Real Women, Real Budgets.
A blog all about real women from around the world sharing their real incomes, real debt, real savings, real goals and real budgets.
Gen
30
Victoria, AUS
Relationship status:
Married with one child
Occupation:
Primary school teacher
Yearly income:
$124k (joint)
Debts and amounts:
-Home loan with $460k (21 yrs remaining)
-HECS/HELP debt $2000
Current savings:
-Sinking Funds total $9900
-Emergency Fund $2000
-Home loan redraw $5000
Past money accomplishments:
-Selling our first home with a $30k profit
-Paying off our two car loans totaling $55k
-Saving and able to do 5 international holidays
-Saving to elope in Africa and honeymoon
-Building our dream family home
Future Goals:
-Save to renovate our backyard (10k goal, currently at $8k)
-Build up emergency fund to $5k before having another child hopefully
-Save to purchase a caravan for future family holidays ($20K)
-Continue to make weekly contributions to our sons’ saving account to have $20k by the time he’s 18.
-Have home loan paid in 20 years.
Money/budgeting tip:
- Treat yourself but set realistic goals. Creating sinking funds has been the game changer for our family.
Charlotte
25
Detroit, Michigan
Relationship status:
In a relationship.
Occupation:
Freelance Musician
Yearly income:
$35,000 US
Debts and amounts?
- Student Loans $40,000
- Auto Loan $12,000
Current savings and amounts?
- $4,000 Emergency Fund (4 months of expenses)
- Contributing to my Roth IRA for retirement
- Investments
Past money accomplishments:
When I started my debt free journey, I was over $70,000 in debt. I’m happy to say that I have paid off $26,000 in the last two years while working as a freelance musician without eating beans and rice every day.
I’ve definitely made sacrifices to save money (limiting vacations, altering my lifestyle to live within my means, only going out to eat once or twice a month, etc.), but I have learned how to do this while still doing the things that I love.
Future Goals:
This past month, I launched a money coaching business to help empower women to take control of their finances. My goal is to spread financial education to as many people as possible, because money touches every part of our lives! There is no reason we should fear it or let it control us.
Financially, my goal is to be debt free in three years! Once I have paid off my debt, I would like to start saving for a house and building wealth.
Money/budgeting tips:
Drawing from my experiences as an individual and money coach, I think the most important thing about money management is that it’s about behavior—not dollars and cents.
A positive money mindset is critical when it comes to achieving your financial goals. Of course, we need to use the proper tools like a budget, debt repayment strategy, etc. to plan out how to get there, but those tools will be so much more effective when we feel confident in our abilities to make good financial decisions.
For example, if someone creates a budget but believes that they are “terrible with money,” the chances of them sticking to that budget are pretty low. If they overspend one day, they may respond with “well I wasn’t going to stick to this budget anyway” and then give up.
When I work with money coaching clients, we focus on changing our money mindset, determining triggers that lead to poor money decisions and how to overcome them, identifying values and goals, and then creating a plan that reflects those things.
Instagram: @savelivethrive
Blog: www.savelivethrive.com
Want to be featured?
If you would love to be apart of Real Women, Real Budgets please send me an email. I would love to feature you on the blog!