative leadership does not. When leading a team without any formal power, you have to be diplomatic and build relationships. Because your coworkers don't need you to approve of their work, you'll have to ensure that you earn their commitment and buy in. In short, you can build skills that will make you the kind of boss people want to have when you do earn your management stripes. 

In recent years, many have made the argument for more fluid, "flatter" organizations with less layers of managerial hierarchy. These organizations have been known to be more collaborative, adaptable, and more innovative then traditional workplaces. They are also more suited to the emerging gig economy. Flatter, more fluid organizations may also offer numerous opportunities to take on a project manager role and flex your leadership muscles.

5. Job crafting.

Job crafting is the art of turning the job you have into the job you want. You can do this by changing who you work with, what you do, or the way you view your work. Yale Researcher Amy Wrzesniewski has given one-word titles to the three areas where we can make change: tasks, relationships, and perceptions. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Wrzesniewski notes that: 

"Our research with a range of organizations—from Fortune 500 companies to small nonprofits—indicates that employees (at all levels, in all kinds of occupations) who try job crafting often end up more engaged and satisfied with their work lives, achieve higher levels of performance in their organizations, and report greater personal resilience."

I have greatly benefited from job crafting throughout my career. By some stroke of luck, every job I have taken since graduating with my Bachelor's degree has been a newly created position. When you begin in a role that no one has held before, there is no preconceived idea for how the work should be done or what all the job actually entails.

The first person in a new position has to be comfortable with ambiguity and the unknown. They have to do the work of accurately interpreting expectations for the new position and completing many tasks with very little instruction. Because of this, brand new positions may seem unstable to folks who need a high level of security. However, being the first one to hold a position comes with a lot of freedom. Folks in this position can enjoy a high-level of job crafting as they define which tasks and relationships will become essential in their new role. There is great potential in a new position to build a job that is more satisfying. 

While circumstances may allow us a little more freedom in the tasks that we do or the people we interact with during the work day, we can all change the way we perceive our work. Instead of letting the snarky fellow you work next to burst your bubble of optimism, you can focus on how your work benefits a customer or coworker further down the line. You can find a great podcast on this subject below. 

All career development requires strong basic skills.

The five strategies discussed above are not miracles. It doesn't matter how enthusiastically you offer to tackle hard projects or lead project teams if you don't have basic career skills in place:

• Showing up (both physically and mentally) on time
• Supporting your coworkers
• Handling stress and criticism constructively
• Meeting deadlines
• Demonstrating accountability
• Committing yourself to excellent work
• Putting the organization's needs before your personal goals
• Being respectful of leadership
• Staying up-to-date on the newest trends and technology in your field
• Displaying professional conduct and attire 
• Communicating and problem solving at a high level

These and other basic job skills are not optional for anyone except extreme geniuses, wildly talented artists, and the most ingenious of inventors/entrepreneurs. None of the five strategies will work if your overall performance is lacking. A strong foundation of basic skills like these must be in place before you'll get the support you need to build a beefier work portfolio.

Additional Resources

If you are working on finding the right job, negotiating a salary, or deepening the sense of satisfaction you feel in your current career, I would highly recommend these resources: 

• Fit Matters: How to Love your Job by Moe Carrick & Cammie Dunaway
• The Art of Negotiation Series, League of Women in Government
• Harvard Program on Negotiation: Salary Negotiations
• Hidden Brain Podcast: How to Build a Better Job (Job crafting)

Author's Note: Post photo of the One World Trade Center taken by Kye Alfred Hillig.

Also, I've scheduled this mammoth post to be shared while I'm spending a week in relative isolation at a wilderness retreat (like a little gift from far away me to far away you) so please don't mistake my silence for anything but absence. I'll greatly enjoy your messages and comments when I return. xo. 

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Despite the fact that my natural state is a bit erratic (Anyone else predisposed to 1am bedtimes? No? Just me?), I still believe strongly in the power of routines. After some years of living with a creature of habit, I now automatically reach for the Vitamin B12 and the witch hazel toner even when my husband is away on tour. In fact, research tells us that habits are a great tool for accomplishing what we need to do while expending less energy:

Left to it's own devices, the brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often. This effort-saving instinct is a huge advantage... An efficient brain also allows us to stop thinking constantly about basic behaviors, such as walking and choosing what to eat, so we can devote mental energy to inventing spears, irrigation systems, and eventually, airplanes and video games. -- Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

Our lifetimes are built from a series of habits.

Habits do much more than help us conserve a little brain power. Day in and day out, the things we habitually do become the framework for our whole life. What we do when we get up, the route we take to destinations, how we react when someone snubs us at work, what we eat during the day, how we greet our family when we arrive home... Very little of what we think of as conscious choice is actually a mindful act of "well-considered decision making" according to the argument made by Duhigg. Most of our everyday actions are habits. 

In the personal finance community, you will often hear stories about the value of investing early and regularly, even if the amounts aren't large. Modest investments like these add up over time; they compound; and eventually, they build a strong financial future. In essence, we unleash a powerful financial force when we make a habit out of saving. Duhigg argues that the power of habit does not just affect our finances, but virtually every aspect of our lives: 

Though each habit means relatively little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say to our kids each night, whether we save or spend, how often we exercise, and the way we organize our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security, and even happiness.

If life is built from the actions we take on an every day basis, then the bricks of habit loom large. Each day, we lay down hundreds of these bricks as we move through our day, complete our work, interact with others, and choose what to do with our free time. Over time, just like when saving money, our habits have a compounding effect. The outcomes of our habits can be stronger relationships, increased financial security, and better health... or rapidly passing years filled with shallow interactions, fast food, illness, and credit card payments. Luckily, we can choose to build healthy habits that support our future goals. 

How to use the power of habit to radically change your spending.

If you want to learn more about the "Cue-Routine-Reward" cycle that fuels our habits and how to change them, I highly recommend that you read Charles Duhigg's book, The Power of Habit. He offers practical tips as well as some incredibly motivational stories. While reading the book, I was reminded that the process of changing my spending habits was an essential piece of becoming less wasteful with my money. 

In the first six weeks of my journey to spend more mindfully, most of the work I was doing was breaking down old habits and building up new ones that better aligned with my true goals. Here are four of the habits I changed:

• Parking. 
  I used to pay $6/day for parking in order to sleep in as late as possible and still get to work a few minutes early. When I realized how much this convenience was costing each month, I knew the habit had to end. It took me six whole weeks before I finally broke the habit completely. How did I know that I'd made a real change? My whole mindset about paid parking shifted. Now, the cost savings and the extra exercise I get when I use free parking feels like a reward. There have been one or two days when I thought I might have to pay, and I dreaded the idea. Once a mindless convenience, the expense of parking now feels like a horrible waste. 
   
• Coffee.
  Before I tallied up exactly how much money I was spending each month on coffee, I had already noticed that I was sipping it absently when I bought it and no longer enjoying it as a treat. When it became a daily habit, the deliciousness of the soy latte lost it's thrill. At that point, the latte was costing me extra money and unnecessary calories without bringing me the same enjoyment. I changed my routine to make coffee at home, and I continue to enjoy it while getting ready for the work day. I  still treat myself to an occasional coffee on the weekends or sometimes during a particularly grueling work week, but it's no longer a habit. 
   
• Shopping.
  Clothes, outdoors gear, project supplies, home items... Shopping was not one of my biggest down falls, but I still did too much of it. Whenever there was a home project to be done, a feeling of discontent about our home decor, or a potential gap in my wardrobe, I whipped out a card to begin purchasing whatever might fix the thing that seemed wrong. There was a temporary boost that came with my productive feeling purchase, but the feeling of unrest that motivated me to make the purchase always returned (along with some added anxiety about my bank account balance). Over the last year, I've worked to come to peace with my appearance and the appearance of our house. I am learning to be content with what I have, instead of temporarily delaying worries by spending money on them. Shopping is no longer my habitual response to discomfort or unrest. In exchange for doing less shopping, I have found myself with extra time and some extra money too. 
   
• Meals for days.
  As mentioned at the start of this article, I am not a creature of habit. During the summer months, I am especially loathe to spend a day of the weekend meal planning, shopping, and prepping the week's food. However, when the fridge is full of food options that work for the whole family, then I'm not tempted to go out to eat. Most of my Sundays are dedicated to prepping food for the week ahead. (TBH: While I habitually make time for these tasks now, it does require a bit of extreme will power to get the job done some weeks.) While I'm working out our food for the week, my husband is usually catching up our laundry -- making sure that our wardrobes and our lunch boxes are ready for week day success. (Author's confession: we actually don't have lunch boxes, but you know what I mean.)

Parking, coffee, shopping, and meal prep were the areas I needed to change in order to reduce my spending, but habits are deeply personal and everyone's are different. Taking the time to understand your spending can help you identify habits that might be derailing your money goals. 

