Interview #3: Andrea @ Saving Joyfully

Blogging live to you and yours! It’s your boy TWOTALL4UFOOL! Today I got another interview for your guys. This time the person being interviewed is in a completely different niche (or topic) than I am. She runs a financial & money saving blog called Saving Joyfully. If you are looking for any financial advice, ways to save money, or to live on a budget she’s your go to girl in that department. Her name is Andrea and she is the blogger behind Saving Joyfully. I hope you all enjoy the interview and please leave comments and give feedback. That would be much appreciated.

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2TALL: I see you are very passionate about your niche. What made you want to start blogging about it?

Andrea: When I was a little girl I was raised in a large family without a lot, and my Grandmother who made sure we always had what we needed was a very frugal person. I admired her and found her quest for a good deal intriguing, so I learned a lot of things from her. As I grew up I began to make some bad financial decisions on my own and learned some difficult lessons about debt and how to manage it. It was as I began to finally deal with the debt that I learned a lot of great frugal ways. It was though a lot of hard financial times that I learned all the great tips and tricks I share on http://savingjoyfully.com/ today.

2T: There are a ton of blogs out there in your niche. How do you stand out from the rest of them?

A: I think there are a few ways I stand out among the crowd, but to be honest I try not to compare myself to other bloggers. I try to blog about what I am passionate about and what I have learned that has helped me over the years. As I blog I am hoping my blog will help and inspire others as they begin to make better financial decisions and start to get out of debt. I believe I have a helpful financial story, due to mistakes I made in the past with my finances. I try to bring the lessons learned through those mistakes, combined with a positive and encouraging attitude to my blog posts and social media accounts.

2T: I definitely see that in your writing. But one thing I think that really makes you stand out from all the others are your Birthday Freebies. Visit her website people and look for those freebies. Regardless of what part of the country or world you are in I’m sure she has listed something on there that could help you out on your birthday. What is your overall goal with your blog?

A: To help others understand how to save money, make extra money, find freebies and deals and overall live a joyful lifestyle on a budget.

2TALL: What’s the best piece of money advice you can give a person?

A: Be careful with debt. Debt can be a hard trap to break free from and should be monitored very closely. Try your best not to get into too much debt and to develop good spending and saving habits when you are younger. Also start that 401k today if you have not already, because retirement will come faster than you think. Even if you put only a little aside now it is better than nothing and will hopefully help you have to put away less money later in life.

2T: I’m going to take a page out of your book of questions. What is your biggest money mistake?

A: Credit card usage and not learning how to handle a credit well when I was younger was my biggest mistake. From the very first credit card I signed up for and used, it has been hard to break free from the habit of using credit to get from one paycheck to the next. Over the years the habit has been so hard to break and has been difficult to pay down all of my debt accumulated successfully.

2T: What blogs in your niche do you like to follow and would recommend to others?

A:  https://beyondabudget.com/ & http://www.couponingtodisney.com/

2T: Let’s switch gears a bit now. I remember you telling me a while back that your husband is a gamer. What does he game on and can you tell us some of the games that he has?

A: PS3 AND PS4. Final Fantasy XV, Star Wars Battle Front 1 & 2, Song of the deep & Batman Arkham knight are all his most recent favorites. My husband Jason’s says he can’t wait for the Final Fantasy VII remake. He also plays StarCraft II on the PC.

2T: Out of curiosity do you game with him?

A: I still like to play our old Super Nintendo with the Super Mario Brothers games. He bought this for me at a store called buy backs a few years ago, just so I would play video games with him.

2T: You have an SNES? Right on! No need for you to get an SNES Classic. I can definitely give you some game recommendations for that console. Growing up did you ever play any video games or hang with other kids who did? If so any titles you remember playing or titles that they played?

