· · ·

Honey Bees, Financial Dreams + Watching Things Come to Life

Thank you Lexington Law Firm for sponsoring this post. A high service partner and consumer advocate that will help you fight for the credit you deserve!

Come to Life

Oh, sweet friends, I have so much to tell you, I hardly know where to start. This past spring, summer and autumn were so full and bursting at the seams that it feels impossible to say all that I want to say; but I have to start somewhere so I will try. Let me start by talking about our honey bees. I want to tell you how that has been going along with an update about our credit repair journey which is helping to fuel our family’s dreams.

So back in May, I told you that we had just started our journey as beekeepers. At that time we had only had our bees for a couple of months. We were so excited and were dreaming about all of the possibilities that lie ahead of us. Well, spring, summer, and autumn proved to be a daring adventure indeed. Our bees did really well in spring and summer. Two of our hives swarmed, meaning they split in half, and half flew away. Gratefully we were able to catch the swarms and create new hives for them, so we went from having 2 colonies to having 4 colonies over the spring and summer.

We took two small honey harvests from our bees this year, one in late spring and one in autumn. We didn’t want to take too much honey from them because we wanted to leave them with adequate honey stores to get through winter. The honey that we harvested was a dream come true. It was beautiful and delicious. We kept a little bit for ourselves and we sold the rest. Our first harvest sold out within a couple of hours. We learned that there is a booming market for local, organic honey in our area. It was all incredibly exciting!

Come to Life

We also learned some hard lessons over these last months. One night while we were sleeping, a black bear climbed over the fence around our yard and busted up our hives. The bees make their honey and comb on frames that slip into the boxes. Gratefully the bear pulled the boxes apart, but it didn’t figure out how to remove the frames. So the damage was minimal. So after that little misadventure, we needed to better secure the yard and begin making plans for the installation of an electric fence.

Another hard lesson came when we failed to feed our bees adequately in the fall. Although we left our bees with most of their honey, they also need to be fed sugar so that they can make adequate stores for winter. We had planned to do this in mid-fall, but we learned the hard way that we should have done it at the end of the summer or in early fall at the latest. As a result, a couple of our hives didn’t have enough food as the cold weather kicked in and the plant life began to die. This negatively impacted those hives and now we don’t know if they will make it through the winter.

While these lessons have challenged us, we have also learned so much from them. At the same time that we have been learning all about beekeeping, we have been learning about credit repair. As I shared back in May, we started our credit repair journey with Lexington Law Firm and you can read that post here. At that time we were truly in the beginning stages of becoming beekeepers and also of working toward financial fitness.

The truth is that when it came to credit, we knew that we had a lot of work to do, but we didn’t even know what our rights were. Learning what rights we have as consumers has been one of the most helpful parts of partnering with Lexington Law Firm. Lexington Law believes that every consumer has a right to a fair, accurate, and substantiated credit report. Lexington Law navigates the credit repair process and uses the law to fight for their clients’ rights to good credit. Truly, this work would have been so difficult to navigate on our own and we are so grateful that we’ve had this help to guide us through the process. Lexington Law is the oldest and most respected name in credit repair with the legal experience and technology to both advocate and drive results for consumers.

Just as we have seen results with our bees this year, we have seen results with our credit too. Lexington Law updates us each time there is an improvement in our credit report and each time a negative item is challenged or removed. Over these past months, we have consistently received these notifications from Lexington Law, and with each positive change, we get closer to achieving our financial dreams. There are no words to express how much it has meant to our family to have the opportunity to work with Lexington Law Firm and its team of professionals who bring fairness to the credit repair market for everyday consumers like us. The professionals at Lexington Law Firm have a deep knowledge of consumer protection laws and know how to leverage them for the consumer’s benefit.

Come to Life

From progress with our financial dreams to progress with our family and business dreams, it has been a year of positive growth for us. In October, I had meetings with two beautiful, inspiring local women farmers. These meetings left me full of hope and joy that I cannot express. When I made the decision to start our family farm earlier this year, I knew that connections were going to be so important to our work. In recent months, I am finally making the worthwhile connections that I’ve always dreamed of. It’s taken a lot of hope, prayer, sweat and tears; but as we wrap up our first season and move into winter, I could not be more grateful for everything that we have accomplished so far.

Next year, our beekeeping operation is going to expand vastly. We are going to move from having hives on just our property, to having hives on a total of 4 local properties. We will also move from having just 4 hives to having a total of 25 hives. We have so much yet to learn, so many adventures yet to have, and mistakes yet to make… but I wouldn’t want it any other way. This year has been a year of working to accomplish so many of our dreams and we are just beginning to see the fruits of our labors. It is exciting and wonderful. Thank you so much for following along with our journey!

Finally, I am so excited to let you know that I am hosting an opportunity for you to share your story, and potentially be chosen to start your own credit journey free-of-charge! If you are seriously interested in using Lexington Law Firm Services, you have an opportunity to share your story, and potentially be chosen to start their own credit journey free-of-charge! Want help improving your credit score? We’re working with Lexington Law Firm to give select followers support from their experienced team! We’ll follow along for 6 months as you work on building your credit. The services will be comped by Lexington Law Firm, who will help identify questionable negative items hurting your score, and build a custom game plan for you. They’ll also challenge the bureaus and your creditors to help make your Credit Score reflect accurately and fairly. This opportunity is open to U.S. resident who feels their current score is less-than-ideal, no matter their situation or reason.

If you think you could benefit from this, click here to enter the giveaway now. We’ll notify you if you’ve been selected by 12/16. Participants must be U.S. residents. They will not be required to endorse Lexington Law Firm unless they had a genuinely positive experience.
*Brought to you in partnership with Lexington Law Firm.

you may also like

  • · · · ·

    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).

    ————————————————————————

    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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *