Author: Sincerely Angie

Nouns of the Week

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In honor of “Love Day”, here are a few nouns that I’m loving. My current favorite person(s), place and thing.

Person(s)

Toya and Yannie

I met them a little over 20 years ago and my life hasn’t been the same since. Last October, I mentioned to them that I hadn’t truly celebrated turning 40 and they said, say less! Yannie and I flew to Georgia and Toya had an amazing weekend planned for us. I truly celebrated turning forty six months after my actual birthday. I love them too much! We’ve traveled together, partied together and shared our hearts with one another. We are family now so they are stuck with me for life!

Place

Me with a Zulu group that performed a proposal reenactment, in South Africa.

South Africa. I visited Jamaica in 2015 and I had always labeled it as my favorite trip. South Africa 2025 has entered the chat. This trip came out of no where for me. I got a message November 14th, 2024 asking if I wanted to go. I said yes but I was in the midst of traveling and as soon as I got back home and settled, I checked-in about 10 days later to see if the spot was still available. It was nothing but God that saw fit for me to be included. A month and a half later, I was on a 17 hour flight to South Africa. There are no words to describe the feeling but Africa honestly felt like home. It wasn’t any one person, place or thing that made me feel this. It was just the aura, spirit or ambiance of Africa.

Thing

I saw Nina Pool on TIkTok do a dooperoonie for this shower oil. I had never seen or heard of it before so I was going to dupe it. I few days later while in Africa, I saw the L’Occitane store in the mall. I remembered the name from the video but I didn’t stop in the store because I was headed somewhere else. I go into another store (a department type of store) and I see this bottle, it was one of three different bottle sizes and there wasn’t a price on it. I found a sales agent and asked for the price and purchased it. I never even smelled it. Once I got back home, I recorded a video to showcase what I purchased in Africa (video here) and I smelled it and was blown away. I showered with it and I’m pretty sure I will never not use this stuff. It will be a part of my shower routine for ever. Even at the price point it’s at (and y’all know I’m cheap.)

Sincerely,

Angie

5 Year Plan Results…

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This post is almost 2 years late. But the 5 year plan I speak of, was made on October 16, 2018 at 2:00p. (It’s written down with the time and date.). Five years later would be October 2023, but I capped it at December 2023. This is the update from that time frame. Listen to the podcast for this episode here!

October 2018 me: I was 34 years old. I was working 2 part time jobs. One I had been employed at for 6-1/2 years. The other was a part-time seamstress job. I had recently started my podcast and just purchased a domain for my website. My goals were to find my purpose, get into a relationship/marriage, have kids, produce budget planners, have a successful podcast and website, pay off my car and student loans, finances in overflow, living in the house of my dreams and donating a lot to help others.

February 2025 me (October 2018-December 2023): Since then, what actually happened was…

  • Credit score went from 715 to 816(highest).
  • Wrote a book and created a journal, never published them.
  • Practiced tithing the full 10%.
  • Saved approximately $60,000+.
  • From $13,000 in credit card approvals/limits to over $100,000.
  • Maintained $0 credit card debt!
  • Paid car off December 2020( 2-1/2 years early)
  • Opened an IRA and maxed it out each year since.
  • Contributed $5,000+ into the stock market.
  • Approximately 50+ blog posts.
  • Over 100+ podcast episodes.
  • Over 100+ YouTube videos.
  • Created budget worksheets for free download.
  • I did get into a relationship but it didn’t last very long.

I didn’t reach all of my goals and I am okay with that because some things are on God’s timing, not mine. His timing is perfect and always worth it. I also accomplished way more than I planned to. Now that I have finally updated y’all, as promised on this 5 year plan, before I turn 41, I will make another 5 year plan.

Stay tuned, because I have to do a 2025 money/saving/budget post. My goal is to always share new tips, tricks and ways to help everyone grow financially. So, make sure you subscribe to this blog.

Sincerely,

Angie

The Forge

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Happy new year! I honestly wanted to record a podcast episode and post this blog post on 12/31/24 but time didn’t allow. Then New Year’s day comes and tragedy hits nearby. The intentional massacre on Bourbon Street. Now this post is seeming more necessary than before. Praying for the minds and hearts of people.

Now, here’s my take on the 2024 movie The Forge. The last movie I felt led to write a whole post about was The Shack starring Octavia Spencer in 2017. You can check that one out here. I took a lot of notes, so I will link a podcast episode here to listen to, if you don’t want to read it. It was just released on Netflix, but it went to theatres a couple of months before that. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to watch it. I won’t spoil it with too many particulars.

On first watch, the main thing that stuck out to me was the power of prayer. When I thought to do a post, I watched it again to be able to give a more detailed opinion.

  • Isaiah: anger issues based on an absent parent and obvious respect for women and resistance towards men.
  • Some of the beauty salon scenes seemed unnecessary and having a twin made no sense. (I think the cinematography team just wanted to show off). 
  • Mr. Moore was always willing to help someone in need and made time to pour into them and his employees know and understand this. 
  • The mother always prayed and always thanked God when He moved. 
  • The older praying woman’s initial prayer was not for Isaiah to change into who they wanted him to be but for him to see himself how God sees him and change his heart. 
  • Isaiah was a fast learner and when exposed, change occurred. 
  • Being a disciple and the importance of reaching out to help others and pass on the Word of God. 
  • Isaiah’s first step was to inquire, then he asked Jesus to help him because he realized he needed help. His decision, his timing through prayers from his mother. He was encouraged and sought God for himself. He asked God what would he need to do to be better in his quest of Him. He knew that his game occupied a lot of his time so he learned sacrifice. 
  • Being around like minded people is paramount. A relationship with God requires changed behaviors. Change will include challenges. (Him seeing his father). 
  • Isaiah talked to God honestly. Made a choice to forgive. Gave his troubles to Him. Prayed for his mother. Surrendered. 
  • A family in Christ to support you, help you, pray with and for you, encourage you is necessary.  
  • Isaiah asked for forgiveness from someone who didn’t even remember the offense. A depiction of how God forgives us and remembers our sins no more. 
  • You gain a different level of confidence when you go to God first and trust that He will work things out. 

In all, should you watch it, yes. It started off pretty slow for me. I tried about 4 or 5 times to watch it, before giving it my full attention. It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes of the two hour movie that I began to shed a few tears. I was overwhelmed with gratitude because of the life God has blessed me with and because He answers all of my prayers. Even the ones that haven’t come into fruition yet.

Sincerely,

Angie