Know Your Blogger Series

A Dime Saved

I speak specifically to low-income people who are not looking to get rich or retire early. I am not trying to preach anything- I am just sharing my experiences and ideas and hope that someone out there can relate to my content. My blog isn’t about working towards a goal, necessarily. It is for people who aren’t “obsessed” with personal finance or making money- but just want to have their finances in order so they can live the life they want to live.
Check out our Q&A with A Dime Saved here.

Come read about A Dime Saved – a blog about helping low-income earners improve with their finances.

Each week at Personal Finance Blogs, we publish interviews from amazing bloggers from the personal finance space. This week, we are featuring the blog, A Dime Saved.
During these weekly features, we are hoping to provide a way for you to interact and learn more about different blogs in the personal finance space.
Below, you can read more about the story behind A Dime Saved, learn about the author, and learn personal finance tips from A Dime Saved to help you improve your financial situation.
A big thanks for A Dime Saved for this interview! Now, we will turn it over to the author for this interview.

Tell Us About A Dime Saved

I have always been “into” personal finance but I really got inspired to start my blog after I was in a period of extended unemployment. That experience really changed the way I viewed our relationship with money and the importance of accessible personal finance education. When I was unemployed, I found that a lot of the information and content that I was looking for wasn’t readily available. I didn’t feel that anybody was talking to me and who understood my situations and circumstances. So I decided to write it myself!

My views and blog have evolved over the past three years but the main principles have remained the same.

What makes you and your blog unique?

What does “being good with your personal finances” mean to you?

Being good with personal finances means having a system set up that works for you. It means making proactive decisions about money instead of constantly reacting to what life throws at you.

What are some habits you practice to keep your personal finances in order?

I live on a strict budget and use mostly cash. I think that having a budget is the biggest and most important part of personal finance. It is the cornerstone of all personal finance. Creating and sticking to a budget is the most important thing you can do. I am strict about my budget, no matter what.

I also automate all my savings. I very rarely spend time actually dealing with my finances. Everything is automated and set up to work with minimal intervention.

What are your three articles people should read to get to know you and your message better on your site?

It’s Not about the Money

It’s All About the Budgeting

Frugal Not By Choice

For someone looking to improve their financial situation, what’s your best advice?

The most important thing to do to improve your financial situation is to take control of your finances. Create a budget and stick to it. A good budget has a savings portion and includes saving for emergencies. The first step would be to save at least $1,000. If you can set this goal and complete it, it will completely change the way you view your finances.

What’s an area of your life which has benefited from improving your personal finances? Have there been any areas of your life which have suffered?

I think the biggest change happened when my husband and I created a budget. We had, like many, many couples always had squabbles about money. The constant questioning and second-guessing were taking a toll. Once we had a budget in place, there was no reason to argue anymore. There was no need to constantly be discussing money or purchases. It gave us each the freedom to spend money the way we wanted to. Neither of us feels the need to control the other’s purchases as the budget tells us where our money goes. Creating a budget has been one of the best things that we did for our marriage.

I do find myself sometimes more reluctant to spend money on things that I may have spent on in the past because I am more aware of the future value of our money. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, I am still deciding ;). On the one hand I sometimes deprive myself of things that may make my life easier because I am so motivated to save as much as I can. On the other hand, I am saving a lot!

In your opinion, what’s better? Renting a place or buying a house to live?

There is no better! There are so many factors that go into deciding what works for each person with their specific circumstances. Not everyone has the same goals, the same circumstances, have the same amount of money, or live in the same places.

That is the difficult thing about personal finance. There are no easy answers. I can’t tell you exactly what to do and I can’t give you a specific answer. I can only give you some core rules and ideas that you have to apply to your specific circumstances. It’s the old cliché that personal finance is personal. That is a cliché because it is true! There are very few hard and fast rules about things like this.

That being said, I have always personally dreamed of owning a home and I think that for most people it’s a dream that they will also make sense financially and emotionally. If that is your dream, then go for it! Not every decision has to be about where it makes the most sense financially.

In your opinion, what’s better? Focusing on increasing your income, or focusing on decreasing your expenses?

Both! I am a strong believer that every single bit helps. So even if you can only cut down on things and save a dime, it’s still better than not saving a dime! Both increasing your income and decreasing your expenses can only be taken so far. There is a ceiling that you will eventually hit and there will come a time when you cannot cut a single thing. The best thing to do would be to work on both. Since increasing your income takes time, patience, and a bit of luck, you should start with decreasing your expenses and then work towards increasing your income as much as you can without sacrificing what you don’t want to sacrifice (self-care, family, morals, etc.). If you have already decreased your expenses and then your income increases your money will stretch even further! You can always add back the expenses that you cut. Increasing your income is very rarely a quick fix while decreasing your expenses is.

Do you have any financial mistakes you’d like to share, and how have you grown from these mistakes to improve your personal finances?

The biggest mistake that I made was not taking control of my finances as soon as I was “on my own”. I assumed that as long as I could pay my bills every month then I would be fine. However, this didn’t really let me save money for emergencies or the future. I also assumed that since I was paying my bills I didn’t really need a written budget. It seemed a bit superfluous. I cannot stress enough the difference having a real, written budget makes to your finances. There is only so much that you can accomplish by winging it.

There are things in life that I want and the only way to get them is to save money and be purposeful about my money. I would suggest to every single young person out there: make a WRITTEN budget and start saving.

Why do you believe learning about money and caring about personal finance is important?

I don’t think that amassing money is important. I have no plans to retire early or become a millionaire. What I do want is to be able to have the freedom to do what I want and create a life where I can provide for my children, give to charity, and not have to make decisions based on a lack of money.

Whether we like it or not, in the society where we live, money controls almost every single aspect of our lives. Money dictates a lot of the choices that we make in life. Having money or not “not-having” money gives you the freedom to lead the life you want. That is what I want for myself and for the people who read my blog. To not be constrained by lack of money and to be able to make the decisions that are best for you- not based on what you can afford.

How You Can Contact A Dime Saved for More Information

You can learn more about A Dime Saved at https://adimesaved.com/, like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DimeSaved, and follow them on Twitter at @adimesaved.

Thank you for reading this interview, and thank you, A Dime Saved, for providing us with some great personal finance tips!