Habits as a gift to my future self.

While the changes I made during the first six weeks of my journey created a huge impact, the power of habit can be harnessed at any time to keep us building a rich and meaningful life. There are many more ways that I am hoping to build habits that help my future self, including: 

• Exercise.
  We do a lot of walking. In addition to walking from my parking spot, I try to take walks during breaks at work, I hike on weekends when free time allows, and we walk the dog almost every night for 20-45 minutes. We don't always hit 10,000 steps (particularly in winter), but it's our goal. Ideally, I would like to build some strength-building activities into my daily activity as well. Last winter, I worked in a set or two of the 7-Minute Workout a few evenings each week. It was not as impressive as the free workout that Amy of Life Zemplified and her husband used to train for an obstacles course, but it definitely left me feeling stronger and more capable. My husband has taken to adding some basic exercises to his midday break at work, and I know I'd feel healthier if I did the same.   
   
• Ending the day on a healthy note.
  We can be busy folks. A bit too busy by some people's standards (my husband's included), but we also make time for cozy. Our evenings often include some combination of these interlinked habits: Popcorn, good cheese, scotch, tv, and snuggling. While I will never disagree with snuggling, my waistline could do without the consumption of calories directly before bed. I'm working on unwinding other ways (bath, reading, etc). And really, skipping straight to bed to double down on the snuggling has been sounding awfully appealing as well, which brings us to...   
   
• Regular bed time.
  While I've had some improvement in this area, I have been trying to talk myself into an earlier bed time for most of my adult life. My son started working his first job this summer and he has been learning a lot of lessons. As he poured a bowl of sugar cereal at 10pm on a work night, we had a chat: The kind of sleep and fuel you give your body has the power to make the next day of challenges either easier or harder. Not enough sleep? You're bound to have a shorter fuse if you encounter a conflict with a coworker. Crummy food? A body without good fuel is totally going to want to call it quits at 3pm. And while I know all these things, heading to bed early is the area where I am least likely to look out for my future self. My husband is a positive influence in this regard as well, but his sway has not been enough to make hitting the hay at a reasonable hour a regular part of my routine. (In fact, I am often a bad influence on him getting a full 8 hours of shut eye.)

Much like building better spending habits, I know that improving in each of these areas would come with it's own rewards. I don't miss paying too much for parking and lattes, and I certainly wouldn't miss walking up sleepy or the few pounds I've gained over the last two years. 

While the goals I've listed above are mostly related to health, we can use habits to strengthen our relationships too. I make an intentional choice to find my husband wherever he might be in the house when I get home from work to greet him after a long day. As someone who leans toward being an introvert, I have also been trying to invest more in my relationships by checking in with close family and friends more regularly about the things going on in their lives. (Friends and family who might be reading: Yes, I still have a long ways to go in this area.)

Daily investments of our time can also help us to learn a new skill. We can create habits that help us learn a language, write a novel, play an instrument, or build a website. 

Whether you are working to strengthen relationships, exercise, eat healthier, learn a new skill, or make free entertainment part of your routine, there is really no limit to the ways we can use The Power of Habit to build a rewarding life with less effort. The small things we do (or don't do) for our future selves today will eventually become the sum of our lifetime. 

I would love to hear about the ways you are using habit to build a healthier, more meaningful life. 

Jacob's Financial Journey

As a newly-minted college graduate, I was ready to take on the world.  I had a degree from a great school and a job offer. I knew that my life was on track.  I was ready to succeed…and then I received my first student loan statement.

I knew that I had taken out a lot of student loans to pay for my degree.  Like many college students, I relied on student loans in order to fund my college education.  Yet opening up that first statement was a shock.  How could I owe so much money?  $25,000 seemed like so much money — especially given my starting salary.  As a high school math teacher, I was not exactly poor, but I also was not making Wall Street money.  How would I ever pay off my student loans so that I could move forward with my life? Like many others, I realized I needed a stronger plan.

To say that my student loans stressed me out would be an understatement.  I knew that I could make my minimum monthly payments — but that I wouldn’t have much left over after taxes, rent and other basic living expenses.  The idea of making these payments for 10, 20 or 30 years completely overwhelmed me.  How could I ever pay off $25,000 in student loan payments when I wasn’t making that much money in the first place?

Coming to Terms with My Finances

Like many college graduates, I was in a position of having a relatively low paying job — and fairly high levels of student loan debt.  I was losing sleep over this debt and how I would ever manage to buy a house, save for retirement and make other plans for the future with this much debt hanging over my head.  Finally, I made a decision:  I could no longer have my head in the sand when it came to my finances. 

I started by facing down my student loans.  As a math teacher, I knew that I had to look at the numbers to see what exactly I owed.  I made a list of the loans that I had and the interest rates on each loan.  I then made a decision to refinance my student loans.  At this point, I had been working for a while and had built up a good credit rating by making regular, on-time payments of my student loans and other bills.  I knew that I could try to qualify for a lower interest rate on my student loans by refinancing them — and that by refinancing for a shorter loan term, I could save thousands of dollars in interest on my loan.

Making Changes to my Life and Budget

The next hurdle for me was figuring out how to afford the higher student loan payments that would come with a shorter loan term.  I needed to reconfigure my budget, so I started with my biggest expense: housing.  My aunt and uncle lived nearby, and generously offered to allow me to live with them while I paid off my student loans.  Doing this allowed me to devote all of my spare funds to my student loan payments — on the shorter, refinanced loan term.

After moving in with my aunt and uncle, I knew that I still needed to cut costs even further if I was going to get out of debt quickly.  I made a decision to cut all unnecessary expenses.  I mostly ate at home, packing lunches and avoiding meals at restaurants.  I rarely went out to bars, and tried to focus on free activities for fun.  Finally, in addition to my full-time job, I picked up some side gigs to supplement my salary.  Freelance writing and photography were already hobbies of mine, and turning them into paying jobs allowed me to put extra cash towards my student loans each month.

The Final Result: Fantastic Financial Improvement

The end result was that after just 15 months, I had paid over $25,000 in student loans.  Doing so changed my life.  I made a number of sacrifices to pay off my loans so quickly, from moving in with family to passing up on a lot of activities with friends in favor of my side hustles.  But doing so gave me a much bigger reward: financial freedom.  Without student loans, I am free from the burden of high monthly payments — and I can devote my free time to things that I enjoy.  I still do freelance writing and photography gigs, but now I do it so that I can take great vacations.

Looking Back on My Journey

Perhaps most importantly, my journey to paying off my debt taught me that finances don’t have to be complicated — and that with some strategic planning and hard work, I can accomplish my other financial goals.

Jacob tracks his journey to financial independence over at his blog Dollar Diligence. You can follow him on Twitter for more advice and (questionably) funny jokes.

Boring.

Unproductive. 

The idea that this new financial calm isn't pressing us towards our goals is a lie. It's a fiction made up by a brain that spent years swimming in financial stress, followed by wave after wave of dopamine-producing instant gratification as I changed my money habits and started scoring quick wins. 

Some have said that excitement is an unstable and unsustainable force in our lives, and I agree. Excitement does not create lasting joy; however, continuing to realize gains is important for me to maintain my motivation. Unlike other personal finance bloggers, slow/steady gains in net worth don't exactly do it for me. At least not yet. 

Today, I found a new tool for changing my perspective and boosting my motivation. If I was a different kind of blogger, I'd give it a slick name that would double as a snappy, click-bait title, but that's not me. Instead I just think of it as "What have I done for me lately?" or... "Count up the good stuff" or... "Have some flippin' perspective, you financial drama addict!" (at which my husband might jokingly reprimand, "Language! Language!").  

First, I pressed the pause button on thinking that we weren't doing much to get ahead between pay periods. Then, I took a few minutes to think back on all the things I did to save money or improve our finances in the past two weeks. I was surprised to find that I easily came up with twenty!  

Some of the wins are big ones, while others are small acts of frugal living. 

20 things we did recently to save money
and set us up for financial success:

1. Put $980 in savings for opening our IRAs later this year (We'll each open one with $2,000, the minimum investment necessary to avoid additional fees.) We hope to make modest monthly deposits in 2018. This is our first ever retirement savings that is not through an employer-based plan -- A huge milestone! It will also save us some money on student loan payments next year. This was only possible because of the work we did to pay off all of our consumer debt. 

2. Politely contested an incorrect charge on our cell phone bill. ($58 credit!)

3. Asked the manufacturer to replace the strap that was falling apart on my less than two year old, name brand watch. The warranty didn't apply to the strap, but they happily obliged anyway. ($25 value.)

4. Saved a notable chunk of change using my online grocery store coupons (no clipping required) and our quarterly grocery store rewards rebate: 

5. My husband and I officially filed for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (just in case this makes any difference when the court rules on the motion recently filed by the Department of Education). Paperwork continues to be part of our financial journey.

