In this episode, @aunt.kara shares where to start with travel hacking, how to not get overwhelmed by the process, and some fun stories about her family’s trips. Plus, she gives us a look inside of her well-rounded lifestyle and wealth-building strategies.

• Her advice for building retirement and financial independence

• Kara’s take on Dave Ramsey’s path to wealth

• What exactly “lifestyle creep” is and how to avoid it

• Where to start with travel hacking

• How to not feel overwhelmed by travel hacking

• Her family’s favorite places to travel and how much she’s saved

• [Kara’s Instagram Highlight] Lifestyle Creep

• [Kara’s Mentioned IG post] https://www.instagram.com/p/CD6iF1qnadp/

• [Sami’s New Video] Fall In Love With Dollar Tree Decor

• Subscribe to Sami’s YouTube Channel >>

• Podcast Home Page

• Leave a Podcast Review

Aunt Kara lives in the Midwest and is a wife of 26 years, a mom of two teenagers, and an aunt of millennials. She has both a Bachelors's and Master's degree in Information Technology and is in her 26th year of a career in corporate IT. She loves beaches, summer, her family, 80’s music, and her dog, Lucy. Not necessarily in that order!

She and her husband Marc have built a financially stress-free life for themselves with two homes paid off, two fully-funded 529s, and maxed-out retirement accounts.

Kara is a firm believer in living beneath her means, focusing on long-term goals, and still having fun along the way. She loves to travel – so much so that she learned how to do it at a fraction of the cost, saving over $65,000 by travel hacking – a topic she discusses weekly on Instagram.

Instagram | auntkara.com (coming soon)

Sami Womack is the brains behind A Sunny Side Up Life. Her weekly chart-topping podcast has been downloaded over 100,000 times. When she’s not downing caramel coffee and rocking a little girl on her hip (literally), she’s creating content, collaborating with finance/minimalist organizations, and inspiring women all over the world to live an intentional life.

She began this journey with her high school sweetheart, Daniel, and a debt price tag of $490,000. They both took control of their family’s finances by downsizing, budgeting, and changing habits. From this experience, A Sunny Side Up Life was born.

Today, Sami owns this business helping women get through dark times and experience the life-altering magic of intentional living.

She offers a jump start into money mindset with the FREE Magic + Money Course + a full budgeting experience with Your Sunny Money Method.

Once back-to-school wraps up, the next set of expenses roll in. Fall and Winter bring so many expenses from gifts and travel to fresh decor and new clothes.

In this episode, we’ll break down all of the must-have budget items for this season, plus a few you might have forgotten about.

1. How to plan ahead in your budget for these

2. How to be EVEN more prepared next year for these budget items

3. What are sinking funds, and how they can help during the Holidays

4. Fall and Winter expenses

   1. Decor 

   2. Clothes

   3. Fall activities for the kids

   4. Halloween costumes + Misc.

   5. Thanksgiving food

   6. Christmas gifts

   7. Everything else Christmas (food, travel, decor, etc)

   8. Holiday travel

   9. Adjustment in utilities

   10. 2021 planners

• All of Sami’s Christmas Resources

• [Budgeting Worksheets] Digital Budgeting System

• —> Sami’s YouTube Channel

"I was very disappointed to see people that I considered leaders in the space drop the ball, and as a Black Woman I kind of felt excluded." -Jasmine Tillery

In this episode, Jasmine Tillery from @moneyandmomming + @blackpfcommunity shares with us why improving financial literacy is crucial to Black communities. She shares how she's helping to change the conversation, and what others in the Debt Free Community can do as well. Plus she shares her best advice for other parents wanting to change their family trees and build generational wealth.

• How to talk to your kids about money and promote education and generational wealth

• How Jasmine went from her parents paying for her undergrad degree to graduating with her Master’s and a large amount of student loan debt

• Her take on the Black Lives Matter movement and why advocacy and allyship is so important in the Debt Free Community

• What personal finance leaders and influencers could have done better following George Floyd’s murder

• How and why the conversation around financial literacy needs to change in Black and POC communities

• How White people can help to change these conversations and make a difference

• Why Dave Ramsey’s response to racism was problematic and what he could have done better

• @blackpfcommunity on Instagram

• Jasmine’s Money & Momming Coaching Services

• Sami’s Reaction to Dave Ramsey's Racism Video

• Ep. 94 My Take on #blacklivesmatter Movement

• Subscribe to Sami’s YouTube Channel >>

• Podcast Home Page

• Leave a Podcast Review

Jasmine Tillery is a wife, mom, and engineer from New Jersey who loves all things personal finance. Since starting Money & Momming ™ with just an idea and a few Instagram posts about her family’s debt free journey to now coaching thousands of other families on their finances. Jasmine is also the founder of @blackpfcommunity on Instagram where she encourages Black personal finance bloggers, educators, and influencers to share and connect.

