No More Hamster Wheel!

I have the joy today of getting to review How to Get Out of Debt Living Paycheck to Paycheck by Camilla Kragius from No More Hamster Wheel. 

When it comes to financial books, in my mind, Dave Ramsey is the untouchable guru, Casey Lewis is the personal/relatable mentor, and Camilla Kragius is the neighbor who's been-there-done-that and wants to share how with you. While a lot of financial books are full of facts and stats, HTGOODLPTP is more conversational and encouraging.

This book is a very quick read. The short chapters give you the down and dirty details of how to become debt free, save for the future, and live your life. The first chapter, which also happens to be the longest, walks you step by step through creating (and sticking with!) a budget- even if you live paycheck to irregular paycheck.

One thing I really appreciated was Camilla's acknowledgement that you have to actually live while getting out of debt, even if that means not following her plan to the t so you can have a little fun. Instead, she stresses the importance of balance, even though it goes against the conventional advice from most gurus.

Along with the book, I also got to review the companion course: Financial Freedom. I LOVED this course. If you're going to buy the book, spend the extra money and go for the whole course- and you get the book included! 

In 27 lessons, Camilla walks you through all the principles in her book so you come out with a complete and personalized financial plan. It further explains some parts of the book that can get confusing, and even gives you rest days so you don't get too overwhelmed! I'd estimate that the lessons take anywhere from 15-60 minutes, depending on your debt, work-ethic, and math skills ;) 

As a whole, I think I may have liked the course more than the actual book, if that's possible? The book had some parts that seemed a little jumbled and required me to read a few times to understand, but overall was a good start for people beginning their financial journey. The book gets 3 stars from me. The course, however, gets 5 stars, as the walkthroughs and narratives were fantastic and easy to follow.

So as a whole package, this product gets 4/5 stars. I'd recommend it for anyone who needs a step-by-step walkthrough to start their budget and financial life. 

I received access to this course from the author in exchange for a review.

Update: Camilla has generously offered a discount to readers of AspiringAshley! Use the coupon code "Ashley" to receive the course for only $10! What a great start to becoming debt free. Thanks Camilla!

"Impact: Get Rich! Be More Awesome! Change The World!"

I really enjoyed this book, and read the whole thing in one day of flights and airports. Casey Lewis draws on his personal experience to demonstrate what a healthy financial plan can do for even the most dire circumstances. He lays out a step-by-step process to get you in financial shape, no matter where you are in the journey, making it easy to get your money in order. More importantly, he makes a case for why you should get it in order.

This might get me in trouble with the FPU crowd, but I like Lewis' book more than Dave Ramsey's (if I get trampled by a gazelle or run over by a snowball, you all know why). Why can I say that? They share pretty much the same information and have a similar plan, but Lewis is very relatable in his writing style, it's quick to read and implement, and he makes it really easy to understand how to handle your money in a wise and responsible way.

If you're looking to get your money in order to have a healthy financial future, you need to read this. As grateful as I am for Ramsey's resources helping me get started on my own financial journey, Lewis' Impact is the book I'll be recommending more often than other financial books.

Highly Recommended, 5/5 Stars
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Aspiring to be Debt Free

It's been on my Bucket List for a few years to be debt free by 30, but beyond making minimum payments (which wouldn't get me there), I wasn't really doing much. Then I finally read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and got inspired. The updated version with all the stories of real-life people becoming debt free and wealthy (many of them younger than me!) was the push I needed to make a serious plan.

By the way, did I mention I met him once? In Times Square? At Jon Acuff's S**** Book Launch?

In March I sat down, added up my debts and faced the music: at 27-years-old I owed $25,393. That's a big number. A lot of money. No credit card debt (I've been good about using that thing wisely), but between my student loans and my brand new car, it really added up. Now I needed a great way to get rid of it.

So, I started to plan. While I know Dave Ramsey has some great advice, I don't love everything he advises. It just doesn't work for me. I also love Suze Orman, so I kinda threw their philosophies together and created my own plan that would work for me. For example, I didn't cut up my credit cards like Dave says to do. Suze says it's okay for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke to have and use credit cards as long as they do so wisely. And given that I have an irregular work schedule or sometimes only get 4 shifts a month, I like the security of back up just in case. (I also like the bonuses I get from my one store credit card. I only use it when I'm buying something anyways, and pay it off that same week). I also kept more than $1K in my emergency fund, for the same job-insecurity reason. I have one month of spending/billpay in my emergency fund.

I knew I wanted to pay off before I was 30, preferably even sooner, so I started doing some math to see how much I was really paying each year, and how soon I could get rid of all that debt. After playing with the math, I figured two years would be very doable (And it puts me debt free a year before 30!)

Before making this plan I had $50 automatically going from my checking to savings every week. I stopped that and now divert it to my Debt Snowball. According to the plan, for this year, I make all my minimum payments on each debt. I pay and $50 every week. Then I need to pay an extra $414 each month ($96/week). Based on Dave's Snowball technique, my student loan will be the first to go, so the plan is for it to be gone in one year. Then everything I'm currently paying towards that loan will "snowball" over to my car loan. I made a chart to visualize it, but it was too boring.

Now that I had my plan, I needed a way to keep myself motivated. I did the math and found that becoming debt free according to plan would take 244 payments. I started to think about making some kind of coloring page, but that didn't work like I wanted it to. So I started looking at puzzles. I found that Shutterfly makes custom puzzles of 252 pieces, and they were on sale for less than $20! So I hunted for one of my best Living-Life-to-the-Fullest pictures that represented why I want to be debt free. I settled on this one:

Once I had it in hand, I sat down with my boring chart and all the puzzle pieces and wrote $$ amounts on each piece. I went all out: minimum payments, weekly $50, extra $96, the rollover starting next year, every expected payment has a puzzle piece waiting, plus a few extra pieces. I started labeling the edge pieces with all payments for the first few months, so I can have that done quick, then just divided the rest. It was time and brain consuming, but worth it.

Now every week I make my payments and add the appropriate pieces to the puzzle, which is in a nice $3 frame from Walmart, where the glass pops out instead of the back! Now I'm only 3 months in and the puzzle is coming together. Look! I've got an eye and Kathryn's got hair! 

I also keep track of it all in my journal and take a monthly assessment of where I'm at. It's exciting to see the numbers going DOWN in a big way! I've also got the plan listed right next to the tracking page to keep it in front of me.

 So far in three months I've knocked out $1500!! That's $1050 more than making minimum payments would've gotten me!! I've also gotten into the habit of paying an even $100 instead of the $96, which is making a nice mini dent, too. Every little bit adds up! If I can keep up this pace I'll have it all paid up even before the two year goal date!