6. Asked Costco for a refund when everyone in our house agreed that our Kirkland Signature brand pesto (which is usually amazing) didn't taste like normal... This odd pesto was of course discovered on a night when we had dinner company... le sigh. ($7.98 saved!)

7. Re-Evaluated what was necessary when my son needed a new phone. We will be using our insurance to replace our son's damaged 4-year-old phone instead of buying him a newer model. ($250 + tax saved.)

8. Sensing that my professional wardrobe might need an upgrade in coming months, I saved a few clothing budget dollars by deciding to make my sandals last for another season. I even got complimented on them recently because people can't see the holes beginning to wear into the soles. Ha! ($35 in spending avoided.)

9. Handmade part of a secret birthday gift for my husband. He celebrates August 26! (Priceless!) 

10. Handmade a similarly secret birthday gift for my dad. 

11. Got in some great workouts via free hikes (Including more than 28,000 steps with some gratuitous elevation gain one day!). These work outs came with some great (free) photos, one of which I ended up using for Part 2 of the recent "Variations on the Path to Financial Success" series. 

12. Made adventurous meals with a friend, inexpensively enjoying hours together (first we braised, and then we grilled) instead of meeting at a restaurant. Because my friend hosted, I basically got a free gourmet meal, although I hope to return the favor soon. ($55 value.)

13. Sent the invoice for my second freelance writing piece. ($250 in future cash.)

14. Harvested homegrown fingerling potatoes, blueberries, parsley, jalapeño, and rosemary... and made a super tasty roasted potato salad with fresh herbs from some of the harvest.

 15. Closed an old savings account, and deposited the remainder in our house maintenance fund (this comes in very handy in #19).  

16. Came in under budget for monthly groceries (finally) for the first time all year in July (author's confession: yes, this probably has something to do with us taking a short vacation, which brings us to the next item...). 

17. Funded two nights away for our wedding anniversary in cash (well, first we got 5% cash back on all our restaurant purchases, then we immediately paid off the credit card with cash.)

18. Used our credit card rewards to help get us ahead on grocery expenses in the new month. 

19. Began work on a project to install gutters and a downspout in a 5-foot area that the previous homeowners had neglected, saving our house siding from additional damage. While I can't put a finger on the value yet, it will definitely save us money to be able to repair and repaint our cedar siding instead of replacing it.  

20. Recommitted myself to home cooking by trying some new recipes that are tasty, healthy, and cool in the heat wave we've been experiencing. (Side note: If you ever ask yourself whether you should try making roasted jalapeño honey mustard dressing, the answer is absolutely yes!!!)

Good habits should be a source of pride.

That peaceful feeling of financial tranquility was not due to a lack of productivity. All those small choices (and the big ones too!) really added up over the last couple weeks. Now that taking good care of my money has become a habit, I was making positive financial choices auto-pilot and overlooking all all the small signs of progress. In just a few minutes of reflection, I changed my perspective and felt proud of all our household has done in the last few weeks.  

While there are always ways we could be doing more, it felt great to realize that we'd been taking actions pretty much daily that were positive for our household budget.  As I went through this exercise of reflecting on our wins, I realized that this wasn't actually a slick new tool at all.  Tallying up our financial wins every two weeks was a huge source of our motivation at the beginning of our journey. It was this exact practice that helped us to build the healthy habits that we have today.

Everyday good choices, unlike momentary excitement, really do provide a foundation for lasting joy. Appreciating my everyday healthy habits is something I hope to make a more common part of my life. 

How do you stay motivated when working towards financial goals? Are there wins that you've been overlooking?

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Our drive to buy: When and how we shop.

Hosting a yard sale gives you a chance to do a lot of people watching. More specifically, it gives you an inside look into the shopping habits and product preferences of others. I'm not a hardcore shopper and I've never worked in retail, so this experience was eye opening for me. 

When you host a yard sale, you are the shop-keep. This means that you get to do a lot more than just passively observe people's shopping preferences, you also get to hear their (very) direct feedback on things. 

One of the first things we noticed was how strongly people felt the need to tell us that a set of four soup mugs were mislabeled as coffee mugs. (Duly noted, shoppers, duly noted.) The next thing they felt compelled to point out was that there were chips in two of the four mugs. They did not do this to negotiate a better price, and they never made a lower offer. In fact, any item with a chip was automatically ruled out as worthless by every shopper who offered their opinion.

If there was a caste system for yard sale items, chipped china would be at the very bottom. I sold three rusted barrel rings for a few bucks within the first hour of opening. There was no barrel included and no questions asked, but a chipped mug? Heck no. This aversion to chips was true even of shoppers who appeared to have very limited means. This begged the question: Why did a small chip (on an otherwise functional item) make a mug entirely worthless? 

An abrupt drop in the perceived value of a useful item isn't just true when browsing chipped dinnerware. Last summer, we worked with a neighbor to replace some wiggling fence posts, making our backyard secure before adding a dog to our family. The fence is older. It had been there for some time when we bought our home a decade ago. No matter its age, a few new fence posts made it right as rain. It's a sound, sturdy fence now and serves it's purpose very well. Except our neighbor's longtime boyfriend doesn't think so.

As we made casual conversation recently about the incredibly handy person that we'd hired to replace the fence posts, he remarked offhandedly that the whole fence needed replacing. He doesn't live at the neighboring property or make decisions about its upkeep, so I didn't argue... But I'm not convinced that the weathered appearance of a completely sound fence necessitates a costly replacement. (If you'd like to judge for yourself, you can see a picture that includes some of this ancient fence in my article on Buy Nothing.)

If the look of the fence offended me, I would gladly clean it up and apply some stain or paint. But it doesn't. In fact, I like the natural coloring the fence has taken on with time. Based on the number of products and tutorials that exist for creating weathered-looking wood, I think others appreciate the appearance of time-tested planks as well. 

While a change in appearance, a chip or a weather-worn patina, can dramatically reduce the value of a serviceable item in our neighborhood, not all cultures feel this way. This might be particularly true in Japan, where the concepts of Kintsugi and Wabi-sabi originated. 

As a philosophy, Kintsugi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in broken things. Literally, it means "golden repair." In fact, Kintsugi is the practical art of rejoining broken pieces of pottery with gold, "highlighting the cracks and repairs as simply an event in the life of an object rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage." 

Wabi-sabi is a very similar philosophy. I'll let Wikipedia define the two halves of the word: "Wabi... connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs."

Together, these philosophies can help us to see a worn fence or a chipped mug a little differently. They are not objects to be thrown out or replaced, but rather objects we can admire for having weathered the tests of time. 

Wabi-sabi & our bodies.

If the brokenness, wear, and patina that come with age can add character to an object, then could this not be true of our bodies as well? 

Earlier this week, my son and I were comparing our scars and the stories that went with them. These marks had a rich history to tell! A pale scuff on my left knee is a souvenir of the flying leap I made between boulders in Montana a few years back. There's the surgical line left behind when part of my thyroid was removed. Parallel scars run vertical on the face of my right knee from running and rough housing with the little boys after church when I was small. 

Wabi-sabi means the human body can carry reminders of our adventures. The "patina" of our age can also tell stories of love. The softly loosening skin of our partner's elbow, their gray hair, an emerging age spot -- these things can remind us of the years we've lived hand-in-hand together. Similarly, the many changes of pregnancy can be a proud tribute to parenthood.  

Wabi-sabi in America:
Changing our mindset.

The Japanese aren't the only ones to embrace these philosophies. In fact, you might be very familiar with a childhood tale tells a beautiful story about the value of things that are a bit banged up and worn: 

““Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

- Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

We are becoming. Our skin softens and wrinkles, tattoos fade, our hair grays, and we become.

Society generally values the preservation of youthfulness, particularly in women. We read about celebrities spending so much on surgeries and other artificial ways to keep appearing young, but a youthful look is not something we can maintain indefinitely. Our appearance, like so many things in the world, is in a constant state of change. There is huge peace in accepting that our forehead might crease and our thighs might dimple in time. This type of peace requires us to find value in something other than our looks.

As physical changes take place, we can choose to pursue experiences and personal growth that add to our value as humans. We can cultivate relationships with greater depth.

No matter how tight our grip, we cannot cling to youth forever, but we can keep our bodies strong, nourished, and ready to be marked up by more adventures. (I do not, however, recommend jumping between giant rocks! #Danger)

While we're accepting ourselves and the people we love as things that will most definitely age, let's do the same for the practical things in our lives. Let's spend less time and money on replacing chipped mugs and instead focus on filling them with tea (or soup!) to sip with a friend. Let's have the patience to watch the useful things in our lives take on the character and patina of age instead of rushing out to buy and apply "weathered wood accelerator" to the latest and greatest thing. 

