Thrive Lounge

August 8, 2018

Personal Finance Goals

How I Increased My Debt Payoff by $1100 Per Month - Without Making More Money

Thrive Lounge

August 8, 2018

Personal Finance Goals

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Freakin' DEBT.

Many Americans are walking around with a huge cloud following them everywhere they go. Some are fortunate enough not to think about it often though they know it exists.

I am not one of those people.

From the moment I realized what my $42K in debt was costing me from month to month, I decided there was no way in HELL I was going to keep living my life this way... especially since (for the first time in my life) I could finally afford to start paying it.

Once I dedicated my entire life to paying off my debt, I realized one crucial thing:

I didn't have enough money left over at the end of each month to make a dent in my debt.

Every month, I was struggling to find new ways to pay my debt off. I cut back on everything I could think of.

I started turning the lights off during the day time and instead opening every window possible.
I didn't use the heat in the winter or the air conditioner in the summer unless I was dying.
I went on a strict (read: cheap) diet and stopped going out to eat.

Then, when that money wasn't adding up to much savings, I got a little more drastic.

I even let my girlfriend's 80-year-old grandfather move in with me for 5 months.

After all of that, I STILL only managed to save a tiny bit.

I realized as passionate as I was, my lifestyle would not allow me to pay any more.

So I did what any reasonable person paying off debt would do: I decided to change my lifestyle.

Over the next few months, I implemented a few tiny lifestyle tweaks that took me from making tiny payments on my debts... to massive ones.

In this article, I'm going to walk through exactly how I did this:

How Did I Get Here In The First Place?

Student Loans

I went to four years of undergrad, mostly with scholarships, and was able to graduate with only $15K of student loan debt. Unfortunately, companies didn't give a crap about my degree after college and I struggled to find a job.

I began working as a babysitter while I tried to figure my life out. I loved the families I worked with and I got really comfortable.

After my last babysitting gig, I was coming up on 25 (prime quarterlife crisis years) and I knew it was time I found one of those adult jobs.

Still, not one job would call me back. So I did what any self respecting woman with no job prospects would do: I went back to school.

That would buy me enough time to figure out how to put a resume together that made me look good, make some high-powered connections (after I learned how to properly network), and get some type of internship under my belt that would knock the socks off these hiring managers.

My trip to grad school worked. I got the piece of paper and landed the job... and it only cost me $25K.

Undergrad + Grad + Interest = Total Student Debt

In total, I ended up with $42K in student loan debt when I finally had enough income to start paying.

Why I Committed To Paying Off My Student Loan Debt

To be honest, the concept of capitalized interest pissed me off.

I got an email saying

Hi, your principal has been updated... and we're adding $1000!

I might be paraphrasing a bit, but you get the gist of it.

So I called my student loan company and realized that my loans had 25 year loan terms where I'd end up paying 3x what I took out at the end of the term. I felt like the entire loan system was a scam.

... and I don't like being scammed.

Plus, I now had this cushy adult job. I figured that now was as good a time as any to get started paying that debt off.

Before I Made These Life Changes

I made the decision to pay off my student loan debt in January 2017. Over the next few months I struggled to make larger payments on my loans. I would pay an extra hundred here and there as I could, but the interest was increasing at $210/month (and accruing daily) so every payment felt like throwing money into a black hole.

That's when I realized if I was going to get out of debt, I would have to do soemthing drastic.

What I Did To Crush That Debt

In the top image, in 274 days (10 months), I paid off $4,021. That's an average of $402 per month. Now let's take a look at what happened next:

In the ten months that followed, I paid $15,582 in student loans. That's an average of $1,558 per month --- and an increase of $1,156 towards my debts.

Here's what I did to get there:

Radically Reduced My Rent with Geo-Arbitrage

My largest expense was the same as many Americans: Housing.

Every month, I was spending about 50% of my income on housing. I had rent, heat and electricity, valet trash (which was rolled into rent and you couldn't opt out) and water.

While I could pay it every month, it was a struggle to pay that and make higher payments towards my student loan debt.

On a vacation trip to New York, I visited an aunt and realized that she has a guest bedroom. That's when the idea hit me. I pitched her to move in and pay her a fraction of my current rent. That would mean that she got some extra money coming in - and I would be able to put all of those housing savings toward my student loan debt.

