We recently had the chance to connect with Nicole Prom and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Nicole, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
My kids.
This summer I’ve spent more time away from my businesses to spend time with my kids than in years past, and I love it. It’s been great to connect with them deeply again, spend days at the beach, connect with friends, and teach them new games and life skills.
There is so much learning that goes on outside of the school year when you’re able to be home with your kids all day. We’ve talked about many important topics that often get overlooked. I’m incredibly lucky to have this opportunity.
Spending more quality time with them has shown me that I need to do so more often.
My businesses, whether they make it or not, aren’t why I left my career as a school psychologist to be a stay-at-home mom. My kids are.
My eldest is starting 4th grade, and my twins are starting 1st grade. All are continuing with online school, which is a unique opportunity in which I get to still be part of their learning but not their primary teacher. I’m excited to help them all grow in this upcoming school year.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Throughout my parenting journey with 3 kids on a single income, I have become an expert in living comfortably within our means without feeling restricted and I strive to help others do the same.
When featured previously, I spoke about my only blog at the time, my twin mom blog called The Way it Really Is. This time, I’d like to tell you about my new blog, Easy Family Budgeting!
My husband and I have been budgeting since before we got married 12 years ago, back when we both were working full-time. It’s the planning and budgeting that has made it so we don’t have any debt other than our home, even with three children and being on one income for the past 8 years!
I write blog posts based on how we budget and make things work for us as a family of five with 3 boys including twins! I explain how to budget in my blog posts plus money saving tips, budget buys, and family budgeting tips! My most popular posts are about grocery price comparisons, they’ve even been featured on USA Today, Go Banking Rates, and AOL.
If you need more help budgeting than what my blog offers, I have a course at a low introductory price called Easy Budgeting for Real Life: Create a Stress-Free Budget That Sticks! You can learn more about it at EasyFamilyBudgeting.com.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
Being a school psychologist.
This is something I worked for my whole life and was so excited to achieve, but it’s run its course. I still am very proud of all of the work I did in graduate school to attain my Master’s Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, as it was incredibly difficult and important work.
I was very proud of being a school psychologist when I was one for 7 years. I was even on the board of the School Psychology Association of my state for a term of 3 years as their website developer, among other things. School psychology was my life!!
That is, until I had my first child.
I still worked for the first year of his life, but he was constantly sick due to the germs at daycare, and I constantly had to be taking off work. I missed at least 20 days in 9 months, plus the many days my husband had to take off work.
When my son was just 8 months old, I was burnt out from all the illnesses, sleepless nights, and even from being a school psychologist. We had just paid off my student loans, and we started having discussions about me being a stay-at-home mom once my contract was up, the day after he turned 1. It was a hard decision but I’m glad I made it and have been a stay-at-home mom for 8 years now.
Once we found out we were pregnant with twins a year later, that decision was set in stone as having 3 kids under 3 in daycare wasn’t something we could afford, even if I went back to work (which I didn’t want to anyway).
While I’m still very proud of my credentials, hard work, and advocacy for children, I use my degrees in different ways now as I build my businesses.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
The first year of having newborn twins and a 2 year old were so intense, I finally broke my ‘everything is fine’ facade. I didn’t realize it until they were 6 months old but I was battling intense postpartum depression that almost led to me taking my own life, several times.
I finally got help in the form of weekly therapy and six months later adding in an anti-depressant medication. I was very open and honest about this struggle on my personal social media profile as well as in the blog I started a couple of years later.
Since then, I’ve written not only about the struggles of postpartum depression but also about my experience with domestic violence years earlier with a guy I never should have dated, and health issues that have popped up along the way.
I believe it’s important that we don’t just show our best selves but our real selves online to help others realize our lives aren’t perfect either.
I’ve used this to help countless people who read my blog or interact with me on social media. Knowing that you’re not alone in your struggles and being connected with resources that can help you is invaluable.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That it’s normal to have credit card debt and the only way to not have it is to not use credit cards.
Having credit card debt is a huge disservice to yourself as you’re getting charged often 20+% per month on your debt. It’s just not sustainable!
The second part, the only way to not have credit card debt is to not use credit cards is also incorrect. I know plenty of people, my husband and I included, who use credit cards for the cash back and to help our credit score, but pay off our debt in FULL every billing cycle.
It can be done.
Monthly budgeting, not spending beyond your means, having separate savings accounts for routine things such as gifts, car insurance/expenses, etc. can really help you live comfortably, even on one income.
Even if you weren’t taught how to use credit cards responsibly as a young adult, you can learn now!
These are some of the things I teach on my Easy Family Budgeting blog.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
These days, I’m doing what I was born to do, helping people.
Since I was a teen struggling with depression, I’ve wanted to help people.
For years, I thought I could only do so as a psychologist, but after leaving the field, I realized I could reach and help even more people through blogging.
First, I wanted to help twin moms who were pregnant or struggling through those first few years of having twins, hence my twin mom blog, The Way it Really Is. There are plenty of helpful posts that aren’t twin-related as well.
Then, I wanted to help families learn how to budget, spend their money wisely, and not get caught up in the hamster wheel of living paycheck to paycheck.
I continue to help parents through both of my blogs, whether they have twins or not and whether they are struggling financially or not.
I’ve branched out into selling helpful printables as well, everything from twin pregnancy journals and activities for kids to planners and budgeting Google sheets!
My life is far from perfect but I figure anything I can do to help others by giving tips I’ve learned throughout the years of how to make things work, is worth sharing with my audiences.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://easyfamilybudgeting.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/easyfamilybudgeting
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-prom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/easyfamilybudgeting/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/easyfamilybudgeting/?etsrc=sdt
