Keep Your Money Irie™Blog

September 1, 2026 Change is inevitable. How often do we hear that statement and nonchalantly agree? Of course things change. We know that. But every once in a while, life gives you one of those moments when you don't just know it—you feel it. I had one of those moments this week. My kids went back to school, and everyone was so excited. They could barely fall asleep the night before. The next morning, they were up early, dressed and ready to go, practically rushing me out of

August 25, 2026 Recently, we've been planning our family vacation for next year. I like to plan our vacations well in advance. It gives us time to understand the cost, figure out what we're working toward, and save accordingly. Normally, my husband plans our trips, but this time we decided to enlist the help of a travel agent because of the number of people going and all the logistics involved. We had a destination in mind. We had a budget. We were excited. Then the numbers s

August 18, 2026 Oh my, it's that time of year already. It's back-to-school time, and you know what that means: getting the kids back on a school sleep schedule, packing lunch boxes, reviewing homework, and the big one... Back-to-school shopping. Now, back-to-school shopping can be an experience depending on the age of your child. For my 6-year-old, I used to be able to pick out something I thought looked good and he would happily wear it. Not anymore. Now he's telling me, "No

August 11, 2026 I finally accomplished something that has been on my vision board since I started my financial journey. I hired a cleaning service. Looking back, maybe I should have put a personal chef on there too, because answering that annoying daily question, "What's for dinner?" is another story altogether. But for me, a cleaning service was something I really wanted. I'm Jamaican, and one thing we are big on is a clean house. It's something I take pride in and genuine

August 4, 2026 One of the biggest lessons I've learned over the years is the importance of being upfront with people. Sometimes we think we're protecting someone's feelings by avoiding a difficult conversation. But in reality, we may be causing more hurt than if we had simply been honest from the beginning. For me, it's always been a delicate balance. Growing up, I was taught to be honest. I think most of us were. At the same time, I was also taught to be kind, to consider ot

July 28, 2026 One of my favorite moments as a financial coach has nothing to do with budgets or spreadsheets. It's watching a client's face light up when they tell me they walked into a store and paid cash for something they once would have financed. Not because they had to. But because they could. When credit is no longer your only option because there isn't enough money in your checking account, that's a different kind of freedom. I never get tired of hearing those stories.