When I started the Debt Free Mom instagram account, I had already been debt free for 3 years. But that doesn't mean we didn't have years of struggling to make ends meet, realizing money mistakes we made, or paying off debt while also having 3 sons in 39 months.

Today's episode spans from December 2011 when we got married to April 2019 when we bought our first house. Sometimes we met our goals faster than we imagined, other times we grappled with over a year of paying our bills and nothing else.

And what was one of the keys to our success? Budgeting by pay period for our biweekly income. This allowed me to maximize every dollar we made and meet our goals even when our income never exceeded $60,000. If you feel like you're not making the best use of your paycheck, try the Debt Free Mom Budget Template. It's a one time cost of $9, includes space for your whole year in one document, and comes with a couple tutorial videos to get you started. Join over 7,000 other people who have downloaded this template and start budgeting confidently today!

We are planning to go back to being homeowners when our current lease is up this summer. This is my stream of consciousness about what I'm looking for in our next home. Whether this is actually what we end up buying will remain unseen, but it will be fun to be able to look back on this episode and see where I was right and where I was wrong!

If you're looking for a budget template that arranges all your income and expenses by pay period instead of by month, try the Debt Free Mom Budget Template. It's a one time cost of $9, includes space for your whole year in one document, and comes with a couple tutorial videos to get you started. Join over 7,000 other people who have downloaded this template and start budgeting confidently today!

On today's episode of the Debt Free Mom Podcast, Nicole Stanley is on the show to share her experience dealing with a kitchen contractor and what she wishes she had done differently.

You're putting your home and your money in someone else's hands when hiring someone to complete a project - big or small. On today's episode, we'll discuss the questions to ask, the notes to keep, and the way to advocate for yourself and your money even if you're not well-versed in construction.

Nicole is a financial coach and runs Arise Financial. You can find out more about working with her here. as well as her full website: www.arise.financial

If you're looking for a budget template that arranges all your income and expenses by pay period instead of by month, try the Debt Free Mom Budget Template. It's a one time cost of $9, includes space for your whole year in one document, and comes with a couple tutorial videos to get you started. Join over 7,000 other people who have downloaded this template and start budgeting confidently today!