A: My brothers played video games all the time growing up and we owned an old Atari 2600 with the wood grain, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, N64, and a system most have never heard of called view-master interactive vision that we loved to play when we were little. This is basically what it was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master_Interactive_Vision On this system I loved to play a Muppets game, on Nintendo it was always Super Mario Bros.

2T: Any game out there you would like to try out?

A: I enjoy playing some games that are probably boring to a lot of people on my iPad like Tetris and Mahjong, but I do not typically play a lot of games anymore. However if you get out a Nintendo or Atari system like I used to play I could play with you any day.

2T: Tetris is one of my favorite games to play. Do you have any financial advice for the gamers out there?

A: There are some Apps that you can actually use to make money or save money when buying games, systems and gaming accessories at places such as Best buy, Walmart, Barnes andn Noble and many more using apps like cash dash & shopkick. You can even scan products at stores including best buy with the app to earn money that can be redeemed for gift cards to buy more games or even pizza.

2T: Let’s have some real fun now! Your favorite color?

A: Purple.

2T: Right handed or left handed?

A: Right handed.

2T: Favorite TV Show and movie?

A: Current favorite shows are anything on Investigation discovery or one of the travel adventure shows hosted by Josh Gates called Expedition Unknown or his new show Legendary Locations. Previous favorite show was Unsolved Mysteries, can you tell I love true crime and mysteries. Favorite movie is Top Gun.

2T: Favorite game? (not video game)

A: Apples to Apples.

2T: That’s one of my favorites to play with the family. Favorite food?

A: Chinese food (Kung Pao).

2T: PC or Mac?

A: PC.

2T: Sneakers or dress shoes?

A: Sneakers (you will never see me in heals or uncomfortable shoes I dislike them a lot).

2T: Coke or Pepsi?

A: Coke.

2T: Favorite candy?

A: Godiva chocolate (I get a free piece every month from the store at the mall, seriously ask about their frequent customer card. If you spend $10 there within the year you get a free one every month and usually $10 free worth of candy for your birthday.)

2T: Favorite music artist?

A: My taste in Music is very diverse I love 80’s and 90’s rock, the Top Gun sound track, Celtic Thunder, Metallica and Breaking Benjamin. The list could go on and on, because I love music!!! 

2T: Guilty pleasure?

A: Port wine, cheesecake and watching true crime shows

2T: Favorite blogs you like to follow not in your niche?

A: Oh there are so many including my friend Justin here because he has become a friend since I started my blog. I love travel blogs because I love to travel so I frequently visit blogs like http://lifejourney4two.com/ https://lifetravelsoul.com/ & https://worldwidefootprintsblog.com/

2T: I’ll definitely check them out. Especially your friend Justin. LOL! Besides blogging favorite activity or pastime?

A: Doing online surveys and market research projects to make extra money, cooking or interacting on social media

2T: Anything you want to ask me or share with the readers?

A: If you are ever Interested in some more Apps that could help you save money or possibly some online surveys or market research to make extra money I have some posts I created that talk about the ones I use most and have had the best success with.

http://savingjoyfully.com/apps-that-help-you-make-money-and-save-money/

http://savingjoyfully.com/making-money-with-online-surveys/

http://savingjoyfully.com/online-survey-sites-that-really-pay/

http://savingjoyfully.com/best-websites-to-earn-money-and-try-products-free/

Thank you Justin for the Opportunity to be interviewed and for supporting other bloggers along your blogging journey like you have with me.

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And thank you Andrea for doing the interview. There you have it folks. I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you. We may not be in the same niche but she definitely has knowledge of video games and can probably give some of us gamers out there good advice on how to save when buying video games. This hobby we love is pretty pricey I must say. We have some collaboration plans that we plan on doing together later on in the year so definitely stick around for that. And definitely check her website out. A lot of great content over there. Once again if you would like to be interviewed same niche or not reach out to me before I reach out to you. Until next time blogging live to you and yours! It’s your boy TWOTALL4UFOOL! Remember together everyone achieves more. Thanks for reading folks.