Instagram | Website | Twitter

Sami Womack is the brains behind A Sunny Side Up Life. Her weekly chart-topping podcast has been downloaded over 100,000 times. When she’s not downing caramel coffee and rocking a little girl on her hip (literally), she’s creating content, collaborating with finance/minimalist organizations, and inspiring women all over the world to live an intentional life.

She began this journey with her high school sweetheart, Daniel, and a debt price tag of $490,000. They both took control of their family’s finances by downsizing, budgeting, and changing habits. From this experience, A Sunny Side Up Life was born.

Today, Sami owns this business helping women get through dark times and experience the life-altering magic of intentional living.

She offers a jump start into money mindset with the FREE Magic + Money Course + a full budgeting experience with Your Sunny Money Method.

September is self-improvement month, so in this episode, I’m sharing 20 easy and free activities you can do to help yourself grow.

• Why personal development isn’t about self-hatred

• Self-improvement means continuing to grow and evolve to the best version of yourself possible

• 20 easy tasks you can do this month for self-improvement

1. Drink water

2. Turn your phone on do not disturb

3. Delete your social apps for a day

4. Declutter

5. Sit outside

6. Meditate

7. Write down where you want to be in 10 years

8. Watch an old movie

9. Make a fresh playlist 

10. Pay it forward

11. Start a new book

12. Play - do something completely “non-productive”

13. Do something for your future self

14. Unfollow negative account/follow positive accounts

15. Spread some love

16. Freshen up your budget

17. Move your body

18. Pamper your body

19. Watch something that will make you laugh

20. Gratitude journal

• 20-Day Self-Improvement Challenge Checklist

• —> Sami’s YouTube Channel

⁠Most of us just want to be happy and live a mostly simple life. But how do we make that a reality?⁠ ⁠

This week, Christine White is joining me to explain how achieving simplicity with your money, food, home, spills over into every aspect of your life and helps to improve your mental health. Plus, she’s giving us all the details on her cross-country move to break free from depression and to start working from home.⁠

• How to have a mostly simple life⁠ ⁠

• How Christine created her dream life⁠ ⁠

• Why intentionality with your money, food, home, and life, spill over into every aspect of your life⁠ ⁠

• What role mental health plays in your intentional living journey⁠ ⁠

• Practical tips to help you start living a simple life⁠ ⁠

• Why she moved across the country last year for her mental health⁠ ⁠

• How she and her husband reached their goal to both work from home⁠

• [Christine’s new Life Coaching] Christine Lynn Coaching

• [Christine’s Freebie] Powerful Prompts Journaling Kit

• [Free On-Demand Workshop] Conquer Your Food Budget feat. Christine White

• [Podcast] EP. 18 How To Create A Budget-Friendly Meal Plan

• Subscribe to Sami’s YouTube Channel >>

• Podcast Home Page

• Leave a Podcast Review

Christine White lives in Colorado with her husband and two pups. She is fueled by sunshine, murder mystery books, and giant mugs of coconut creme coffee. Christine helps women simplify their lives through practical things like budgeting, meal planning, decluttering, and creating healthier habits at her blog, The (mostly) Simple Life. When the necessities of daily life are taken care of, there is more time and energy for what matters most!

Instagram | Podcast | Website | Pinterest

Sami Womack is the brains behind A Sunny Side Up Life. Her weekly chart-topping podcast has been downloaded over 100,000 times. When she’s not downing caramel coffee and rocking a little girl on her hip (literally), she’s creating content, collaborating with finance/minimalist organizations, and inspiring women all over the world to live an intentional life.

She began this journey with her high school sweetheart, Daniel, and a debt price tag of $490,000. They both took control of their family’s finances by downsizing, budgeting, and changing habits. From this experience, A Sunny Side Up Life was born.

Today, Sami owns this business helping women get through dark times and experience the life-altering magic of intentional living.

She offers a jump start into money mindset with the FREE Magic + Money Course + a full budgeting experience with Your Sunny Money Method.

I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons in my 32 trips around the sun, and in celebration of my birthday, I'm sharing some of these sacred words of wisdom with you.

1. Rest is being productive

2. People are hard to hate close up -Brene

3. Keep your head down and hustle. Tie your hair back and get shit done.

4. Celebrate your successes. Clap your own damn self.

5. Life is too short to not chase your dreams

6. We’re all humans (nobody is perfect)

7. Celebrate the body that has carried you through life

8. You are the only you

9. Find out what fires you up and do more of that

10. Tell the people you love that you love them and why

11. Speak words of positivity over yourself daily (you’re beautiful and you’re badass). Nobody will ever love you like you can love yourself.

