If you need some interesting facts for your family’s next trivia get together, or some random small talk for the next awkward social gathering, here are 16 random, interesting, and slightly mind-blowing facts about money. Seriously y’all, some of these are weird.

Grocery shopping is not my most favorite pass time, and it’s probably not yours either. There’s a lot of work that goes into with planning, budgeting, shopping, loading and unloading, and all of that before you even get to cook, enjoy, and clean up. But it is an essential part of life and a very important part of the budget, so it’s good topic to focus on and look for ways to improve. The way groceries affect the budget directly affects your ability to pay off debt, save for retirement, or spend money on what’s most important to you.

There have been so many tools that I’ve grown to love, and some that I can’t live without when it comes to meal planning. Some of them I use all the time and others I rotate or have changed during different seasons of our life. I’m sharing all of these tools with you in hopes that you will find them helpful and useful in finding a meal planning routine that works for you.

Friend, let me tell you, if someone has created a service that can do something for you that you don’t love doing (meal planning, etc) and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, give them your money! The time and stress that $5 Meal Plan has saved me is worth the monthly subscription fee (which is actually inexpensive, by the way)!

You’ve probably heard the phrase “the future is now,” but have you ever really stopped to think about what that means? The choices we make today determine what our future will hold. The way we are living life today affects how our future will unfold. From a financial standpoint, that means if you’re making money mistakes today, your financial future could be at risk. You cannot wait to save for retirement until the last minute. Compound interest is based on time, so you want to start saving money as early as you possibly can. No matter if you’re starting just in time or you’re a little late, there’s no better time to start than today.

If you want Christmas to still be the most wonderful time of the year without going into debt, you can be more intentional and impactful with your spending and your savings. Not only do you need to plan ahead for Christmas by setting aside the cash early, but you need to cut expenses and save money where you can. Here’s 16 tips to help you make the most of your Christmas budget.

Christmas is a wonderful season of giving and wonder, but the truth is, the season can leave many people in financial trouble because they don’t know how to prepare for it and end up charging everything to credit cards that haunt them well into the next year. But with planning, budgeting, and committing to pay cash for everything, you can choose to have a stress-free Christmas this year (or at least, stress-free financially!).

If you’re ready to get started saving your $1,000 Emergency Fund to kick start your financial freedom journey, I’ve created a printable Emergency Fund Tracker for you! To download the tracker, just sign up below for my newsletter so you will receive even more tips and encouragement for your personal finances. After signing up, you will immediately be able to download and print the tracker.

No matter how big your mountain of debt is, and regardless what you level of income is, you can get out of debt. Paying off debt is more about behavior than it is about math. The debt free journey is going to look different for every person or household, but I want you to have confidence in knowing anyone can pay off debt. You can do this.

It is still definitely possible to pay off all your debt while raising a family. Many people have done it before. We have done it. You can do it too. It doesn’t matter if you already have debt and you’re thinking about having kids, or if you already have kids and you’ve realized you should dump all the debt…it’s doable. But you have to get your head in the game. Here are 7 pieces of advice for raising a family while still getting out of debt.

Personal finance is more about behavior than anything else, including math! You need to be creating habits with intention if you want to reach financial freedom. There are so many things you can do to turn your finances around and get control of your money (I recommend following Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps) and while I think all of those big goals are important, it’s also important to put in place the small, everyday habits that are going to help you change your behavior. You can stop living paycheck to paycheck and stop living with money stress, but you’re going to have to change the way you behave when it comes to your personal finances.

I get it. You’re wondering if there are exceptions to the rules of tithing, like when you’re trying to throw every penny you have into your debt snowball. It’s a justified question. But first of all, let’s remember that tithing is not about rules, it’s about giving freely, so make sure you are giving out of love and not out of guilt. Secondly…

There have been so many tools that I’ve grown to love, and some that I can’t live without when it comes to meal planning. Some of them I use all the time and others I rotate or have changed during different seasons of our life. I’m sharing all of these tools with you in hopes that you will find them helpful and useful in finding a meal planning routine that works for you.

Budgeting is definitely not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of plan. You have to stay on top of things throughout the month, and sometimes before the month begins, to make sure you are sticking to this budget you created and therefore staying on track with your financial goals! You are not alone if you struggle with this, it’s an ongoing struggle for most families. But, if you want to get your money under control, you’ve got to get yourself under control. I’ve made a list of 6 tips for sticking to your budget, and these are tips our family uses all the time to fight against going over budget.

I’m all about simplicity and efficiency. If there is a simpler or more efficient way to do something, sign me up! For that reason, it’s no surprise that when Dave Ramsey’s team released the EveryDollar app, it was love at first budget for me.

