Why?

I have a few areas of finance that I believe cause me guilt…though one of them might not actually be "finance" per se:

1) Restaurants and social outings (saying "No" perhaps 80% of the time [one family member in particular wants to eat out every meal and associates it with love]).
2) Not having an end-of-life plan ready (life insurance and/or will)

@Candice P I did not remember to type so in my computer post earlier, but: Congratulations on your sinking funds, foreward thinking, and potential to contribute to savings this month! That is a huge win!

I feel guilty for spending on myself too. Someone told me something a few weeks ago and what they said made me feel guiltier for neglecting myself. I can't remember exactly what was said but it was impactful enough to give me a boost to buy a few new shirts and pants/jeans.
Basically, take optimal care of yourself so that you can effectively take care of others.

Kristen, thank you.

Fill your own cup before you fill others! I just tend to do that with non-monetary things like exercise, yoga, mediation and neglect other equally important things like clothes for work, new shoes, etc. I'm going to try to do something nice for myself this next week. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm the same way. I am constantly told to "loosen the purse strings" when it comes to myself.

@Sarah B, that's a Lisa Nichols quote, right? I heard it on a webinar from my credit card company, speaking on ways to give charitably within a budget - it was so inspiring and so true!

Has anyone attempted a side hustle? How was the experience? Were the risks (financial and orherwise) worth the reward?

@Candice P. The side hustle I have/am attempting is Amazon "MTurk" Mechanical Turk. It took a little while to get higher-paying tasks, and most tasks are still around $4-5.75 per hour, but it has helped me some (when I use it). Currently, I have decided to try for $10 a week on average to help recover my emergency savings slightly faster (and any extra above 10 I earn I plan to put into an investment-savings account. (The investment company I use currently askes for a minimum of $100….)

I've never heard of M turk. I'll have to look it up. I've had a couple friends who had really bad experiences as delivery drivers and carpool servicing. It seems like all the things considered side hustle actually take more time, planning, and money to establish and there's no telling how long before breaking even or earning financial gain.
I'm interested in podcasts but I don't even know where I would start.
What attracted you to M turk? How did you hear about it?

I agree need more ways to earn in need to also win once or twice

@Candice P I learned about Amazon MTurk when I was researching different passive-income possibilities. Though it is not entirely passive, I saw it recommended by several different people in different media (YouTube videos, blogs, I think a news-article website). Unlike having the potential to start your own company eventually, you are an Independent Contractor for those who place HITs [jobs that require tasks computers cannot do as well as humans] on the site. It is important to note you are responsible for any taxes you might accrue for the income and that Amazon is only the host of the website not an employer.

I was attracted to becoming an MTurk worker because unlike what you alluded to with your friends all that is needed is an Amazon account, internet connection, and your time/willingness to take tasks seriously.

Not quite side hustles, but other things I use (which does collect my data…but I figure everything does by now if I use internet [and even hospitals are automatically putting patient information into a "secure online" database]) are:

Current Rewards - where I get paid in a point system to listen to music, charge my phone (games and surveys are also an option). I admit I listen to music a lot so I tend to get about $20 in gift cards a month. [Paypal is an option, but Paypal takes a portion from the redemption reward.] I find Current works better than Swagbucks.

Microsoft Rewards Also known as Bing Rewards, but I have found that Bing and Google are not that much different so might as well get a gift-card [or during Donation-match specials donate to an organization] for the data collection. Yes, there are ways to stop data collection, but I do not wish to take the time to learn technology enough to understand all its inter-workings and protections.

Honey Extension which is like a rebates thing….though I use it mainly for the price notifications and potential discounts, but I have successfully redeemed a $10 gift card even with my limited online purchasing habits.

I love Microsoft Rewards! I am a gamer and paying for Xbox live (well now game pass) was a pain; I ended up earning enough free points ( searches and quizzes) to pay for Xbox live for two years. I have noticed that they have revamped the points redemption system and now it feels a but devalued.

I also use Honey and Rakuten when shopping online and have earned cash with both.

I recently signed up for OhmConnect; I live in California, and it is a free service that pays you to conserve energy at peak times, usually for about an hour or so. I have earned enough points to redeem a $10 gift card to Amazon. It took me about three hours of conserving.

I will have to checkout Current. I love a good rewards program!

I'm going to look into Current, too. I hadn't heard of that one. One reward app I use is Achievement. It connects to fitness trackers (so another one that takes your data and most likely makes tons of money off of it but I agree that everything is taking my data anyway so might as well profit from it myself, even minimally). I have it connected to my Fitbit but there are a lot more choices. If I don't put any effort in then I usually get $40 a year, so it can take a while but I'm not doing anything differently so I think it's worth it. One year I made an effort to get maximum points whenever possible and got $80 that year.

Shawdae, what ideas do you have for the LifeSavers in regard to earning more points?