12. Don’t settle for your stereotype

13. Stop being scared and just have fun

14. You only die once, you get to live every day

15. Living for that amazing tasting fruit

16. Remember how big the universe really is 

17. Growing slow is still growing

18. Celebrate each other differences

19. Tell your people that you’re proud of them (not just that they’re pretty or that you love them)

20. Learn to sit alone with yourself 

21. Believe in/ Work towards  something bigger than yourself

22. Make your goal how you want to feel (not just how much money you’ll have)

23. Find the balance between “what’s the worst that could happen?” and “what’s the best that could happen?”

24. There’s not much that water, sleep, and fresh air can’t fix

25. It’s okay to ask for help

26. Stop reaching and just be

27. “Enter your own rhythm and feel what kind of wave today is.” -Mark Nepo

28. After the winter, spring always comes. (inspired by Lara Casey)

29. Create space

30. Let it be easy. Let it be good. Let it be fun.

31. “Don’t puff up, don’t shrink, stand your sacred ground.” -Brene Brown

32. Take it one day at a time

• —> Sami’s YouTube Channel

What if I told you that your clutter isn’t just stuff taking up space in your home? It’s actually taking up space in your mind and your budget.

This week, I’m joined by decluttering pro Katy Wells. She’s sharing tips on how to start getting rid of stuff, how to break free from impulse shopping, and how minimalism can help your budget too.

• Why decluttering is so important

• Why stuff isn’t just stuff, and how clutter affects your mental health

• How to be okay with throwing things away

• Simple tips for beginners

• How can this help us live a better life in the big picture

• Positive effects of decluttering

• How Minimalism + Budgeting real go hand-in-hand like sisters

• How to break free from impulse shopping

• How to say no to what doesn’t serve us

  RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• [Katy’s Podcast] EP. 57: Four Ways to Supercharge Your Financial Freedom with guest Sami Womack

• [Freebie] Declutter Survival Guide

• 6 ways to combat impulse shopping https://www.instagram.com/p/CBTWJbFH7AL/

• 9 Reasons you may buy things you don’t need https://www.instagram.com/p/CBdrlBiHwLu/

• 16 things to do instead of buying things https://www.instagram.com/p/CBvAJyAHmdr/

• [Sami’s YouTube Video] Mom Bedtime Clean Up Routine

• Subscribe to Sami’s YouTube Channel >>

• Podcast Home Page

• Leave a Podcast Review

Katy Wells is a declutter expert and host of the top-rated podcast, The Maximized Minimalist. Her passion is to help moms simplify so they can ditch the overwhelm and love motherhood. She is on a mission to help women find freedom from the piles of stuff and transform their home from a time-sucking, full-time job, into a sanctuary and place they love to raise their family. She offers online challenges, courses and guides to help women live more joyfully, by having less.

Instagram | Podcast | Facebook

Sami Womack is the brains behind A Sunny Side Up Life. Her weekly chart-topping podcast has been downloaded over 100,000 times. When she’s not downing caramel coffee and rocking a little girl on her hip (literally), she’s creating content, collaborating with finance/minimalist organizations, and inspiring women all over the world to live an intentional life.

She began this journey with her high school sweetheart, Daniel, and a debt price tag of $490,000. They both took control of their family’s finances by downsizing, budgeting, and changing habits. From this experience, A Sunny Side Up Life was born.

Today, Sami owns this business helping women get through dark times and experience the life-altering magic of intentional living.

She offers a jump start into money mindset with the FREE Magic + Money Course + a full budgeting experience with Your Sunny Money Method.

In this episode, I'm breaking down all of our family's numbers for our old mortgage, our current rental, and our future custom home. Plus I'll explain how math backs me up on the argument that renting isn't always "throwing money away".

Join me for this much-debated conversation.

• All of the real numbers for…

  • Old mortgage payment⁠

  • Current rental⁠

  • Land

  • Future custom home

BUILDING OUR CUSTOM HOUSE

• Land $120k +  House $280K -$12k (10% of land) = Loan for $388k with 4.5%

• 4.5% 30 YEARS = $1,965

• PAYMENT / PRINCIPAL / INTEREST $708,113.17 / $388,000.00 / $320,113.17

• $1,965/month payment (30 years) $100/month insurance $3,000/year property taxes =$27,780/year

• 30 YEARS: $388k PRINCIPAL + $320k INTEREST + $36k INSURANCE + $90k TAXES = $834K (not including repairs + maintenance)

RENTING OUR CURRENT HOUSE

• $600/month rent $175/month storage $20/month insurance =$9,540/year

• 30 YEARS: $286k

CUSTOM HOME VS. RENTAL

• $18,240 MORE /year towards housing OR $1,520/month

• “Wasting” $446k BUYING vs. “wasting” $286k RENTING

• $160k over 30 years

• Taking the extra $1,520/ month and investing it…

  • Invested in Savings Account 1% x 30 years = $637,379.21 OR

  • Invested in 401k or IRA 8% x 30 years = $2,140,996.89

• [YouTube Playlist] Building Our Dream House 

• [Mentioned IG Post] @buildingbread

• Investment Calculator

• Mortgage Calculator

• —> Sami’s YouTube Channel

As women, we spend way too much time stressing about perfection in our eating and toggling between an all-or-nothing approach to healthy living.

