I’m Kimberly, a web and graphic designer in rural Michigan. I’ve spent years while raising my kids (now all adults) and struggling with my skilled tradesman husband’s pay cuts, learning how to live and thrive on a shoestring.
I had a few earlier books I’ve sold on Amazon about saving money in some pretty extreme ways (some have said), but that was something I learned how to do in order to survive the situation we were in once manufacturing jobs started going overseas.
Survival Mode does terrible things to you in every area of your life
I’m pretty sure for anyone in a bad situation, you know this already.
Survival mode, frankly, sucks.
And anyone who thinks poverty is simply a money management problem or a math problem has never been there or done that. I’m convinced that some of the so-called “bad choices” are the result of the stress we’re under when we fall into a situation like that. I imagine it’s even worse if you grow up in that kind of situation.
That’s why I talk a lot about more than just tightening your belt, clipping your coupons, and cutting every fun thing out of your life. TRUST ME when I say that’s not the way to go about it…getting to a healthier place mentally and emotionally is important too.
Saving money CANNOT be your only survival technique
Saving money is great, but if you aren’t also doing something to build real wealth, you’re just going to keep sliding backwards. And I know how ridiculous that sounds when you are trying to decide between gas in your car, food in the fridge, or paying the heating bill. I know. Believe me.
Hear me out for a sec, okay?
By building real wealth, I’m not talking about investing a ton of cash you don’t have in stocks or telling you to buy rental properties. That’s great if you have the cash to do that, but I have to assume you don’t if you’re reading this.
Right?
On this site, I talk about the little, practical, very small investment while on food stamps things I did to get the snowball started. And I want feedback (respectful feedback, please), so I know what my readers want more of.
Growing & thriving more each day
Eventually I got to where I also grew… growing a side hustle, my money management skills, my marketing prowess, and more.
After my side hustle turned into a full-time job that continues to grow (yay!), I started getting more and more questions about how someone could replicate this kind of thing on a tight, shoestring budget.
Most people tell you about investing in ads, courses, and so forth—brilliant advice if you have the cash—but few tell you how to do this when you barely have two pennies to rub together. Well, you’re in luck. That’s what we’re talking about here.
A new blog is born
I moved this onto a separate site from my main business so as to not distract from my business. I also wanted to provide as much quality content as I could for free to you, so I planned to serve ads (didn’t want those on my main site either).
If you have any topic you’d love to see covered here, let me know on my contact page. I’d love to provide information that truly helps others thrive and grow too.