Do you need to raise your credit score by 200 points?
How to Raise Your Credit Score by 200 Points
Do you have a low credit score? In fact, you may not even know your credit score number, but chances are if you haven’t been paying your bills on time your credit has been affected.
Your credit score is important, yet many ignore this number and don’t check their credit score or take advantage of their annual free credit report. Like most things in life, it is best to be knowledgable about your credit history and use this information to help raise your credit score if needed.
Therefore, it is essential to find out your credit score and improve your number. You can raise your credit score by 200 points with some simple tips and a little time.
If you follow me you know I LOVE to save money! However, there are some things that are worth spending money on and I don’t mind spending money on things that are important to me and my family.
Sure we all love our stuff, but buying a bunch of knick-knacks that take up space in my home and life doesn’t appeal to me much. I like owning things I will actually use, but owning a bunch of stuff just to own it, causes clutter and confusion.
And if you are wondering what I will spend money on, if you guessed experiences, you are right!
So when my husband and I budget our money we always plan for a few vacations per year. There are also a few other things we must have in our lives I will discuss in the post.
Keep in mind, this is our “fun money.” We continue to pay down our mortgage, save for retirement/emergency fund, save for our children’s college fund, invest our money, and we have paid off our cars. So we are using Warren Buffet’s advice and spending our money only after we have saved.
Then with what is left over, we budget travel into our yearly goals and we love showing our kids the world.
In fact, we rarely go on a trip without our littles. We want them to experience life with us and we both know life is short and you have to live.
Yes, it is important to pay down debt and learn to budget, but after that is taken care of, it is time to start enjoying life.
Are you looking to save money? It is true, many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and this makes it difficult to save.
According to deb.org consumer debt was approaching $14-trillion after the second quarter of 2019.
However, if you are in debt or trying to save, you can change your personal financial situation by living frugally.
Unfortunately, many have a negative association with the word frugal. Often people think of frugal as being cheap and confining. Yet, being frugal can literally change your life.
If you are able to cut back – on some things – you can build wealth and as time passes you will live your dream life. This all can be possible by learning to cut back now. By living below your means, you can build savings and have a cushion so one emergency doesn’t send you over the edge.
Did you know one of the qualities of millionaires is being frugal? After Thomas J Stanley, Ph.D. and Sarah Stanley Fallow, Ph.D. interviewed over 600 millionaires for the book “The Millionaire Next Door“, she learned that one of the traits of many millionaires is frugality. In fact, many would not be recognized as millionaires in everyday life.
Yes, if you can cut back on spending now, you will set yourself up for a better future and perhaps become one of these said millionaires.
Although you may be in the habit of spending freely without concern if you are in debt and do not have the money to support this way of living then frugal living is definitely something you want to consider.
Frugal living ideas to try in 2023 (updated November 22, 2022)
Are you looking for ways to save money in 2023? The last few years have thrown us all for a loop, but saving money is still possible even with rising gas and food prices. There have been many obstacles in 2022, but 2023 will be a good year for all of us and I’m wishing abundance and health to all of my readers.
2022 had its ups and downs for me. I started a printable shop on this blog back in 2021 and it has helped ease the fall of losing my online teaching job. Yet, life went back to normal in many ways, and with that my expenses went up. When my kids went back to school, we had to pay for lunches, clothing, pictures, gas, gifts, and more. Although I don’t miss the lockdown part of the pandemic, I have to admit, I was actually saving money during that time.
. If you are in need of a budget this year you can check it out, or goal setting and home planning, just to name a few. I’m trying to continue staying home so I can be here for my kids, but that isn’t always easy when you don’t have ways to earn money from home like I used to. Yet, by using savings tips, I have been able to coupons and get items for a low out-of-pocket cost to help save even more.
With that being said, let’s find ways to save money and start creating a cushion for your finances this year.
Saving money isn’t the easiest thing to do, so I suggest -like any new habit – you should start small. Find some small areas in your budget you can fix and then continue working on your finances from there.
I also suggest finding ways you can fit in small splurges so you don’t miss out on the things that are important to you in life. For example, if you are not that into home decor, skip decorating your house for every Holiday and keep up with house decorating trends. Yet, if you love Starbucks coffee, leave room in your budget to treat yourself once per week and make your coffee at home the rest of the week. Therefore, you will not feel deprived and give up.
It is easy to fall into the debt trap in today’s world. Almost anyone can get a credit card and card companies make millions off of people that fall behind and wind up paying interest and late fees. To avoid this, try paying cash in the new year and use a cash envelope system. Use these labels to get started.
What is Frugal Living?
Frugal living is a state of mind. Instead of splurging and spending, find ways to cut back and save on everyday purchases. These small amounts of savings start to add up and enable you to pay off debt, save for an emergency, and get ahead in life.
According to business insider, one of the traits of becoming a millionaire is learning to be frugal. (Source: business insider) This research was taken from the book “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D., and Sarah Stanley Fallow, Ph.D. who interviewed over 600 millionaires for their research.
Often people do not realize many millionaires live frugally. In fact, you would not even know they have money in the bank. Yet, the people buying luxury cars and houses they cannot afford, seem to be rich. And unfortunately, many are drowning in debt. It is funny how appearances can sway our thinking.
Use frugal living as a way to start living below your means and saving more money. These frugal living tips for 2023 will help you get started and allow you to put money in the bank this year.
What Frugal Living Is Not
Frugal living is often confused with being cheap. Yet, frugal living does not mean being cheap or miserly. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Frugal living is learning to live below your means, so you can build up your money. Here are some things that are NOT frugal:
Buying Cheap products over quality
Depriving yourself of your favorite things
Not living life
Never doing anything because you have to pay
Extreme measures to save money such as driving around town to save a dollar
Want to be a huge success? Use these habits of successful people to help you reach your success goals.
Tips to become successful in life
Do you want to be successful in life? If being a huge success is one of your goals it is best to find habits of successful people and copy those habits. Yet, often get in our own way.
Whether it be values we learned in childhood or repeating the same unproductive behavior patterns, there are ways to change and still become successful in life if you are willing to do the work.
Many successful people did not turn into huge successes overnight. They failed, got back up, worked hard and now they are crushing it.
One key component in your quest to becoming successful is to remember that your circumstances do not define you. YOU make you.
So in order to become more successful, you have to look inside yourself. You have to believe in yourself and you must -above all- stay positive. Don’t let your fear of being ordinary get in your way.
It is true, you can choose to look at things from any perspective you wish. But why not choose to look for the silver lining and be a “glass half full” type of person.
If you want to stay strong, you can’t sit around feeling sorry for yourself. You have to push through adversity and become the “you” you have always dreamed you would be.
Its true excuses will get in your way and you will feel uncomfortable for a while as you push out of your comfort zone.
Even if you want to talk yourself out of it and you can think of 50 reasons why you can’t be successful, you must push through your negative thoughts and make your life the life you have always dreamed of.