Our possessions and our bodies both change over time, but applying a little Wabi-sabi to our lives can give us a deep peace that new objects and age-defying wrinkle cream cannot.

(Author's Note: The post photo features a coffee mug, not to be confused with a soup mug.) 

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This is Part 2 of a series illustrating that financial success can come in many forms, and it does not always come from an easy path of privilege.

Read Part 1: Variations on the path to financial success here.

Halfway there:
The value of an incomplete money story.

Michelle Jackson is a personal finance blogger at Michelle is Money Hungry. She describes herself as "unapologetically money hungry because being broke sucks." But, she doesn't focus on being greedy. Her aim is to make mindful decisions when it comes to her dollars (you can totally see why we're on board with what she's selling, right?).

When Michelle began blogging, she was depressed, overwhelmed, overweight, frightened, lonely, and deeply in debt. Before beginning her blog, she had just finished completing graduate school while supporting both herself and her mother through the economic downturn. Even after graduating, jobs were scarce. Both Michelle and her mother, who had worked hard all of her life, had difficulty finding work. 

"Like most people, I was ill-equipped to handle this financial tsunami that threatened to drown me." 
- Michelle Jackson

Debt accrued because she had to use credit cards for groceries. Bill collectors called, and people talked down to her about what she had to do to keep surviving. But Michelle didn't roll over and give up. She re-educated herself about money and worked hard to eliminate debt and change poor financial habits. 

Michelle is only halfway to her goals, but just because her story is more modest than some (at this point) doesn't mean that she hasn't racked up some huge accomplishments.

Michelle has learned financial discipline and achieved some pretty major feats. She... 

• Stopped shopping for a full year. 
• Bought a car with cash (and learned how to drive as an adult).
• Stopped using credit.
• Dug in and learned a ton about personal finance.
• Reduced her monthly expenses by half.
• Quit her day job to take care of her health and mental well-being.
• Learned how to make money from side-hustling.
• Learned how freelancing works and used strategies to give herself a raise with each client.
• Paid ahead on many of her monthly bills. 

Michelle might not be planning her early retirement part just yet, but she has conquered so much. In particular, she defeated the demon that plagues so many people who would like to improve themselves: Inaction. 

Michelle recently had her personal finance story turned down by an editor because it wasn't sexy enough. This is what Michelle had to say:  

I feel really proud of all of the financial progress (and financial moves) that I’ve made. Who was this person and organization to tell me that in order for my story to have value, that I should already be at the end of my story? Sorry, not sorry, I’m in the middle of my journey and like everything, my progress is accelerating.

This kind of drive and confidence is not a fluffy bunch of inspiration; it's allowed Michelle to start moving financial mountains. 

From Small Town to Big Time:
The Teacher who decided to aim for Early Retirement. 

Teacher Investor first caught my eye because people are quick to dis on the profession of teaching, especially when it comes to it's financial rewards. Teacher Investor (who we'll call "Teacher" as he adheres to the time-honored tradition of anonymous financial blogging) is also a parent and musician. He was raised in a low-income family in a REALLY small town (like "Population 1,000" small). Teacher's blue collar family placed no value on education, yet raised four boys who went on to find success. 

The "one-stoplight" town of Teacher's youth was like many in rural America. No fast food restaurants, one grocery store, two gas stations (both closed on Sundays), a few local shops, and a high school that served as the center of practically everything. Like many other rural towns, it's entrepreneurial opportunities have been extremely limited since a WalMart went in 40 minutes away.

In fact, Some of the worst economic inequality is the United States is in rural America. Many of the country's more isolated places continue to experience vast economic decline, while the economies of coastal cities have bounced back.

Teacher knew more than the isolation of small town life. He had something that many rural-raised kids don't get... The ultimate blue-collar travel experience: a father who was a long haul truck driver.

"The thing that strikes me thinking back on this is it (the town) didn't feel quite that small to me in the 80s and 90s. That's probably because of my family's occupation for the most part -- trucking -- it got me out of town frequently. I spent almost all of my summer's riding along with my Dad (and relatives) across all parts of the country. NYC. LA. Dallas. Chicago. Miami. That exposure and diversity did a lot for me."

In rural America, Teacher saw that financial illiteracy was frequently road block to people's ambitions and achievements. While his parents didn't sock away a 65% savings rate, they did provide a stable and strong foundation for their growing boys. A secure home, regular routines, and family vacations were provided for on their modest income, even if things like investing, planning, education, and long-term security weren't a part of their mindset.

In addition to stability, this blue-collar upbringing taught something else: Absolute grit. Their 5th generation military family not only bounced back with strong will from every set back (with brothers ready to help each other up along the way), but they had service and discipline instilled from them at an early age.

Teacher was the first in his family to go to college. Creativity is what Teacher credits with helping him break through this barrier. Teacher was first recognized at a festival for his musical talent. A full-tuition scholarship soon followed. When Teacher got to college, he found that higher education filled a thirst activated in him by his love of learning and summers spent in distance cities.   

Following his bachelor's degree and some time teaching school, fellowships allowed Teacher to achieve a graduate level education and explore some prestigious higher education posts, including administrative leadership. Now in his 40s, he has headed back into the classroom as a full professor.

Teacher has saved a lot of money along the way, but hasn't forgotten his rural roots and remains completely aware that we live in a country where only 4% of Americans born into poverty will make it into the middle class. Luckily, not all success is financial. Teacher is quick to acknowledge that his parents built something incredibly meaningful with what they had... A strong family:  

"My Mom never completed high school. She left school one day. Got on a bus to Georgia. And married my Dad at Fort Benning before he shipped out to Korea for 3 years. Almost 60 years later, they're still happily married... That's happiness and success if you ask me!"

Looking for more non-traditional success stories?
We've got 'em... Read Part 1: Variations on the path to financial success here.

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Mindfully Spent subscribers get periodic email updates on what's new, and we share every post as it happens on our social media accounts. 

According to Psychology Today, "Hope is not just a feel-good emotion, but a dynamic cognitive motivational system." 

In other words, if you believe that you can achieve a better life, it's quite possible that your belief could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm not an entrepreneur or a job creator. I cannot impact American jobs shifting to the traditionally lower-paid service industry. However, all of us can sow seeds of hope. 

There is no one way to be successful.

Success with personal finances can start so many ways. I've met people in the personal finance world who started out late or came from non-traditional beginnings and now have masterful financial plans. Some of these people are on track to reach FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) status in short order. Some have used persistence to create financial wins with modest means. 

Today, I am sharing the stories of people who don't have a Leave it to Beaver story. Maybe they seemed to have the odds stacked against them or they made decisions that seemed irretractable at the time. In each of these stories, the person found a way to rise up and be savvy commanders of their destiny -- financial and otherwise. If hope is indeed the powerful thing they claim, these inspiring stories are sure to give you a huge dose of it.

Being Born at a Disadvantage
Does not Define your Destiny.

The Luxe Strategist Story. One of my favorite personal finance bloggers first caught my eye when I first read about her decision to move to New York City, a move that many would consider foolish and financially risky. When describing why she made the decision, the Luxe Strategist (who adheres to the time-honored tradition of anonymous financial writing) stated as her first reason: "I had faith in myself." She also had the will to get it done. She went on to not only live in NYC, but to save 61% of her income while doing so.

If you've opened some of the same click bait headlines that I have, you know that many flashy stories of achievement come as a result of good luck rather than hard work. Oftentimes the story behind these headlines will include a trust fund, large inheritance, or overly generous parents to pave the way. Not the Luxe Strategist. In fact, she started out with less advantages than many of us have growing up.

The Luxe Strategist's story begins like this (as told in her own words): 

Most Americans would say I grew up financially disadvantaged... My parents were low-income refugees from a third-world country; my dad finished third grade, and my mom is illiterate in every language. I’m actually the first person in my family to graduate high school, and then college. And, even after living in the US for over 30 years,  my mom still works the same blue-collar jobs, never making more than $14/hour.

I didn’t have a model of success to work from. Instead, I forged my own.

After college, I could have chosen to stay in my hometown. Work at the same factory where my mom worked. Live at home. I could have been comfortable. Safe. But instead I chose to move to a big city where I knew no one. To hustle to find a job, and work for every single penny I had. To take risks, and fail disastrously. To take more risks, and then lead myself to success. And eventually draw my own financial map.

The Luxe Strategist did not just "survive" her upbringing. Those things that others might consider disadvantages gave her the tools to achieve more: She credits her mom with teaching her the resourcefulness, self-reliance, strategic risk taking, modest standards, and strong sense of self that helped her succeed. With vision and determination, even a seemingly big dream like being financially successful in NYC is absolutely attainable.

