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Honey Bees + Financial Dreams

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honey bees + financial dreams

honey bees + financial dreams
honey bees + financial dreams

honey bees + financial dreams

Hello, friends! I hope that you are safe and well. Spring has truly sprung here in our little corner of the world. Our garden is beginning to take shape, the earth is awash in color, and the beautiful scent of spring is fresh in the air. It is such a beautiful thing to witness after the long, dark winter that we had. Spring warmth brings it with it so much promise. I am filled with hope at the moment and it’s got me thinking happy thoughts about our family’s long-term goals and dreams. I want to share a little bit more about all of that with you today.

So let’s start at the beginning, with the bees. From the time that I was a girl, I’ve been fascinated with honeybees. Every year my family would travel to the local county fair and I would spend hours in the bee exhibit watching the bees move through the observation hive. In spring, I would wait eagerly for the flowers to bloom so that I could watch the honey bees buzz from blossom to blossom collecting pollen. I have spent a lifetime loving the magic that bees make–from their perfect wax combs, to their sweet golden honey.

About ten years ago, my lifetime love for honeybees manifested into a dream that one day I would have my own honeybee hives. As it happened, my partner Jimmy had that same dream around the same time. But for both of us, life ended up taking unexpected turns that put our honeybee dreams on hold. In the decade that followed we both went through a lot, from marriage, to children, to struggle, to divorce, and finally the difficult process of beginning our lives all over again.

As anyone who has been through it knows, these kinds of life circumstances negatively impact so many areas of your life. Today I will talk about how it can affect your financial life and credit, and more importantly, what you can do to fix it and move forward. Going through a major life change, like a divorce, can lead to so much confusion in terms of your credit. Inaccurate items can pile up on a credit report quickly through the process of separation. Every year millions of Americans are denied loans for homes, cars, and other dreams due to errors on their credit reports. It can take up to four months to correct these errors, which is a lot of time when a person is working to rebuild their life.

There are many ways to move through the process of correcting errors on your credit report, but it can be complex and confusing. This is why our family has chosen Lexington Law Firm to help us navigate the process. Lexington Law understands the complex consumer protection laws that give us the legal right to dispute inaccurate items on our credit reports. They work with the credit bureaus and individual creditors to help people like us understand our rights and use the law to fix credit errors.

honey bees + financial dreams

honey bees + financial dreams
honey bees + financial dreams

We have just recently begun the process of credit repair and correction, but so far it has been going well. We are so excited to move through this process and get our finances exactly where we want them to be so that we can continue to rebuild our lives and make our dreams into our reality. Over the winter, we collected all of the items that we would need to begin our long-time dream of becoming beekeepers. Then, in April, our first two colonies of honeybees arrived. It was so exciting and our hearts were filled with so much joyous gratitude as we watched our mutual long-time beekeeping dream come true. It truly felt like an answered prayer.

Our first couple of months with the bees have been so much fun. They truly are the most incredible little creatures! We have done a lot to practice suburban homesteading here at our home, but one day we would love to expand our efforts further by owning more land. This is why it is so important for us to get our finances in good order. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I know that it can feel daunting to take on the task. But if you find the right team to help you, it is a manageable process–especially if you choose a trusted service provider. We feel assured knowing that Lexington Law is the oldest and most respected name in credit repair, and has the legal experience and technology to both advocate and drive results for its clients. We can rest easy knowing that we are working with professionals that have a deep knowledge of consumer protection laws and know how to leverage them for our benefit.

honey bees + financial dreams
honey bees + financial dreams

One of our primary goals through this process will be to push both of our credit scores into excellent levels. We want to grow our homesteading projects and that will take more land to make this dream come true. We would love to expand our bee hives and gardens, get lots more chickens, and one day even get goats and pigs. Some of these dreams are possible here at our home in the suburbs, but others will require more space.

We don’t want anything to hold us back from pursuing these dreams, especially not something like credit that can be fixed with the right tools. We will be working with Lexington to get everything in order and I will be sharing our journey with you right here. Follow along with our credit journey over the next few months, and stay tuned for an opportunity to start your own credit journey!

honey bees + financial dreams

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    Every Friday, I post my favourite links, posts, & resources from around the Web. Expect to learn, grow, & be inspired.

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    1. You rock & On self determination & Try different: Three must-read posts from Mr. Seth Godin, genius, this week. Enjoy!

    2. Great Financial Advice from the in Flight Safety Handbook: How is financial planning like a plane crash? Find out in this excellent post. It might just save your life… or at least your bank account.

    3. Video Interview: Unautomate Your Finances with Baker & Video Interview: Untemplate your mind, body, and spirit with Amber Zuckswert: Awesome video interviews with two of my favourite bloggers—Adam Baker from Man vs. Debt & Amber Zuckswert from Epic Self.

    4. 10 Shattered Financial Templates: One more from Untemplater this week (to go along with my credit card debt freedom theme) I had to share this great post about shattering financial templates. Bottom line: out with the old & in with the new!

    5. The Story of Stuff: My boyfriend saw Annie Leonard on the Colbert Report the other night. In true minimalist fashion, he called me up right away to tell me about it. Annie is an activist who has spent the past 10 years traveling the globe fighting environmental threats. In her story, she talks about the real costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. In other words she tells us why we should all be minimalists. Amen! Check out the site for more and to view the “Story of Stuff” short film.

    6. What James Cameron Taught Me About Passion: I love this post by JD where he talks about why reaching our goals & living our passions sometimes requires doing things that we don’t want to. In his case, it’s Internet Marketing. I love his metaphor, “…everybody who is involved with Internet Marketing has an underlying passion that pushes them forward. [It’s] a lot like playing the bass guitar. Few people actually have a passion for it, but if you’re willing to do it you can get in the band.”

