Laura M. Drake's Blog

Debt.

You’re drowning in it: credit cards, student loans, home mortgage payments, you name it, and you’ve probably seen it. More than that, you’re well-acquainted with it.

“Getting ahead financially” is a pipe dream that you often hear others talk about but can’t possibly imagine how that extraordinary phrase could ever apply to you. You already feel as if you’ve cut back so much on your spending, but you never seem to make any forward progress despite your efforts at ‘frugal living’.

The...

You’ve scheduled too much into your day in an exhausting attempt to get things done. You rush from project to project, errand to errand in a panic, trying to accomplish everything that needs to get done today. Maybe if you sacrifice some sleep, you could accomplish more. Who really needs eight hours of sleep anyway?

What you need is more time. Yet that seems to be the hardest thing to find. That’s because time is actually one of our most precious resources, simply because it’s one that we can never make...

 You wake up feeling well-rested and happy (already quite a feat) and sit up to stretch. 

But then your eyes fall on the weights on the floor. “Ah, crap.”

You forgot to do your workout yesterday, and now you’ve messed up your New Year’s Resolution to exercise every day. 

You can see how this is going to play out now — the same way it did last year.

Yes, you’ll do your best. But now that you’ve failed at it once, it’s somehow so much easier to fail again. And again. Until you find yourself fai...

If you’re reading this article, then I think you would agree that budgets can be intimidating and hard to tackle. That’s why I’m going to teach you how to make a budget!

But I’m barely getting by month-to-month as it is. I don’t have enough money to put any in savings. I’m slowly being crushed under a mountain of loans.

These are some of the thoughts that might prevent people from finding the time and money to sit down and make a budget.

But what if budgets weren’t as overwhelming as we tho...

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C. S. Lewis

I’ve been feeling quite inspired by my good old friend, Lewis, recently, so I wanted to share what I’ve been thinking; particularly I want to share what I’ve been thinking about failure.

What a nasty word. Failure.

At least, that’s a normal first reaction. That was my first reaction until I moved to Japan. Did that ‘was’ catch your attention? If so, you might be wondering what changed.

To put it simply, me. I...

If you’ve never felt this way then go ahead and stop reading because this post isn’t for you.

Still here? Oh, good. I thought you might be.

Because at some point or another this thought has probably crossed your mind.

Guess what? You might never have as much money as you want to have. But don’t let that discourage you. The real trick to being rich is learning to live within your means.

I’ll say it again. It’s that important: LEARN TO LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS.

That means not getting into debt...

“Decisions determine destiny.” -Thomas S. Monson

Since I was young I have dreamed of going to Japan.

‘Why?’ You might ask.

That’s hard to say.  I don’t know if it was from watching anime as a teen and falling in love with the language. Or maybe it was from my Japanese penpal and the short glimpses into the window of her life in Japan-a life that was so different from my own- that her letters provided through the years. Or maybe it was because I love sushi. Regardless, I fell in love with Japa...