Author's Note: If you haven't clicked on any of the Luxe Strategist hyperlinks yet, you are totally missing out on a great blog. For more great reading on living a mindful and financially sound life in New York City (with kids!), I highly recommend Brooklyn Bread.

The Next Best Time to Start is Now. 

The story of Building Income. We can call the author behind Building Income by the name Colin... because his name really is Colin. If you have ever asked yourself whether it's possible to recover after a couple decades of bad choices, Colin is here to say it is totally possible:

For years, I blew up my finances with stupid purchases and poor life choices. I finally woke up around forty years old and realized how much trouble I was in.  Soon, I was facing a divorce which would force my net worth to nearly zero.

I work in the commercial real estate industry where I have experience in investment sales & leasing, property management and development.  I began building my real estate portfolio in 2010 after realizing I'd completely mishandled my 20s and 30s.  Watching my clients build wealth, while mine continued to fritter away, I started asking questions, reading the right books and paying attention to those who were signing "the front of the checks."

There is a Chinese proverb that says "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." This proverb is often borrowed to describe the best time to begin paying off debt, saving, and investing. Colin is a living, breathing example of how starting late (rather than never) can result in success. 

Now, Colin boasts a net worth of over half a million dollars. He has learned a lot along the way and often writes about the lessons we pass down to children and the value of simple things in life (like drinking cheap beer and using our focus to find a deeper level of fulfillment).

He also still makes mistakes sometimes, proving that successful people are, indeed, still incredibly human. 

Listen up: Broke, depressed, alcoholic...
and then financially successful? 

A Story in Podcast Form. Laurie at the Frugal Farmer turned us on to an incredible interview with Joshua Smith from GSD Mode on the Money Peach Podcast. This was how Laurie got our attention:

One of the first things guest Joshua Smith said was “If you’re not reaching your goals, it’s because you don’t want them bad enough.”

Could be, I thought. Keep talking.

The guy went on to tell about his life, about how he went from broke, depressed alcoholic at 23 to uber-successful guy at 35 (with a wife and some kids) who owns several businesses, one of which was making him $7,000 a month.

I'm not completely convinced that sheer desire can make any goal come true, but Joshua's meteoric rise is certainly impressive. You can read all of Laurie's review of the podcast and the article it inspired here.  Or snap up your earbuds and skip straight to the Money Peach podcast. 

What's your story?

I'm not always a "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" preacher. I know firsthand that there are times of need when we cannot do things alone, and the challenges that each person faces are unique. However, I also think it's possible that we often underestimate our own potential. We accept the mediocre options offered to us by our tragically limited imaginations or resign ourselves too soon to an underwhelming, soul-sucking existence.

What's your story? Did you have a non-traditional beginning? Did you need a helping hand to take achieve financial success? Is there some especially hard work you're proud of? What ways have you overcome the limits of your imagination? 

Keep in Touch.
Part 2 of this series coming soon! Mindfully Spent subscribers get periodic email updates on what's new, and we share every post as it happens on our social media accounts. 

Before buying a home.

House hunting was absolutely about finding a place that looked and felt like home for us, but it's also important to keep an eye toward practical considerations. A house's square footage and practical considerations like updated windows and a sufficiently insulated attic change the monthly cost that a homeowners must pay toward utilities. Some specific home features can also have an impact. For example, cathedral ceilings and sunrooms can increase energy costs. House shoppers in hot climates may want to keep an eye out for homes with cool roof features to prevent the air conditioning from having to work overtime.

When we found a place that felt like home, we lined up a home inspector with a great reputation. Walking through the home alongside the inspector was a great education in our home's energy efficiency as well as the maintenance projects we should take on to protect our property value. We learned how our levels of insulation compared to standards in our region and the age of major appliances and equipment in the home. 

If your dream home doesn't come with an energy efficient water heater, there's no need to despair. Issues that show up during a home inspection can give you grounds to negotiate with the seller.  

In the end, our family of three ended up choosing a modern cottage (just under 800 square feet) in a great neighborhood with a large garage for hobbies and storage space. We get a lot of use out of our generous outdoor entertaining space and garage, while the modest size of the home keeps our monthly utility bills low. It's a choice we don't regret! 

Major appliances and equipment.

I don't have to tell you that appliances and equipment tie directly to overall energy use. Shopping for efficient new appliances and equipment is easy thanks to the independent certification done by Energy Star. Most modern appliances will feature an Energy Star label that will give you a yearly estimated operating cost:

Older appliances may not be as easy to assess, but you can use the US Dept of Energy's Appliance Energy Calculator to get an estimate.  

With roughly half of all energy expenses going to heating and cooling, high performing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment should be a priority for every homeowner. However, overall efficiency isn't the only factor to consider when evaluating your heating and cooling system.

When we initially bought our home, the furnace installed by prior owners was over-sized. It might have been an efficient choice in a larger home, but not ours. The furnace would inefficiently "short cycle" during the winter months, creating a negative impact on our budget while causing excessive wear and tear on the furnace itself. When we replaced it with a model half the size, we saw an immediate savings on our monthly utility bill. We even got some money back on the cost of the furnace itself by researching tax rebates.

Quick fixes for greater energy efficiency...
Including tips for renters!

Not a lot of dollars to put down on a new HVAC system? No problem. Not every move toward energy efficiency requires an expensive home upgrade. 

There are quick fixes that owners and renters can do to cut back on energy costs. Energy Star has simple money saving tips that anyone can put in place today. Easy tasks like replacing weather striping on a drafty front door, washing laundry in cold water, and updating to energy-efficient light bulbs can all make an impact on your budget's bottom line.

Even the way your operate your ceiling fan can surprisingly make a difference.

Seeking expert guidance.

We learned about our over-sized furnace from the home inspector that we consulted before buying our home, but expert help doesn't have to be expensive.

Many local utility companies will provide an energy audit, and they often offer them for no charge. We'll be signing up for one of these appointments with our local utility company. When they come out, they'll give us free advice on how to lower our energy bill even further. As a part of their visit, they'll update up to 20 light bulbs, increasing our home's efficiency on-the-spot. They offer high-performance shower heads and other perks at no charge as well. (If they have enough good tips, then we'll be sure to share them in a follow up post!)

These types of audits can be helpful for identifying other major contributors to HVAC costs as well, like insufficient insulation and drafts. 

Lower your utility bill... and then save a little more!

Making your home more efficient can provide a whole lot of bang for your buck. In addition to lowering your monthly utility bill or making your home more comfortable in extreme weather, you might also be eligible for tax credits, rebates, and additional kinds of savings. We saw huge savings on updated windows and our furnace replacement by using tax credits.

The number of programs offering additional savings can be overwhelming. Luckily, homeowners can conduct some quick research online to ensure they're not missing out: US Department of Energy's Searchable Tax Credit, Rebate, and Incentives Database. 

Additional resources for energy efficiency

• Energy Star: Energy Savings at Home
• US Department of Energy's complete Energy Resource Guide (ebook/pdf)
• The Energy-Smart House by Taunton Press

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Mindfully Spent subscribers get periodic email updates on what's new, and we share every post as it happens on our social media accounts.

Persistence

A friend of mine who's achieved some admirable athletic goals (both in weight lifting and distance running) often advocates that sustained consistency is key to fitness results. This is true for major financial goals as well.

Paying off a substantial amount of debt required persistently making decisions that brought us closer to our goal. It meant scrambling to cover unexpected costs without using the credit card, working for six weeks to break a paid parking habit, returning purchases that hadn't been used, renegotiating many of our monthly bills, and putting extra dollars that came our way toward our credit card payment or our home repair fund. It meant quitting the gym and taking our exercise into our own hands. It meant wearing broken glasses until our yard sale generated some cash to replace them.

Persistence was the sometimes tedious dedication to shopping and cooking-cooking-cooking for the week on Sundays to keep our food costs low. Persistence was continuing to challenge the cost of the lunches we packed when we started to get comfortable in our routine. Persistence meant constantly working to align our actions with our values on decisions both big and small.  

Patience

The journey was not always exciting. After awhile, there were no more quick wins -- no easy achievements to provide instant gratification. We often went from month to month with less spending money and just our regular slew of payments. Sometime progress is a routine. Sometimes it feels incredibly boring (this might be especially true after the roller coaster of money anxiety followed by exhilarating financial quick wins). We had to be okay with months of same-old-same-old in order to be successful.

Patience was also helpful when it came to making decisions of all sizes. Some of the decisions we wrestled initially felt huge -- like whether to repair or replace our ten-year-old car. Practicing patience meant waiting until we came to peace with the choice that was right for us before moving forward. Patience also helped me avoid impulse purchases. When I wanted to buy a hatchet, upgrade to a hiking back that would keep my back from becoming a sweaty mess, or replace a fraying work bag, I didn't just jump to it. I added these things to a list and let the drive to buy them cool. When I did eventually buy that hatchet, I had a member refund AND a coupon at our local outdoors supply co-op. Lots of things are still sitting on that list, and my life is no less without them. 