    7. Rescue Time & Leech Block: Two awesome productivity tools that I found via Location180. Rescue time is an “automagical time tracking & tools to help you focus (from light ‘nudges’ to blocking for short periods of focus) and track project time.” LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.

    8. Live your Life as if Everything is a Miracle: Inspirational words & beautiful photographs & quotes, a wonderful guest post on the Good Life Zen blog. “I am realistic. I expect miracles.” —Wayne Dyer

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    Have a great weekend, loves of my life. Spread love & light where ever you may go.

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    My Journey to Financial Freedom | Part 1: The Fall

    Three years ago, I was nearly $60,000 in debt. I had a Bachelor’s degree that didn’t appear to be worth its weight in salt and a job that couldn’t cover a fraction of my monthly bills. I was terrified.

    Today, I am closer to complete financial freedom than I ever dreamed possible. Last week, I paid off my last remaining credit card balance. This two-part post is a celebration of this incredible milestone in my journey.

    In part one, I will explain how I got to that terrible place. In part two, I will explain how I’m getting out of it (and how you can do it, too).

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    A financial prison is the worst sort of prison to be stuck in. A financial prison does not have steel bars or a prison warden. You will not get sent to financial prison for committing a crime. There is only one person that can sentence you to financial prison. That person is you.

    There are two primary types of financial prisoners:

    1. There are those in financial prison who got there because they truly did not know any better. This type eventually realizes the error of their ways and breaks free.

    2. There are those who knowingly commit themselves to financial prison. This type is well aware of the consequences of living beyond her means; but she does it anyway.

    Of course there are also those who fall somewhere in the middle, like me… (Cue dream sequence.) It all started when I was 18. The guidance counseling systems in my high school and college were either completely inadequate or I simply refused to pay attention. I can’t honestly remember which it was, though I think it was the former. Either way, I was screwed.

    Before me, no one in my family had ever been to college so I didn’t receive much advice. I was thrilled to be out of high school and ready for the next step. I took my SATs one time and applied to one school. My parents, being average folks, made just enough money to prevent me from receiving financial aid; but not enough money to be able to pay my full tuition. For me, this meant loans: “lovely” student loans from “lovely” Sallie Mae.

    My mother co-signed and it was a cinch from there. Each semester I filled out a relatively simple form and like magic, Sallie Mae sent me a check. In fact, Sallie Mae was so generous that they allowed me to take out as much “extra” money as I needed every semester. It was fantastic! Yes, I had money to pay for books, meals, and extra curricula. I also had money to go out and binge drink, buy clothes I didn’t need, designer purses, and more. Sallie Mae was wonderful to me. And the best part if it was that there was no need for discussion. No one guided me, no one advised me, and no one asked me any questions. I showed up at the financial aid office a couple of times each year and it was always smooth sailing.

    On top of that, another great thing happened when I was 18! The credit card companies started to send me applications. And that was just as easy. I got one and then another and then another. Whatever I couldn’t cover with those pretty little checks from Sallie Mae, I could simply charge on my credit cards. College was good to me. I joined a sorority, I partied hard, I shopped until I dropped. What more could a girl ask for?

    It wasn’t all fun & games though. I worked through college. I worked at a children’s camp each summer; I was a Spanish teacher for two years; and toward the end of my college career I was a bookseller at Borders bookstore. All of the money I made working was spending money for me. I had Sallie Mae and the credit cards to pay all of my “real” bills.

    When I finally graduated, I was making a cool $8.25 an hour at Borders. I loved it. I was happy… until one day, out of no where, a letter came in the mail. I had a six month grace period and then I would have to start paying back those loans. My paychecks barely covered my minimum credit card payments. How was I going to make loan payments on top of that?

    So I sat down and did something that I’d never done before. I wrote up a budget. It was horrifying when I realized that even if I’d had no other bills, my monthly wages from Borders wouldn’t even cover half of my monthly student loan payments. The jig was up.

    All told, I came out of college with about $45,000 in student loan debt and almost $15,000 in credit card debt. I hadn’t even lived on campus; I commuted from home; my parents paid for some of my tuition; and I only went to a mediocre school. How the hell was this possible?

    All of a sudden Sallie Mae and the credit card companies didn’t seem so lovely anymore. There was one thought that kept repeating over & over in my head: Why didn’t anyone warn me? I felt cheated, betrayed, angry, afraid, and helpless. I wondered what the people in the financial aid office had been doing all that time. I wondered why my high school guidance counselor didn’t press me harder about applying for scholarships or grants. I wondered a lot of things, but mostly I wondered how the hell I was going to get out of the mess.

    I started sending out resumes for jobs with starting salaries that would at least cover my monthly student loan payments. I sent out resume after resume but before long, I realized another harsh reality. That Bachelor’s Degree in English with a Creative Writing Focus wasn’t so great either. Nobody was calling me back. I couldn’t even get an interview.

    The clock was ticking. I was halfway through my grace period. Then one day, one of my best friends mentioned an opening in her office. I looked over the job description and realized that it had nothing to do with what I’d gone to school for. I didn’t even know what it actually was, but the starting salary was more than what I needed. The rest was history.

    I’ve been at my current company for almost three years now. And yesterday I paid off my last remaining credit card balance! Additionally over these few years, I’ve cut my student loan debt almost in half and by next Winter, I will have it down to a quarter of what I started with.

    Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I will share how I am doing it and how you can do it, too.

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