She agreed.

This move meant that I would be able to reduce my rent and stop paying for utilities, valet trash and internet all together.

Total Savings: $900

Got Rid Of My Car

To be honest, I've always hated cards. I mean, I could literally rant for hours on the topic. But for the purpose of this post, I'm only going to talk about the costs.

Car Note: Fortunately I bought my car cash so I didn't have a car note, but that's not typical.

Car Insurance: My least favorite of the car expenses. You pay a monthly car insurance hoping that you never actually have to use it. Because if you do get into an accident, your car insurance will increase and you'll still have to pay a deductible to get your car fixed.

Gas: If you're fortunate to live close to your job (or not have to go into an office at all) you can still easily spend $20-$30 per week on gas. Many people have to spend much more than that commuting to and from jobs that are an hour or more away.

Maintenance: Generally speaking, cars have something weird that goes wrong every 2-3 months. Whether it's breaks, tires, windshield wipers, oil changes, miscellaneous fluids or random noises that go bump in the night - you will have to get something fixed on your car.

Tickets: I was living in Maryland, in between DC and Baltimore. Both areas have great opportunities for you to accumulate tickets. There are strategically placed cameras pretty much everywhere to surprise you and take your hard-earned money.

Side note: In addition to all of these expenses, you'll also have to give up some of your time. Cars take time to clean, maintain and process. I hated that micro pain I would feel when I got yet another ticket in the mail. You'll spend a lot of your time at a dealership or body shop or in line registering tags or whatever random things you need to do to simply own a car. That's on top of the time you spend earning the money to spend on it.

I got rid of my car - and earned my inner peace.

Monthly Savings: $200-$300 (and a hell of a lot of peace of mind)

Once I lowered my expenses, I had a giant gap between how much I was earning and how much was going to bills every month. I started to put all of those savings towards my student loans. With my rapid pay down strategy, I plan to be out of that 42K of debt in less than 2.5 years from start to finish.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Thrive Lounge

August 1, 2018

Vision Boards

Planning The Perfect Vision Board Party Agenda

Thrive Lounge

August 1, 2018

Vision Boards

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

The goal of every vision board party that was ever created is to help people get clarity on their goals and walk away with ideas of what they want out of life - and how to get there. The best vision board parties will help people make new friends, build their network and believe in their vision more than ever before.

This is all driven by the way you set the event up. As the host, you get to choose how you want your event to flow, here's some tips on how I structure the agenda for my vision board parties.

Time To Mix and Mingle

Any good event gives enough unstructured time (where there are no activities scheduled) for people to walk around, randomly lock eyes with others and spark up a conversation. This is the opportunity for random people to become acquaintances.

Food and Drinks

By setting out the food at the beginning of the event, people will naturally gravitate towards the food and entertain themselves. I'm a huge fan of making new friends in the drink line. (Hey handsome guy, do you come here often?)

Activities & Ice Breakers

Some people are more inclined to sit in the back of the room and not really talk to anyone. (Full disclosure, I used to be one of those people.) Plan to have a few engaging activities to get the entire room familiar with each other and ready to tackle a larger goal.

Speakers

Depending on how you set your event up, it could be a great idea to invite someone to speak. It's great to bring in your speaker right after networking and an ice-breaker or two.

Your speaker will bring the audience back into focus by sharing an inspirational story or message that your audience can identify with. (That's why it's super important to choose the right speaker for your audience.)

Vision Board Tutorial

Even though a vision board seems straight forward, it's always great to give a quick reminder of what a vision board is and how to create one. I will usually bring my vision board from the previous year to show it to attendees and walk through exactly how they can create a vision board that changes their own life.

The tutorial will get your attendees primed to switch gears and start creating.

Time To Build Vision Board

Your attendees will need a minimum of one hour to get started building their vision boards. This is time for people to start looking through the magazines and pulling their top quotes and images to design their life.

Side note: During my tutorial, I always tell people it's OK if they don't finish their boards at the party. It's most important that people get the idea of the vision board and feel empowered to go home and create one.

