One woman with disabilities, and her journey to F.I.R.E. Financial Independence/ Retire Early
In real life things often come up that interfere with our fantasies of how debt pay off or investment build up will look like. We plan and plan and plan some more and sh*t happens. That's just life. By the way, I'm saying this with amusement, not dour sadness and frustration. If things went to … Continue reading Real life; not fantasy.
Hello my terrific friends! Welcome back to the party. January afforded me incredible opportunities to practice gratitude and my "make do" muscles while getting very clear and appreciable evidence that going no sugar impacted my anxiety at unbelievable levels. Truly having all that sh*t hit the fan in the middle of a January Whole30 was … Continue reading Heaps of wonderful and one unfortunate blunder.
I ended 2018 on such a high note. Six years after discovering Mr. Money Mustache, I finally met all the financial goals I set out to complete in a year. I had an emergency fund, got my mortgage under $50k, and paid off my credit cards. And then, 2019 came in - pardon me - like … Continue reading Sh*t hits the fan y’all.
I had consumer debt (credit card debt), student loans, and a car loan. All of them charging me interest. I managed to shave years from my pay off date and save thousands in interest by utilizing this credit card hack. I opened a Discover card with 0% interest for 14 months. I then transferred my … Continue reading Debt free – faster!
Before I was Disabled Girl on Fire. I was Thriving Disabled. This was a blog/podcast that I tried to launch anonymously. Anonymity was a major problem. I was trying to be all cloak and dagger, and I couldn't be outright fully honest. I realized that by hiding and being stealthy I wasn't going to help … Continue reading I have a SECRET identity.
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you'll know my dog had a mini stroke just over a week ago. A TIA (transient ischemic attack) is a small stroke that resolves either immediately following the stroke, or over a short time leaving little or no evidence or damage. He has fully recovered. Wahoo! After … Continue reading Pet Insurance: Responsible pet ownership for low income pet parents.
To reiterate: Eat as though you are home bound due to a snow storm. I have several rule exceptions to this, but that's the main idea. I began with mom's Thanksgiving leftovers and then moved onto my pantry/freezer. There are a few pictures and a video below. I'm fairly well stocked in my pantry, and my … Continue reading Results: Snow Challenge Week 1
Short post, but I'm too excited to wait. After much up and down and back and forth I finally hit my goal of having a $1,000 emergency fund! All year long I've been struggling to put money away into an emergency fund as I realized that until I had one I would never stop cycling on … Continue reading Emergency fund: Funded!
For the last twenty plus years I have wrestled with guilt. I call it, “survivor’s guilt,” as a riff on the original meaning. I survive today because programs exist to support people with disabilities at a rate far greater than the past. Yet there is such a stigma attached to using them when your disability … Continue reading Social Security Part 4: Guilt and Shame
In order to qualify for Social Security Disability you must meet federally established requirements for "permanent and total disability," including being unable to work for over a year in the future. You also must have completed enough work credits (worked enough reported full time hours) to qualify for the insurance benefit. I believe I only … Continue reading Social Security (SSDI): The numbers. Part two.
