For some people, the fact that their income is variable means goals like paying off debt or saving a full emergency fund will simply always be out of reach. For Samantha and her husband, who are both personal trainers, they decided that their variable income would not stand in the way of their dream of buying a home. Today, Samantha shares her story of paying off $50,000 in consumer debt while managing 3 different sources of variable income.

Get started with pay your period budgeting today for just $9! The Debt Free Mom Mini Course + Template will help you take your first steps toward managing your home finances with confidence. Get it today at debtfreemom.co/template

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In the last episode, I shared my story about switching from set salary based income to a highly variable income, and what that was like both personally and in my budget. Now, I'm opening the conversation to other people in similar boats.

Jessica joins me today to talk about how she's managed her variable income budget, and to ask for some advice in handling the pieces that make her feel overwhelmed. As a stay at home mom, she's been budgeting with her husband's variable income as an auto mechanic for the last several years. Now, she's ready to switch from her pen & paper method to a spreadsheet budget!

When it seems like there should be more left in your bank account, and your money seems too complicated to keep track of, the Debt Free Mom Custom Budget service takes the guesswork out of your next budget. Send us your real numbers, and you’ll receive two versions of your pay period budget: the original so you can see how your money is currently flowing and a suggested budget with changes we recommend to prioritize your money goals. Sign up for your Custom Budget today at debtfreemom.co/custom

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of the Debt Free Mom podcast, I am answering one of your most frequent questions: How the heck am I supposed to budget if my income is variable? I understand how frustrating this can be and why it seems like it would prevent you from being able to budget. About a year and a half ago, our family went from a set salary paycheck to fully self employed with a highly variable income. The way we manage our business budget connects our personal paycheck to our revenue. As our revenue goes up, our paycheck will be higher, but if the following month our revenue is lower, our personal paycheck is also going to be lower.

There were many reasons that transitioning from salaried position to self employed were a challenge, both personally as Kyle went from working outside of the home to working inside the home, as I increased how frequently I was working, and also as we added this stress of more risk, more variable, more unpredictable.

So in this episode, I'm going to share our experience of making that transition and then answer some of your most frequent questions about how to budget when you have a variable income. 

Get started with pay your period budgeting today for just $9! The Debt Free Mom Mini Course + Template will help you take your first steps toward managing your home finances with confidence. Get it today at debtfreemom.co/template

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You do not have to follow me long to know that my love of libraries runs deep. I grew up going to the library and I'm raising my kids to love the library. Today I have a special guest with me, the director of my local library! Alissa Williams is here to share with us some of the lesser known resources and services available from libraries, because it has so much more to offer than just books.

Get started with pay your period budgeting today for just $9! The Debt Free Mom Mini Course + Template will help you take your first steps toward managing your home finances with confidence. Get it today at debtfreemom.co/template

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

I want you to notice the first couple of things that come to your mind when I hear the words "frugal living." For some reason, these words tend to carry so much baggage. There are so many negative thoughts around the idea of living frugally. Today on the podcast we have Jen Smith, who is personal finance expert and the co host of Frugal Friends podcast. Since paying off $78,000 worth of debt, Jen has been on a mission to help people spend in alignment with their values. She joins the Debt Free Mom podcast to talk about how frugal is not an F word.

You can connect with Jen over at the Frugal Friends podcast:

@frugalfriendspodcast on Instagram 

[email protected]

www.frugalfriendspodcast.com

Get started with pay your period budgeting today for just $9! The Debt Free Mom Mini Course + Template will help you take your first steps toward managing your home finances with confidence. Get it today at debtfreemom.co/template

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join us for the FREE Know Your Numbers Challenge starting Sunday, January 7th. It's 5 days of email prompts to help you gather your real numbers and reflect on your approach to your finances this upcoming year.

Disclaimer: This episode was entirely recorded, edited, and uploaded by Carly while Kyle was sick in bed. This is not the norm. If anything seems off to our tried and true listeners, that would be why. Happy New Year, DFM Family!

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

As we close out 2023 on the Debt Free Mom podcast, we are rebroadcasting one of my favorite conversations from this season with Paige Pritchard from Overcoming Overspending. When we aired her episode originally, we had an issue with pushing it out to some of our providers. And so we want to make sure that everybody gets a chance to listen to it because it's so important. Plus, before we replay the episode we have a brand new segment of Not Worth Your Money: Christmas Edition!

Get started with pay your period budgeting today for just $9! The Debt Free Mom Mini Course + Template will help you take your first steps toward managing your home finances with confidence. Get it today at debtfreemom.co/template

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

As parents, we can feel an immense amount of pressure to create memories & joy for our children at all times of year, but especially around the holidays. As we're in the thick of the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we can feel that pressure mounting. Even when we're accomplishing everything on our to-do list, and no matter what we do, we can feel like it's not enough - like there's always one more thing that comes up that we're supposed with our kids.

In this episode, Kyle and I talk about how to create that joyful memories for our family without relying on a massive budget. We can find ways to fully enjoy the holidays, and it doesn't have to be a second rate experience if you need to spend less this year on the holidays. 

Get started with pay your period budgeting today for just $9! The Debt Free Mom Mini Course + Template will help you take your first steps toward managing your home finances with confidence. Get it today at debtfreemom.co/template

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What kind of pots and pans does a chef use at home? What medicine does a doctor choose for their own cold? How does an accountant manage their personal budget? In today's episode, I sat down with Nicole, who is a certified public accountant, wife, mom, and the money manager of her household. She's here to tell her story of using YNAB for a few years, but consistently finding it lacking the options and information she was looking for in a budget.

Here's a link to the Planet Money episode about Costco that Carly and Kyle talked about: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/09/25/443519599/episode-653-the-anti-store

Get started with pay your period budgeting today for just $9! The Debt Free Mom Mini Course + Template will help you take your first steps toward managing your home finances with confidence. Get it today at debtfreemom.co/template.

Do you have a money question that you’d like to talk about with Carly? Do you have a story of navigating a tricky financial situation? We’d love to have you on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Fill out the guest application at dfmpodcast.com.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Want to know one of the most common budget categories I see with a note that says, "I would love to add this someday!" when I'm building custom budgets? It's giving. Most people want to give to causes and organizations they love, but many struggle to fit it into their budget or think that the amount they can give won't matter. Today, I'm chatting with Nathan Hill from NextAfter about the impact you can make through giving regardless of the dollar amount.

You can find out more about what Nathan's doing with NextAfter at decodinggenerosity.com/

Learn how to confidently move from stuck to stable in your finances with the budget system that's build around your unique pay periods. Pay Period Budget Academy gives you everything that you need to grow your confidence, contentment, and your net worth. Join Pay Period Budget Academy today at debtfreemom.co/pba, and use the code PODCAST at checkout to get 20% off!

You should be a guest on the Debt Free Mom Podcast! Head over to dfmpodcast.com to fill out the guest application and talk with Carly about your money questions, triumphs, and insights.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy