PennyWise Podcast: 5 Simple Steps to Start Filling Your Budget Gaps Today

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Money. It can be a tough topic to talk about, and I recently had a friend ask, “We talk about movies and traveling. But why don’t we talk about money?”

It’s a great question, and one I recently started exploring as the host of the PennyWise Podcast. It is a nationally syndicated, weekly podcast from Lee Enterprises and focused on helping you save money, understand your finances, and so much more. To date, we’ve covered topics ranging from how to make saving money a habit to why we’re seeing some surprising remodeling trends; also, what you need to know to pay down credit card debt, and when to start spending on travel plans.

I’m also learning a lot through the process, and am enjoying sharing the advice of experts with you through these short podcasts.

Are you ready to join me?

This particular topic, 5 Simple Steps to Start Filling Your Budget Gaps Today, is the perfect place to start.

This particular topic, 5 Simple Steps to Start Filling Your Budget Gaps Today, is the perfect place to start. You can listen to the podcast, here. You’ll also find PennyWise wherever you enjoy podcasts, and if you prefer a video version, you’ll find it on my YouTube page, here.

NerdWallet Personal Finance Expert Kimberly Palmer is my guest for this episode, and we are talking about taking steps to build your personal financial security, and why it starts with identifying your budgeting gaps.

Kimberly shares how to easily find your specific gaps, what to do to fill those gaps, and most important — why you want to start doing this right now. We are slowly coming out of a pandemic, and Kimberly believes the timing couldn’t be better to fill your budget gaps.

Also, here is the link to a simple financial gap quiz Kimberly talks about in the podcast. Check it out, and let’s get started on creating a stronger financial future, today.

Challenge: #spreadkindness

It started as a simple challenge. Would you be willing to spread kindness to strangers by sharing simple, but impactful messages on post-it notes?

Personally, I know this works. When one of my nieces visited several years ago, she left positive notes everywhere – throughout our house, cars, and any place we visited. I remember how I felt every time I found one, too. These notes made me laugh, smile, and served as a good reminder to be proud of your choices. It also made me really proud of her, as a young adult. So, when this recent challenge popped up on social media from DreamBank Madison, my interest in sharing random notes of kindness was rekindled.

I started writing and leaving my own post-it notes on December 1, with the goal of sharing at least one every day for the entire month. Sounds easy, right? Well, remembering to post a random note can be a bigger challenge than expected. Finding a special spot, then “getting away with it,” are the exciting parts of the challenge!

It is now December 15, and I have left a positive post-it note or two (or three) every day since the beginning of the month. If you are looking, you may find #randomnotesofkindness in gas station bathrooms across Wisconsin, in various places around the Kohl Center in Madison, at the customer check-out in the McFarland Walgreen’s, and most recently in several spots at the Great Dane in Fitchburg. It’s gratifying to do, but the best part is hearing the reactions: a giggle, an “awww,” and maybe even an unspoken spark re -ignited. I will keep this going and share an update as we start the new year.

It feels right.

And if it feels right for you — join me. And let me know how your effort to #spreadkindness works out for you.

Help write how it ends: #WeNeedTheAT

The conference call was expected, but by the time I hung up, it hit me:  journalism has always been part of my DNA. And while I started this blog several years ago as a place to collect and easily share the writing of my post-television news career, I (fortunately) became so busy, blogging fell to the bottom of the priority list. But an important issue needs attention, and I’ve rebooted my blog with hopes of writing the storybook ending.

Do you remember – what placed you on the path to where you are today? We all have those defining moments; where you can see the possible direction of your journey. Mine displayed signs of “future journalist” a long time ago, and here’s a few formative examples:

1. watching the news with my family as a kid, and discussing some of the events of the day
2. revealing in an 8th grade autobiographical paper, “I want to be a news reporter when I grow up”
3. enjoying a current events class in high school focused on issues in the news, and earning an “A”

Our high school newspaper, “Equus,” along with the staff listing (I was the news editor for this particular semester) 

Some steps in what became a long road, yet it’s what initially led me to work on our school newspaper and yearbook. By my senior year, enough students were interested, and volunteer efforts became part of a credited publications class. We learned the finer points of interviewing, writing, editing, lay-out, and even developing photos. Seeing your name in a print by-line was beyond exciting! But there was something more to it. Maybe it was realizing you had to earn the right to tell someone’s story, or dig to tell it fairly, or understand you could make a difference through journalism.

The Advance-Titan holiday edition included this photo and staff listing for the semester (I am in the second row, behind the guy wearing the star glasses)

This interest carried into college, where I majored in Radio-TV-Film, and minored in journalism and political science at U.W. Oshkosh. I joined the Advance-Titan (A-T) staff, and for four semesters was part of a wonderful newspaper team. We were using real-world skills to put together a product we were not only proud of, but knew would also open doors to a job.

Along with working on the paper, I was also featured in it a few times, including as part of a review written about “The New Music Show.” It was a Titan-TV project, and all-student produced, which meant lighting, sound, and camera crews — working as though it were a live show. The bands were booked, but usually didn’t have time for more than a single shoot, and as one of the hosts, it demanded time, talent, and a lot of energy. Some of my favorite people on campus recently found this review in the A-T archives, and shared it with me. Evidence of my love of music and media, colliding on the pages of our school’s newspaper!

 

A-T review on one of the Titan-TV productions I hosted, “The New Music Show,” and recently found in the archives(I am on the show’s set, left side of the bottom photo)

It’s a long-time success story, yet could this be where it ends? The conference call was informative, the A-T had fallen on hard times, and needed support. A donation-matching challenge was recently issued, but the deadline was hard, and fast approaching. Thinking back to the hard work, the hands-on learning, the fun – I wouldn’t be where I am without it – and future journalists may no longer have this opportunity?

Will you join me to help write the way this story ends? Please make your gift, today: www.uwosh.edu/go/weneedtheat

#WeNeedTheAT