Katie and Sarah, I briefly used Current. Maybe I should let it run while I'm asleep. I also used a receipt app. The points added up so slowly… it took 2 years to earn $10. Needless to say, it didn't hold my interest. I also completed surveys…. I would fill out high paying surveys that took 30-45 minutes to complete and when I finished they said they made their quota for responses and didn't add any money to my account. The other surveys paid a quarter here or there so I lost interest in that too. Like you said, those are only semi-passive. You still have to do a little work and may/may not get paid at the end of it.

Patiently waiting for the student loan company to tell me how many qualifying payments I've made toward the PSLF.

@Sara B. I think I must have joined after the point revamp…but if it was anything like SaverLife's change to a point system, I think I can understand what you mean by "devalue" in redemption. Still a program that is good to use [for me], but definitely different from what was.

@Candice P. I hope the loan company is speedy and accurate (though it sounds like it might have a lot of "red tape" to get through). I do not have a traditional student loan, so I cannot really relate but I hope everything works out fairly.

I view the rewards from SaverLife as a bonus, in addition to the rewards of knowledge from articles, the support from the forums, the mindfulness of doing something to better my financial situation each and every day. Yes, more is more, but it's also important to be thankful for what you have and to look for the best in every situation. I'm proud of everyone who I've seen making an effort and supporting others ️

Good luck with your PSLF Candice! I hope it works out quickly for you.

I appreciate the daily check in with SaverLife. @Katie P., like you it makes me more mindful of my financial choices on the daily. I have progressed with saving more regularly and building better habits.

Unfortunately, like it always seems to happen, I had to take my car in for service (which I budgeted for!) and had a part that was going bad and needed replaced. Luckily, I've been building my savings so I had the cash on hand to cover the extra cost and I am still right where I need to be on my debt paydown journey. I was super grateful (and definitely less stressed out) that I had been saving that much more and more regularly. It kept that extra cost from going onto my credit card. It was a small win, but I will take it :) I'm set back a bit in my savings journey, but I have confidence going forward!

@Sara B: That is a HUGE win! I know being set-back a bit in the savings journey can make it feel small, but it is huge. Congratulations on this accomplishment (and I hope your vehicle does not need any more maintenance or repairs for a good many years, now…aside from regular oil changes and the like at certain mile points).

Thank you for the well wishes with the loan payoff. I will keep pressing until I get an answer whether it be yes or not yet.

I must admit, these days I do enjoy the daily login and the conversations we've had on money management and the efforts that work best for each of us.

I have tried EVERYTHING we've discussed (outside of checking the match rate for retirement, which I will do tomorrow) and even played a few of the budgeting games for the kids, lol. They were really fun and some seemed more for adults than kids. I enjoyed that and wish they awarded additional points for meeting the game goals, if that makes sense.

Sarah, well done on the emergency fund paying for the spare car part!! It's exciting when people tell me that the strategies really paid off… even though I didn't create any new savings systems from the ground up, I do like hearing about the ones that already exists because it forces me to try new things in terms of financial literacy/growth and most importantly, for me, debt management.

Does anyone have finance podcast suggestions? I've been listening to Popcorn Finance and I absolutely love them. They're short but interesting topics. I also listen to Dave Ramsey, simply for the entertainment value, not so much for financial advice. I've been wanting to get into a FI or a FIRE themed podcast but haven't found any that hold my interest.

I've not listened to any of the podcasts however, I did attend the Dave Ramsey financial freedom course and found it helpful but I didnt put the effort into some of the advice. It was difficult for me to understand the envelope method back then and I totally understand and use it now.
I don't listen to Dave Ramsey much anymore because I didn't agree with advice he gave a caller who was a single mother to 3 small kids, with one income and quite a bit of debt. He advised her to get another job… I kept thinking, Is he going to pay the baby sitter? Is he going to give her a job amd allow her to bring her children to work? How does he expect that to happen so easily? It was very disheartening to hear and it wasn't even my situation. Besides, SaverLife gives all the same information he does with none of the guilt trips, but this is just my opinion.

@Katie P Like Candice, I do not listen to podcasts either (have no idea which platforms allow for it and what-not [nor want to create a Spotify account]). But, I have subscribed to an e-mail list [somehow] for about a year with Frugal Friends who have a podcast…I think it is called "The Frugal Friends Podcast" and really like their e-mails and summits. They also do YouTube videos.

This last summit I attended [I think it was 3 weeks ago], they actually interviewed the creator of Popcorn Finance and the three had so much fun. So, while I have not listened to their podcast specifically, I would recommend it as one to try.

@Kristen O. I have not heard of those podcasts; I will have to check them out! I like Nerdwallet's Smart Money podcast. I have Amazon Music because we have a prime membership. It has a whole section of Podcasts. I have used Apple music in the past (or I think there may have been a separate podcast app?).

I am going to look into all 3 of the podcasts listed and see what info I can use. I love it when I can hear the synergy between hosts and guests on the radio and previous podcasts (unrelated to finance). There is really deep meaning and insight behind the anecdotes.

Popcorn Finance podcast is how I found out about SaverLife, and now this is introducing me to more resources @Kristen O., thanks for the Frugal Friends suggestion. @Sarah B., I love Nerdwallet's articles so I'm sure their podcasts are just as good.