Share Your Vision Board

If you have a small group (6-8 people), you could ask each person to talk about the goals they put on their boards and why. This is a great experience for everyone that attends because they get to know more about each other - and that part may foster more long-lasting friendships.

Mix n' Mingle

If there's still time (and people aren't too tired or too drunk) give about a half hour or so for some last minute mingling. Throughout the event, you've given people several chances to learn about each other. This is their last chance to act on the things they've learned about the other people in the room. If they have similar goals, they could become accountability partners. If they have already accomplished something that someone else in the room is striving towards, they can swap tips.

The agenda you set for your vision board party will make all the difference in the experience your attendees have. Give them just enough time to engage with the people around them. Encourage them to think about their goals and how they can contribute to the goals of others.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thrive Lounge

July 25, 2018

Vision Boards

What Kind of Food Should You Have At Your Vision Board Party? List of Do's and Don'ts

Thrive Lounge

July 25, 2018

Vision Boards

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

My favorite thing about vision board parties is that you don't really need much to have a successful event. Once you get a bunch of people in a room and ask them to talk about their goals, the party pretty much hosts itself.

If you want people to be super comfy and ready to enjoy the endless inspiration around them, make sure they aren't hungry. (That pretty much works for any situation, right?)

For a vision board party, people are mainly there for the artsy craftsy creator time where they're fingering through magazines and building the boards so you should keep that in mind when selecting your food options.

Here's a short list of things you should consider while choosing the food for your vision board party.

Decide On Your Event Layout First

As the host, the layout of the event is totally up to you. You can invite speakers to talk about their life experience and inspire the group, you could also have different activities that people can do or conduct a workshop on how to build a vision board.

Think about where the food will come into the agenda because this will contribute to the overall flow of the event.

Eating Before The Creation

If you structure the event so that the good comes first, your attendees will have time to talk before creating the boards. This creates a networking or community oriented vibe to your event. People will start chatting and getting to know each other far before they start working on their vision boards.

Eating During Creation

At some events, people are encouraged to chat, eat, drink and be merry. If you plan on having people work on their vision boards while they eat, then you'll just want to make sure the foods aren't too messy.

Do's

AT least One Salad

I really don't do salads, but some people really like them. Make sure you're serving all of the people that are in attendance by having at least one salad option.

Have a Dessert

OK - this is totally my thing because I LOVE a good cake or pie, but I think it's totally necessary. Working on your goals for the new year is a big deal. Give people something for their sweet tooth at the end of all that networking, collaborating and creating. :)

Cover the prevalent food allergies

You don't have to hit every random food allergy in the world, but definitely make sure you hit the more frequent preferences: gluten, dairy, vegetarian and vegan. It could also be helpful to ask people what types of allergies they have when they RSVP that way you have a good idea of how much you need to supply at the event.

cater to the time of day

The time of day you're hosting your event should provide direction for what types of food to provide.

For a morning/early afternoon event, you should provide more breakfast-friendly foods like pastries, fruits, yogurts and granola. For a lunchtime event, you can easily provide finger sandwiches, cookies and chips. If you're hosting an evening vision board party, stick with foods that give a dinner party feel like wine and cheese or charcuterie plate and other light snacks with a more savory feel to them.

Don'ts

greasy/messy foods

At our first vision board potluck, one of the attendees brought barbecue chicken. As delicious as it was, we had a difficult time eating and building magazines at the same time. We were constantly cleaning our hands and then cleaning the napkins off the tables. It's a huge distraction from the reason you came to the party - creating your vision.

smelly foods

I'm a giant fan of all things fish, crabs, shrimp and mussels but the smell can really take up an entire space. Be conscious of the food you're serving at your event. Make sure that people don't leave with their clothes smelling like white wine and garlic shrimp.

Heavy Foods

We've all had that after Thanksgiving feeling where we finish eating grandma's sweet potato pie and mac-and-cheese and turkey with a side of ribs, stuffing and gravy. All you want to do is head to the bed and rest for the rest of the week.

While food is a necessity at an event, don't feed people so much that they start to feel drowsy. You won't get nearly as much conversation between guests who are full and tired.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thrive Lounge

July 18, 2018

Goal Setting

4 Simple Ways To Stay On Track During An Unproductive Summer

Thrive Lounge

July 18, 2018

Goal Setting

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

The more I focus on my goals, talk about goals, write book about goals I realize that a lot of us are going through the exact same emotional roller coaster with our ambitions.