Paperwork

ERMAHGERD. The paperwork. Student loan income based repayment forms. For two students. Submitted twice because bureaucracy. Home refinance. Student loan refinance. These sentence fragments are a very small number of words to express the massive avalanche of paperwork that we took on (and will continue to take on as income based repayment has annual renewal). However, it was worth the work. This paperwork created flexibility in our month-to-month bills that allowed us to focus like a laser on our consumer debt. 

Okay... so maybe these are hallmarks of being determined to reach a meaningful goal, and not true Godly acts at all. Fair enough. I'll give you that one, but... 

The miracle I didn't mention: 
Career growth. 

Paying down debt as quickly as we did was partially the result of persistence, patience, and paperwork, but it never would have happened without a great job and a healthy paycheck. The career growth that I've experienced has provided me with an income above the median for my age group (Find out how your income compares to others your age with this super nerdy and totally awesome calculator). Our rapid pay off of consumer debt would not have been possible without it. 

Part of my career growth was, like the "miracles" above, a product of determined effort:

1. I dedicated myself to a meaningful career path instead of just holding any old job
2. I weathered a huge drop in income to go back to school when I was a single mom in order to have opportunities in a field I was passionate about. 
3. I seek opportunities to take on additional responsibility, and I'll take on the tasks no one else wants.
4. I deeply enjoy hard work and the sense of value it gives me.
                 AND
5. I went back to school for a Master's Degree when I sensed it would be necessary to keep moving forward in my work. 

The reason that I still believe my career growth has been an actual miracle is this: Many people have put great effort into their careers with very little change in their income. In fact, wages have largely remained stagnant over the last decade and underemployment is so prevalent that it feels like an epidemic in some communities.

The United Health Foundation reports that underemployment remains higher than it was in 2008 before the Great Recession hit. In some states, it remains as high as 15%. That's roughly one of out of every 6 people. Nationally, the figure is just over 10%.

The United Health Foundation defines underemployment as people who are unemployed or employed part-time while seeking full-time work. This means that the percentage would be even larger if we counted the people who have found full-time work, but at a lower wage then they are qualified to be making.

From the numbers, we can see that the career growth I'm experiencing right now is the unfortunate exception and not the rule for many, many Americans. In short, it's a miracle. 

(Pretty cheerful post so far, right? It's okay. Stay with me...)

While many are struggling to find full-time work at a decent wage, opportunities of one kind or another are happening every day. There are great careers with solid pay out there. Someone is going to be on the receiving end of the world's opportunities. If you are someone experiencing underemployment or low wages, it is important to believe that it might be you. In fact, if you believe that you can achieve a better life, it's quite possible that your belief could become a self-fulfilling prophecy:

Some psychologists and economists have found that hope itself is a force powerful enough to lift people into higher income brackets.  

According to Psychology Today, "Hope is not just a feel-good emotion, but a dynamic cognitive motivational system." In other words, looking at the world through a lens of hope is some seriously powerful shiznit.

This new research on hope has its roots in earlier studies, including those by University of Kansas Psychologist Doctor Charles Snyder. Dr. Snyder defined hope as "believing you have both the will and the way to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be."

Dr. Snyder found that this kind of hope was necessary for many of life's successes, but it wasn't inherent in the majority of us. Unlike the age old saying ("Where there is a will, there is a way"), only about 40% of people in his study indicated that had both the will and the means to achieve their goals. Roughly 20% felt they had the ability, but not enough will. Another 20% felt they had the will, but no means to achieve their goals. The final fifth of respondents lacked both components of his definition of hope. 

"It's not enough just to have the wish for something," said Dr. Snyder. "You need the means, too. On the other hand, all the skills to solve a problem won't help if you don't have the willpower to do it." (New York Times)

Are you in the high-hope category?

Dr. Snyder found some common attributes among people who had high levels of hope:

• People with high levels of hope are more likely to turn to friends for advice on accomplishing their goals.
• They have positive self-talk, and "they tell themselves they can succeed at what they need to do."
• They are optimistic about what the future holds, even in hard times. 
• They're flexible and can find multiple ways to achieve their goals if needed.
• When the likelihood of a goal dims, they set their sights on another: "Those low in hope tend to become fixated on one goal, and persist even when they find themselves blocked," Dr. Snyder said. "They just stay at it and get frustrated."
• They break up formidable goals into bite-sized tasks that are less intimidating. 

Important side note for my FIRE friends: This post focuses on the power of hope when lifting people into greater financial success and more rewarding careers. High hopes can lead people who have already achieved financial success to make lower-risk investments that hurt them in the long run in some situations. 

Creating hope.

I'm not an entrepreneur. I don't work in a position where I can help create high-paying jobs. I cannot impact American jobs shifting to the traditionally lower-paid service industry. However, all of us can sow seeds of hope. 

I've met people in the personal finance world who started out with very little and now have masterful financial plans. Some of these people are on track to reach FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) status in short order. It takes persistence, patience, and sometimes paperwork, but it can happen.

Normally on Mindfully Spent, the story that the contributors and I share is our own. However, in a future post, I will be sharing the stories of others who found themselves in a life where the odds were against them. In each of these stories, they found a way to rise up and be savvy commanders of their destiny -- financial and otherwise. These inspiring stories are the hope that I can share with the world. 

Too often, our limits are set by the stories we tell ourselves. Let's shatter the restrictions we've created for ourselves. Let's embrace the mighty power of hope, dream big, and become something more.

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It was a daunting goal, but through the miracles of persistence, patience, and paperwork, we have reached an epic milestone...

Our consumer debt is paid in full. 

No car payment.
No department store card payment.
No credit card payment. 

When we started, we were 5 digits deep in consumer debt. We had a department store card balance, general credit card debt, and a car loan payment. Now we have none.

Zero. Zip. Zilch.

All told, we paid off $14,968 of debt in ten months.

An unreal number. A sum that would have seemed entirely unreasonable when we began. It honestly doesn't even seem real now. This has not only lifted an immense stress off of our life, being consumer debt free will also have an immediate positive impact on our finances... eliminating costly monthly interest. 

Last year, we paid $1,069 in credit card interest alone.
Let that sink in for a minute... We paid over a grand to the bank in 2016 just for holding our debt (and we had a comparatively low interest rate credit card!). Yes, we did need emergency plumbing repairs, emergency legal services, and some of the other items we put on our card in a hurry, but it came with a hefty price tag. For the second half of 2017, we hopefully will not need to pay the bank a dime in credit card or car loan interest. 

In addition to paying off our car and credit cards, we also got a head start in building up some savings to prevent future debt. We started our home repair fund and began saving money to buy our next car (when it's needed). It felt great when we recently paid for a home repair project and weekend travels in cash. 

We did not reach this milestone by being perfect.

We did not follow every one of our goals without fail. For example, our goal to trim our household shopping to $650 per month has seen constant set backs. (I cannot tell you how much I wish I didn't have food allergies, so I could just eat a gosh darn sandwich or rice like normal people.) And it took me six weeks to consistently avoid paying for parking.

For every misstep we've shared, there have been many, many more that were too boring to write about. Although we are wholly imperfect, we forgave ourselves for our short comings, recommitted to our goal when necessary, and kept working on smarter spending. Eventually, we reached a financial milestone that feels unbelievable to us.

We aren't done.

With our consumer debt conquered, we've set some new goals of course! We can turn our focus to rapid payoff of our private student loan (We don't consider our Student Loans consumer debt. Some folks do and some folks don't. Ours were pretty crucial to the career growth we've experienced and the income we earn today). We also plan to begin investing more in retirement and start saving to pay for future travel with cash (Okay, so really we're going to use a credit card, reap the credit card rewards, and then immediately pay off the costs using cash, but still). We also still need to build up our savings for emergencies.

A new measuring stick for our money.

Since we've eliminated our consumer debt, we're evaluating our finances in new ways to make sure we stay motivated. We started tracking our net worth (we've improved it dramatically, but it's still negative at this point... thank you, student loans and housing bubble). And we'll soon be calculating and monitoring our personal savings rate (government retirement plans make this complicated, but personal finance blogger Luxe Strategist hooked me up with some good tips!).

Beyond these personal finance basics... we're also setting more specific intentions for how we want to spend our money. My goal is no longer simply to make it paycheck to paycheck comfortably while buying the general amount of stuff that people buy. I don't stick to a budget just because I want to have cash for Christmas gifts or my son's birthday (although I definitely do want to do want to pay cash for those things!). 

Now that we have a little more financial breathing room, we can start asking ourselves bigger questions: 

• What causes would we like to support with our money?
• How much should we be contributing?
• How do we use our money to support our creative pursuits and other things we love?
• What will we change about our budget as my husband returns to school to get his Masters?
• What does an ideal life look like 5 years from now? 10 years? 40 years?
• Are the choices we making now helping us to get there?