Budgeting alone can be difficult, but combing two personalities into one budget takes the difficultly to another level. Often times opposites attract, so there’s a good chance you and your spouse have different ways of handling money. Realize that disagreements are normal and the sweet spot is finding a way for your differences to compliment each other.

Christmas is a wonderful season of giving and wonder, but the truth is, the season can leave many people in financial trouble because they don’t know how to prepare for it and end up charging everything to credit cards that haunt them well into the next year. But with planning, budgeting, and committing to pay cash for everything, you can choose to have a stress-free Christmas this year (or at least, stress-free financially!).

No matter how big your mountain of debt is, and regardless what you level of income is, you can get out of debt. Paying off debt is more about behavior than it is about math. The debt free journey is going to look different for every person or household, but I want you to have confidence in knowing anyone can pay off debt. You can do this.

Budgeting is actually a simple and easy process.  The hardest part will be changing your spending habits as you learn to live with the budget you’ve created.  Just remember to give yourself some grace and know that you won’t always be perfect. The thing is, we all have dreams and goals of where we want to go or where we want to be in the future and a budget is one of the best tools to help you get there.

You have to believe that budgeting will work for you.  Budgeting is more about self discipline than anything else.  Here are 7 of the most common excuses I hear and how you can allow the truth to help you push through. 

Grocery shopping is not my most favorite pass time, and it’s probably not yours either. There’s a lot of work that goes into with planning, budgeting, shopping, loading and unloading, and all of that before you even get to cook, enjoy, and clean up. But it is an essential part of life and a very important part of the budget, so it’s good topic to focus on and look for ways to improve. The way groceries affect the budget directly affects your ability to pay off debt, save for retirement, or spend money on what’s most important to you.

There have been so many tools that I’ve grown to love, and some that I can’t live without when it comes to meal planning. Some of them I use all the time and others I rotate or have changed during different seasons of our life. I’m sharing all of these tools with you in hopes that you will find them helpful and useful in finding a meal planning routine that works for you.

Friend, let me tell you, if someone has created a service that can do something for you that you don’t love doing (meal planning, etc) and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, give them your money! The time and stress that $5 Meal Plan has saved me is worth the monthly subscription fee (which is actually inexpensive, by the way)!

Finally, about two years ago, I was introduced to a SIMPLE meal planning method by a friend. I started going by that plan and now have evolved it into my own version that works really well for my family and our lifestyle. I have finally come to realize that meal planning can actually be a good thing. It has helped us save money, stop wasting food, and just stress less overall when it comes to meal time.

We have to learn to turn down the noise so we can tune into the things that matter to us. The days are long but the years are short. Our time is precious and limited. We spend our time working to earn dollars as an exchange for our time. So what if we thought more about how we spend those dollars, and therefore more about how we are using that time? When you realize how you spend your money plays a major role in how you spend your time, you can begin to adjust decisions and start living a life of intention.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “the future is now,” but have you ever really stopped to think about what that means? The choices we make today determine what our future will hold. The way we are living life today affects how our future will unfold. From a financial standpoint, that means if you’re making money mistakes today, your financial future could be at risk. You cannot wait to save for retirement until the last minute. Compound interest is based on time, so you want to start saving money as early as you possibly can. No matter if you’re starting just in time or you’re a little late, there’s no better time to start than today.

Generally speaking, we can pretty much classify people into two categories when it comes to their money habits: the spender and the saver. Spenders like to spend money and savers would rather save it. The question is, can the coexist in a marriage without pulling each other’s hair out? The answer is a definite yes, and in fact, I think that having both types represented in a marriage will ultimately set you up for financial success….when you’re balancing each other’s money habits.

No matter what your financial situation looks like right now, we have all been in places where we feel like we made money mistakes. But nothing is stopping you from breaking those habits that are keeping you broke and making new and better choices right now. Being aware of which bad habits are keeping you broke will help you address them and fix them. Let’s look at 8 (common) habits you might need to kick to the curb.

I get it. You’re wondering if there are exceptions to the rules of tithing, like when you’re trying to throw every penny you have into your debt snowball. It’s a justified question. But first of all, let’s remember that tithing is not about rules, it’s about giving freely, so make sure you are giving out of love and not out of guilt. Secondly…

When you’re paying off debt, giving often has to take a backseat. You need to make sure to tithe from your monthly income, but we have to limit giving beyond that so we can get out of debt as fast as possible and then circle back to giving in the best way when the debt is gone. For someone who dreams of giving outrageously, this can feel constricting. But sometimes we forget that giving goes beyond money. We have so many opportunities to give that are not financially costly.