In January, we feel rejuvenated after spending time with family over the holidays and are overly inspired by the idea of a new year and an opportunity to create a brand new you.

In Feb - May, we pursue our goals. Somedays with passion and others with reluctance. But... we try.

Come June-July we realize the sun is out and in full effect and we can finally emerge from our winter slumber... mostly to look really good in a bathing suit on a beach somewhere. Or go to brunch. Or finally start dating again. (Just me?)

Even though I literally wrote the book on goal setting I'll be the first to admit that ever summer I struggle to stick to my routines with the constant allure of brunch + happy hour + looking-really-good-in-a-sundress.

Instead of writing, I'm scheduling drinks with friends.

Instead of creating a companion course for my book, I literally went on an impromptu 10-day couch surfing trek through my hometown spending time with every friend I haven't seen in a while - provided they had an empty couch.

Instead of planning out my next speaking gigs, I've been going out on dates like I'm a contestant on the bachelorette.

Yes, #TheStruggleIsReal.

How Can We Continue To Crush Our Goals Through The Summer?

The answer to this question is obvious, but not intuitive.

Choose the one goal that you want to accomplish... then slack off EVERYWHERE ELSE.

Seriously, you're not required to be an all-around life badass all the time. It's the summer, the sun is shining bright - and there are far too many rooftop bars in New York to sit in the house worried about every possible goal.

How I'm Applying This Philosophy

It's obvious I've lost track of my routines and have been trending away from Superwomen towards super-slacker, but my primary goal for 2018 was to get out of student loan debt.

After paying off 10K in 2017, I started off 2018 with $32K remaining in student loan debt and one goal - to pay it all off. In the first seven months of the year, I paid of $10,647 in student loans!

Through the summer, I've continued to make the same large payments on my student loan debt to continue working towards my big goals.

So even though I haven't been productive, I haven't started my next book or course, I've been eating like crap and not exercising, I've been drinking entirely too much wine (Yes, that's possible)....

I have continued to pay off my debt.

That's all that matters.

Related: How This 28-year-old Increased Her Net Worth By $20,984 in 13 months

How Can You Win The Summer?

If you're looking at your summer and wondering what happened to your ambition, you're not alone. Here's a couple of ideas for what you can do to get your goal-getting life back on track:

Lean Back

Make a firm decision that this is not a goal-getting year for you.

Sometimes we just need a break from life all together. If you firmly decide to take some time for inner reflection, you can stop feeling guilty for not pursuing a goal and enjoy your moment of intentional slowing down.

Course Correct

There is always time to get back on track.

If you have a clear goal for where you want to go, figure out where you are in progress towards it. Next, make a list of all the steps you need to take to get you there. Finally, take out a calendar and plan out when you're going to do each of these steps.

Once you do that, get started!

Start From Scratch

It's mid way through the year and you really haven't done anything towards your goals.

That's perfectly fine! The best time to get started is always today. If you don't have a goal yet, but you're really feeling like a couch potato start with figuring out what change you want to make in your life and why you want to make that change.

Related: How To Set The ONE Goal That Will Change Your Entire Life

Once you have your goal, you can start taking steps to reach it.

Stick To The Plan

This is for the folks that are well on their way, but might be getting a little bored with their goal. (Trust my I'm super tired of my budget! Sometimes I want to go out and order a glass of wine without thinking about my student loans, but these days that just doesn't happen!)

Focus on the reason you're pursuing this goal. Remind yourself what your life will look like at the end of the journey. That vision will keep you going. If you created a vision board, take a look at your dream goals - and if you didn't create one maybe you should. :)

The beautiful weather, endless events and opportunities to see friends and family do make it very difficult to put all of your goals first. Don't feel guilty about taking this time to yourself. Instead, find a way to enjoy this moment by intentionally choosing what you're going to focus on ... and what you will ignore.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ready To Make Your Dream Goal A Reality?

Map out your dream goals and create your action plan with this FREE one-page dream goal planning worksheet.