None of this seemed possible when we began just ten months ago. It has been a powerful transition to move from racking up debt to creating a financial safety net and putting our money toward things that are important to us. 

Our changing relationship with money. 

Paying off our consumer debt does not just mean a new set of financial goals. It has changed my relationship with money. 

Ten months ago, money and I were in a dysfunctional relationship. It caused a lot of stress in my life. My spending felt out of control. I didn't know what I was spending my money on or whether I could change our expenses and habits enough to dig us out of debt. This feeling was a huge source of guilt and anxiety for me, and it was hard to talk about my money fears with my husband because (as the primary bill payer) I felt personally responsible for our finances. I was terrified that a broken household appliance or another plumbing emergency would put us deeper into debt, and that our monthly bills would begin to suffocate us and start taking away from the life we enjoyed together. 

When I think about my spending now, "out of control" is the last thing that comes to mind. I also no longer get a stomach ache when I think about how we'd pay for an emergency household repair. While we still have a lot of savings to do before we have a sufficient emergency fund, we're on our way to achieving financial peace of mind.

I would have paid even more for the peace I have today when I think about the anxiety I felt before. 

Looking back, I can also see that what I knew about personal finance was sorely lacking ten months ago. I learned a lot of valuable lessons from my parents and my schooling, but there were some gaps in what I knew about managing my money. Books like Vicki Robin's "Your Money or Your Life" and Anna Newell Jones' "The Spender's Guide to Debt-free Living" as well as countless articles helped me catch up on what I needed to know.

None of this seemed entirely possible when we set out, and I never expected it to happen in this short of a time period. My biggest hope was that we could change our finances in such a way that we would have greater freedom when it came to future life choices. While there are no major life changes on the horizon at this point, it absolutely would be easier now to change jobs, move, travel, or add a wee babe to our family of three.

When we began, paying off our consumer debt and lowering monthly expenses was the end goal. With those things accomplished, we can now set our eyes on even bigger prizes. I have a much greater awareness of what is possible and how much freedom financial independence can provide. We have come so far already. Yet, on the horizon before us, I can glimpse in the mist ahead of us that so much more is possible. 

In the next few posts, I'll be writing a bit more about how we made it here -- about the miracles of persistence, patience, and paperwork and more. I'll also be sharing stories of those who have inspired me along the way, people who came from rocky starts or non-traditional backgrounds to become savvy money managers. I hope you'll enjoy those stories as much as I did. 

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Author's Note: The photo for this post was taken on a recent trip with friends to Smith Rock State Park in Oregon. It's beautiful -- Like the Utah of the Pacific Northwest! We hope to return there again. 

How it began.

We first decided to have a yard sale for the most practical reason on the earth: Excess inventory (aka, too much stuff) is one of the seven deadly kinds of waste. And we didn't need any deadly stuff in our life. In addition, with our debt paid down and our son getting older, we're sensing some expanding freedom ahead. We wanted nimble lives that would allow us to embrace whatever changes came our way without worrying about a bunch of stuff collecting dust. 

On it's face, a yard sale is practical matter. Planning ahead allowed us to declutter many areas of our house in the weeks leading up to the sale. We didn't get to every area of our things, but I did notice I got progressively more comfortable (see also: more aggressive) in ridding ourselves of things as we went. This prep work led us to the benefit that we'll keep experiencing long after the money we made is spent: Clean, open, and organized home spaces. 

We experienced yard sale magic!

Just a week or two before the sale, I was considering how to display everything. I had a lotta extra stuff lying around, but that stuff didn't include extra tables. I considered borrowing tables from friends or our Buy Nothing community, but those options sounded like an awful lot of errands. Then, just a couple weeks before the yard sale, I saw them... On the side of the road, for FREE! Five (Yes, count 'em, 5!) folding tables. One hatchback load later, I had exactly the tables I needed for the sale. We gave them away afterward in the hopes that someone else could experience the same kind of magic.

Nature did not approve (RAIN!!!).

There was a 60% chance of thunderstorms forecasted on the first day of our scheduled sale. Instead of canceling, I purchased two extra tarps, borrowed a 10 x 10 tent, and prepared to batten down the hatches in the storm rolled in. When rain did come knocking, I was lucky to have a friend on hand to help cover things up before the Thunderstorm could do it's worst. It turned out that the roll of thin painters plastic we already had in the garage was not only cheaper, it was much easier to roll out and cover our long tables. (Note to self: no tarps needed.) Luckily, very few items got wet, and we had great weather for the rest of the sale. 

Two things surprised us about the rain:

1. The threat of bad weather must've discouraged other sellers from setting up shop that weekend, as our customers informed us that competition over the weekend was slim.
2. Pacific Northwest shoppers were not deterred! They arrived in raincoats, enthusiastic and ready to browse under puddle collecting tarps.   

Community comes together. 

Many neighbors came by to say hello during the sale. Mostly, they were there to browse items, say hello, or check whether we were moving. They opened up as they stopped to talk, random yard sale items serving as doorways into unexpected conversations.

A kind fellow asked me for prices on my fishing gear, and then gave me advice on how much to raise them to bring those prices closer to what the tackle was worth. People arriving at the yard sale alone would confess guiltily about what chore or social obligation they were avoiding by shopping sales. A charming older man spoke to me lovingly about the 57 years of marriage he enjoyed with his wife before she passed (and then proceeded to flirt maybe a tad too much, but I digress). A neighbor that I hadn't met before mentioned that she was getting married. I was able to pass along some things from our happy day AND give her a recommendation on an amazingly talented person to do her dress alterations. 

It was an unexpected day of connecting with others in person, face-to-face, about things that mattered to them. It felt good. 

The fun family below asked if I could take a photo of them together as they concluded their visit. They sported colorful mustaches they found for sale while showing off their new jogging stroller (Cha-ching! $) and the game they were going to play together that night (Cha-ching! $). (And, being good sports, they even agreed that it was okay to put their photo on the blog! Thanks, guys!)

The last hour of our sale was "Buy Nothing Happy Hour." Knowing that leftover items would be donated to the thrift store, we opened up the sale to people from our local Buy Nothing group, inviting them to come and "shop" for free. It was fun to meet folks in person!

Friends and family were also a huge component of our sale. Friends I hadn't seen in awhile came by to sell items or just visit and help me pass the time. I got to catch up with a cousin I hadn't seen in more than a year, and some of the sales went to support our friend Hanni as she Climbs for Clean Air.  

Our yard sale profits.

How much did we make?
We sold $841 worth of items in two days! Friday was the busiest day ($419 earned!), but more folks had brought items to sell on Saturday ($422 in sales!). It was a multi-family sale, so not all of this money went into our pocket. Our share was roughly $494. The other participants received slips tallying items they'd sold along with their cash. I had that Friday off from work as a regular part of my schedule, so I didn't lose out on any wages to host the sale. 

What sold well?
Most furniture (and especially dressers) went fast! I set my prices for furniture using the going rates on OfferUp, and I probably should have priced a bit higher. A newer mountain bike and a fancy baby carrier were responsible for $100 of our total. Honestly, we did not have too many high end or highly desirable items though. A woman bought my rusty barrel rings (no barrel included) for $3. I also sold a half-full bottle of floor cleaner for $.50. Sales like these added up quickly. 

Moral of the story:
One man's trash really is another man's treasure. Don't assume you know the value that someone else would place on something. There was a sports pennant that I would have sold for $.50 or $1. Because it was my son's, I asked him to set the price. He asked the customer to make an offer... and got $5!!! If you don't know how to price something, feel free to let the customer set the starting point. You might end up pleasantly surprised. 

A yard sale as a path to minimalism.

When you start hauling everything out to your yard, you may realize that you had collected a lot more stuff than you knew. We certainly did. In addition to all the odds and ends, we had squirreled away so much extra furniture in the garage. In my early years of adulthood, I completely furnished my apartment with things I found for free on the side of the road. I think my mind still somehow thought of furniture as a scarce commodity. It was time to let those pieces go to new homes. The good news: Those furniture pieces brought in some notable chunks of cash! 

The yard sale was great practice at letting go of things and decluttering, and I think I'll be able to pare down even more after this experience. It was rewarding to see how an item that was collecting dust at our house could bring great joy and excitement to someone else who had a need for it. All in all, a great feeling and a total win.

On three occasions, someone asked to buy something that was not for sale. Two out of the three times, I found that those items were not really things that I needed and it was great to let them go. (The third time, it was an item of my husbands. I gave the customer an unarguably firm "No" as mama-bear-esque protective instincts rose up in my guts.)  

Eight tips for yard sale success. 

