Money Made Easy: How to Budget, Pay Off Debt, and Save Money

By: Allison Baggerly

I first learned about Allison through Instagram. She posts “Real People Budgets” on a regular basis, in which she goes through fixed expenses, variable expenses, and debt/savings for real people. The idea is a “zero-based budget”, in which every dollar coming in has a purpose and is allocated for a specific thing (debt, savings, bills, etc).

Allison and her husband were over $110K in debt several years ago and both being paid a teacher’s wage. They had a lot work to do. Her book explores the tips and tricks they used to help them become debt free. It also gives several other ideas and walks people through step-by-step the most popular approaches (the avalanche, the snowball, etc) that are used to pay down debt. She includes budgeting sheets and explanations about where to put your expenses. Allison was the first one to introduce me to the “buffer” in a budget. A buffer is a line in your budget to help cover anything that may unexpectedly come up or may be more expensive than you originally anticipated. It’s a great way to ensure you stay on budget, even when life throws you unexpected curveballs, because let’s face it – it will.

Money Made Easy is an encouraging book for those who have a lot of debt. Admittedly – I listened to this book, but I would recommend reading a digital or hard copy instead. The audiobook is good, but because there are so many sheets/budgets to browse, it’s not as easy to understand and I feel like you miss out on the full experience.

At the end of the day, I would recommend Money Made Easy if you’re looking for help with budgeting. Allison’s instagram – Inspired Budget – is one of my favorites and I highly recommend you give her a follow if you want to learn more!

What social media accounts and/or books are your favorite or have helped you learn valuable information? Comment below and let me know!