In this episode, Kristin Dovbniak shares with us how to ditch dieting, simplify nutrition, and uncomplicate eating so we can eat well and live well, without stress or restriction.

• Why many women have an on-again, off-again approach to healthy living

• How “dieting” can actually be harmful

• Why it’s important to choose self-care over self-control

• Why balance is the most important part to healthy living

• What healthy/balanced eating actually looks like

• Advice for other women struggling with their body image, self-worth, and overall health

• [IG video] Four Tips for creating a healthier relationship with food

• [Free Web Class] 8 Secrets To Balanced Eating

• Subscribe to Sami’s YouTube Channel >>

• Podcast Home Page

• Leave a Podcast Review

Kristin Dovbniak aka Healthy Mama Kris, helps women take the stress out of healthy living, uncomplicate eating, and find their beautiful balance, with food and life.

She’s a born-and-raised New Englander, sailor wife, and mama to two sweet and spunky little ladies. She’s also a holistic health coach, certified intuitive eating counselor, podcaster, and trained chef. Through her own struggles with food and on-again-off-again dieting, she found freedom. Freedom grew into an obsession, and eventually into a passion for helping other women through the Healthy Balanced Mama Podcast and other resources.

Instagram | Podcast | Website

Sami Womack is the brains behind A Sunny Side Up Life. Her weekly chart-topping podcast has been downloaded over 100,000 times. When she’s not downing caramel coffee and rocking a little girl on her hip (literally), she’s creating content, collaborating with finance/minimalist organizations, and inspiring women all over the world to live an intentional life.

She began this journey with her high school sweetheart, Daniel, and a debt price tag of $490,000. They both took control of their family’s finances by downsizing, budgeting, and changing habits. From this experience, A Sunny Side Up Life was born.

Today, Sami owns this business helping women get through dark times and experience the life-altering magic of intentional living.

She offers a jump start into money mindset with the FREE Magic + Money Course + a full budgeting experience with Your Sunny Money Method.

In celebration of my 100th podcast episode, I wanted to something really special and fun - cue inviting my three crazy children to be my guests!

This week, I'm interviewing my daughters, June (9), Izzy (6), + Melly (4). I'm asking them all about their favorite things, what they'd do with a million dollars, the pros and cons of living in a tiny house, their dreams for the new house, and so much more. 

• Money

  1. What do you want to be when you grow up?

  2. What are your future money goals?

  3. What would you buy with a million dollars?

  4. What do you wish we splurged on more often?

  5. What was it like holding that $10k for the boat?

  6. Do you understand why we have a budget?

  7. What exactly does that mean?

  8. What advice would you give to other kids?

• Parents/Family

  1. What’s your favorite thing we do as a family?

  2. Do you know your mom inspires others?

  3. How does your mom inspire you?

  4. What is one thing you really love about your mom?

  5. What is your favorite thing to do with your mom?

  6. Why are you proud of your mom?

• House

  1. What has it been like living in this tiny house? Favorite thing + Least favorite thing?

  2. What are you most excited about at the new land/new house?

  3. What would you like your new house to look like?

  4. What color do you want to paint your room?

• RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• June’s YouTube Channel - Sparkle With June

• [YouTube Video] We Bought 18 Acres | Q+A

• [YouTube Video] Land Vlog Update 1: Building Our Dream Home

• Subscribe to Sami’s YouTube Channel >>

• Podcast Home Page

• Leave a Podcast Review

Reviews are everything on iTunes! Would you take a minute and click here to leave a review?

If you have a question or comment about this episode connect with me over on Facebook or Instagram. 

Sami Womack is the brains behind A Sunny Side Up Life. Her weekly chart-topping podcast has been downloaded over 100,000 times. When she’s not downing caramel coffee and rocking a little girl on her hip (literally), she’s creating content, collaborating with finance/minimalist organizations, and inspiring women all over the world to live an intentional life.

She began this journey with her high school sweetheart, Daniel, and a debt price tag of $490,000. They both took control of their family’s finances by downsizing, budgeting, and changing habits. From this experience, A Sunny Side Up Life was born.

Today, Sami owns this business helping women get through dark times and experience the life-altering magic of intentional living.

She offers a jump start into money mindset with the FREE Magic + Money Course + a full budgeting experience with Your Sunny Money Method.