1. Prep work is essential.
From cleaning off dust, applying touch up paint, or thinking ahead about how to display items attractively. For an air purifier that we we selling for $20, I printed out information that showed that it retailed for $125 new. I spent ten minutes applying a little touch up paint on a beat up old dresser and then was able to get $40 for it. I felt proud when the buyer raved about what a nice dresser it was. 

2. The weather can change everything. Plan in advance anyway.
Know what you're going to do for advertising, make signs, and pick up small bills and quarters to make change. Having a solid plan to survive the weather if it's questionable is highly recommended.  

3. Forget fashionable.
Having a fanny pack to keep money handy making change would have been very helpful. I did not have a fanny pack. Because of this, I had to take measures to keep the small bills in my pocket from becoming sweaty, gross change for a customer. I also had to retreat to the house a few times to empty pockets of bigger bills and extra change. I had planned to use a cash box, but staffing a yard sale required a lot more moving around to help customers than I'd thought. A stationary cash box would have felt unsecured. 

4. Advertising.
We're on a busy street. With good signs and a highly visible location, we didn't have to do much advertising to enjoy a steady stream of traffic. Following the advice of Linda at Brooklyn Bread (one of my very favorite bloggers), I posted ads on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist. I also simultaneously advertised large items on OfferUp. I received customers and sales from all of these sources. 

5. It WAS a lot of work!
I had 16,000 steps when I finished Day 1. I never left home. (Side note: This was a huge bonus for a gal like me who is trying to get good exercise without paying for a gym membership.) Due to weather, we couldn't do any set up the night before, and setting things out took much, much more time than I predicted. I was very happy with our choice not to continue our sale on Sunday. Sundays are supposed to be slower yard sale days (many sales offer half off the price of all items on Sundays), and we deserved a rest day after all that work. 

6. Set up for shopper success.
Hang clothes, organize paper items and jewelry, group things by category. Just like any other kind of shopping, folks want to have a pleasant experience and be able to locate what they're interested in. Need tips on how to do this easily? Find them on our Pinterest board.

Paper and craft items were easiest to organize in small storage boxes.

Hang 'em up! Get creative when finding ways to display clothes, curtains, blankets, and other items. 

7. After the sale.
Do not put anything back in your garage. Load up your car (and your friends cars if you're hosting a multi-family event!) for the thrift store right away so that you can immediately enjoy the clean, open space you've created by selling things off. 

8. Take care of yourself.
Sunblock, lots of water, planned snacks/meals, help from others, and a barbecue afterward to celebrate made the weekend feel just right. Missing some of these components, the weekend could easily have felt like a death march. 

Are there more yard sales in our future?

In this process, I was interested to discover if I thought a yard sale was worth the work and whether I'd do it again. The answer is yes and no. I loved the conversations, the people watching, meeting neighbors, and the celebratory barbecue with friends and family after we had cleaned up. That made the work all feel worth it. However, part of what made the yard sale financially successful was that I had been hoarding furnitur--, or, er, we had about ten years worth of stuff in our garage. I hope I won't have enough excess stuff built up to justify a yard sale again.

What about you? Is a yard sale in your future? 

Author's Note:
It has been awhile since I had the chance to write, and I forgot how great it feels! The next Mindfully Spent article is already underway. I get the sense that it will include a pretty notable milestone for our family. 

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Mindfully Spent subscribers get periodic email updates on what's new, and we share every post as it happens on our social media accounts.

My husband and I have established a "Divided and Conquer" strategy to paying off our student loan debt:

1. We have made an aggressive plan to pay down our private student loans; and
2. We are currently planning to eliminate our federal student loans through public service loan forgiveness.  

This post is about the strategy we're using to keep our federal loan payments low while we focus all our extra dollars on eliminating other debt. 

Since I began writing this two-part series, the program that we have been relying on when making professional and financial decisions -- Public Service Loan Forgiveness --  has been proposed for elimination in the budget proposed by the Trump Administration. While Congress wields the "power of the purse" and will ultimately determine the future of this and other public education programs, anyone who is planning to utilize public service loan forgiveness should have a backup plan in their back pocket. 

A little background on our federal student loans...

With a notable sum of loans between the two of us, Public Service Loan Forgiveness has been appealing to us since we graduated. Loan forgiveness allows full-time employees in certain non-profit or government positions to use a student loan payment plan based on their income for ten years. At the end of that ten years, any remaining federal student loan balances will be waived in return for public service (e.g., work in traditionally lesser paying government/non-profit jobs). Loan forgiveness requires full-time work and on-time payments. It isn't offered on private student loans.

Last year, we did a massive amount of paperwork and applied for an income-based repayment plan based on these facts:

• My husband and I are both somewhat recent graduates who deeply enjoy our qualified public service jobs.
• We are highly likely to continue this work full-time for at least the next ten years.
• Our federal loans are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Being strategic about public service loan forgiveness

When we set up our loans for income based repayment last year, we immediately began saving over $500 per month which helped us start aggressively paying off consumer debt like credit cards and car loans. As relieved as I was at the time, I didn't put a whole lotta extra thought into our student loan repayment strategy at that time. I hadn't considered when I set up this plan was how we could keep our income-based payments as low as possible. 

Updating our strategy.
The federal government uses our adjusted gross income to determine the amount of our student loan payment. Under our repayment plan, we pay 10% of all of our income that exceeds the baseline amount of money that the government thinks we need for our household to survive. This means that any actions we take to reduce our adjusted gross income (or AGI) will also further reduce our student loan payments throughout the year. 

The surprising link between retirement savings & our student loans.
Last year when we started this journey, we didn't plan to begin making investments or setting aside additional retirement saving because we wanted to focus first on eliminating debt. I currently contribute almost 10% to a government pension and my husband makes modest contributions to a 403(b) retirement plan that has no employer match. 

In a couple years when our debt was squared off, we planned to make additional retirement contributions to a Roth IRA that would allow us some security while also serving as a last resort emergency fund. This plan changed completely when I realized that any retirement contributions to a Traditional IRA over the next then years would reduce our student loan payments as well as our taxes. (I'm gonna dive into some numbers here--Stay with me!)

How retirement contributions would lower our student loan payments.
Payments to some kinds of retirement plans (Including Traditional IRAs), lower adjusted gross income. Since we basically pay 10% of our adjusted gross income toward our federal student loans, any money we put into a Traditional IRA will reduce the amount we pay on student loan payments in the following year.

Here's an example:  

Traditional IRA Payments = $5,500

Adjusted Gross Income Goes Down = $5,500

Student Loan Payment Reduced = $550 over the course of the year
(10% of the difference in our AGI)

You can see that any contribution to a Traditional IRA will save us money on the following year's student loan payments. Combined with not having to pay 25% in taxes on these contributions, this means that roughly 35% of the money we put into a Traditional IRA would be free money.

Here's another way to look at those numbers: 

Money paid into Traditional IRA: $5,500

Money saved on taxes (25%): $1,375

Money saved on student loan repayment (10%): $550

Actual cost of $5,500 in IRA contributions: $3,575

While we may not be able to max out IRAs right now, these numbers were enough to convince us that we need to begin making contributions to a Traditional IRA in 2017. When we do, we'll be using a super low fee Vanguard IRA. Like most Americans, we probably should've started making these contributions a lot sooner. (No. 1 Financial Regret of Older Americans: Not Saving For Retirement Early Enough via MarketWatch)

Anyone using an income-based loan repayment plan (anyone paying income tax really!) should be sure that they are thinking strategically about their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) when making financial decisions. Retirement contributions are not the only way to lower AGI. Itemizing our deductions has meant that we've always gotten credit for our charitable contributions. We'll just be more concientious of impacts to our AGI when making financial decisions as we go forward. 

A HUGE IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: While this strategy works best for our current plan of action, choosing an income-based repayment plan could hurt us later if we decide we'd like to pursue pay off our federal student loans quickly instead of continuing on the path of public service loan forgiveness (or if Public Service Loan Forgiveness is terminated by El Presidente). Any payment that is lower than standard means extra interest accruing after all. 

What's next for our Student Loan Debt.

Part of achieving financial freedom is increasing earnings. With this goal in mind, my husband is applying for graduate school. Even though he is looking at low-priced public schools with good reputations, this will likely lead to more student loan debt. It will also immediately open up a wider variety of opportunities for him in a crowded job market. Graduate school will give him the opportunity to continue doing work that is deeply rewarding while potentially doubling his income in the years ahead. 

We've set an ambitious goal for our private student loans and an income-based repayment strategy for our federal loans... we hope to continue with these payoff plans while he attends school.

Nothing has made me feel more like a financial novice than our student loan debt. Because of this, we'll continue learning more this topic. Once our private student loan debt is eliminated, we'll re-evaluate our plan and see if public service loan forgiveness is still the best path for our lower-interest federal loans. 

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