Jun
2015

7 Important Reasons to Pay Off Your Mortgage

categories: Financial Freedom, Investing, Real Estate Investing, Saving Money
Why Paying Off the Mortgage is Important

For the most part, the classic American dream includes home ownership. A comfortable job, a vacation once a year, and a place to call home. What’s funny is that the vast majority of us are relying on 30-year mortgages to “own” our homes…but no one ever talks about the reasons to pay off your mortgage early.

So, in some sense, we really aren’t owning our homes – we just feel like we are. And it’s so commonplace to have a mortgage that nobody really second-guesses it.

To be fair, there are some benefits of having a mortgage. But does that really mean that it’s a good idea for everyone? Should it be the norm?

I’m not convinced. Here are some of the biggest reasons to pay off your mortgage early (and why we’re doing it):

Related post: How to Pay Off the Mortgage Early

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Jun
2015

7 Jaw-Dropping Documentaries About the Food You Eat

categories: Documentaries, Food & Cooking, Inspiration & Motivation, TV, Movies & Books
7 Documentaries about the Food You Eat

If you’re looking for documentaries about the food you’re eating, you’ve come to the right place!  But be forewarned, after you’ve seen these, you’ll never be able to eat the same way again!  Luckily, that will most likely be for the better.  Happy watching 🙂

 I’m a total documentary junkie, so when I come across a good one that I love, I typically do what I can to find more like it.  That is exactly what happened after I watched one of these (I’ve watched them each a few times so I can’t even remember which one was the first!).  The greatest part about these specific documentaries is that they are bound and determined to very, very seriously change the way you eat.  I’m not exaggerating – there’s just no way you can’t be affected by the messages in these movies.

So…if you’re looking for a way to jump start a diet, make a lifestyle change, lose weight, or are just in need of filling your Netflix queue, watch. these. documentaries.  I’m telling you, you will be thinking differently once you’re done!

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Jun
2015

6 Sneaky Vegetables that Are Tastier than Fruit When You Juice Them

categories: Food & Cooking

Ever since my husband and I got our new juicer, we’ve done a ton of experimenting.  Partly just to figure out what the heck we’re doing, but also to try and get as many veggies as humanly possible into our diet (and our toddler’s).  And while there have definitely been some fails, there have also been some awesome discoveries.

We’re now at a point where we don’t need to add any fruits to our juices. They can be all veggies – BUT it’s only because we’ve discovered the veggies that are sweet enough, refreshing enough, or frankly just tasteless enough to make a delicious juice without needing fruit.

So here’s what to try in your next juice:

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Jun
2015

9 Reasons to Take Your Toddler to the Jersey Shore’s Cape May Zoo

categories: Activities & Crafts, Family Fun, Family Travel, Parenting, Philadelphia Day Trips, Travel

In my opinion, each and every day is the best day to be at the Jersey Shore.  I don’t care if it’s raining or sweltering or whether the mosquitos are biting.  The bay and ocean are always in view and there’s something intoxicating about the salt air.

Needless to say, it is an amazing place to take your family, but there are days where you just need a break from the beach and sun.  Luckily there are tons of things to do, one of which is the Cape May Zoo.  It used to be a second thought for me, but now that I have a toddler in tow I will certainly be making regular trips.  I’m telling you from experience, it is one of the best places along the Jersey Shore to take your toddler for a morning or afternoon visit.

Here’s why:

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Jun
2015

How We Bought Our First Investment Property

categories: Financial Freedom, Investing, Real Estate Investing, Saving Money

Investing in real estate is an amazing way to diversify your portfolio and ironically it is much easier than most people think.  In this day and age it can be nearly impossible to build wealth from a paycheck alone, so most of us need to think outside of the (career) box if we really want to live the comfortable lifestyle that we all dream of.

My husband and I purchased our first investment property 3 years ago and it was one of the best decisions we ever made.

We rarely even think about it nowadays, yet it is still making money for us behind the scenes.  We aren’t handy-types or real estate experts, yet it still was a great investment choice.  I

t is honestly something that anyone can do, as long as you make smart decisions in the beginning.

So here’s what we did to buy our first investment property:

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Jun
2015

BBQ Cauliflower with Goat Cheese (the Vegetarian Chicken Wing)

categories: Food & Cooking

For quite a few months I’ve been an aspiring vegetarian and while I’m not quite there yet, I’m a thousand times closer than I once was.  Obviously one of the biggest challenges has been finding new and delicious vegetarian recipes that satisfy my craving for meat (and fill me up) – and this is definitely one of them.

I originally found inspiration for this cauliflower recipe on Pinterest (where else??) and have perfected it over the dozens of times I’ve made it.  This is now my go-to recipe when I’m craving something bbq-ish and it ALWAYS does the trick.  It’s not the healthiest veggie meal because of the BBQ sauce and cheese, but it’s still completely vegetarian, which is healthier anyways.  It also doesn’t require a ton of ingredients (most you will have on hand anyways) so it’s cheap and easy to make last minute.  Cauliflower can be kept for a while in the fridge, so I basically just always keep one in there!

So without further ado, here’s my recipe and directions for BBQ cauliflower with goat cheese:

 

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May
2015

The Best WordPress Plugins for Beginner Bloggers

categories: Blogging, Financial Freedom, Working from Home

There are a ton of roadblocks that make starting a blog intimidating and setting up the actual website is certainly one of them – especially if you’re a writer at heart. Thank goodness for WordPress!  If you’re still in the very early stages of setting up a blog and haven’t picked a platform yet, please take this one piece of advice – CHOOSE WORDPRESS.  If you don’t, at some point in the next year you will be migrating your site to WordPress and it will be a pain in the butt.

The reason is plain and simple – WordPress makes everything extremely easy.  And one of the ways they do that is by offering thousands of plugins that add special functions, bells, and whistles to our sites.  All of the plugins listed below are free, so I highly recommend you just add them right away.  I use each and every one of them, so everything I’m telling you is from my own experience.

Here we go! The best WordPress plugins for beginner bloggers:

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