Six Figures Under

One reason budgeting gets a bad rap is that traditional budgeting often makes people feel like failures.  When the month's spending doesn't match the amount you projected at the beginning of the month, it's easy to decide that budgeting just doesn't work. Traditional budgets set spending levels in each category at the beginning of the month.  This can be frustrating because those decisions feel rigid and unchangeable, at least for the month. It feels like cheating to increase a category limit ... read more

Have you ever paid a library fine (or had to pay to replace a lost book)? Have you ever paid a late fee on a bill because you lost it or simply forgot to pay it on time? Have you ever intended to return something you bought at the store but didn’t get to it until it was past the return period? Have you ever bought a duplicate of a household item because you couldn’t find the original one? What about rebates, free coupons, or gift cards-- have you ever failed to redeem? If you answered yes to ... read more

Last year we spent $5,160 on gasoline. That’s a lot of money, just about as much as we spent on food four our family of 8! Today we’re going to talk about how we, and you, can spend less on fuel, so we can do more interesting and enjoyable things with our money. Saving on fuel is not that easy to get excited about. It’s involves a difficult matching problem. Since we don’t pay each time we drive, it’s hard to know what’s the right amount of financial pain we should feel for any given trip in ... read more

How much do you spend on your lunch each day?  If you spend just $5 a day eating out for lunch on weekdays, that’s $25 per week, over $100 per month, or $1,300 per year. If your lunch spending is closer to $10 per day go ahead and double those numbers. That would be $2,600 per year. Or maybe you don’t buy your own lunch, but you send your kids to school with lunch money instead of brown bagging it. Our kids’ school lunches are $2.75. With three kids in school that’s $180 per month on ... read more

Sometimes we chalk utility bills up as one of those monthly costs that we don't have control over.  We don't see the cost with every use.  When we're shopping, we can put something back if the total is too high or we can choose to return items later.  Once energy is used, on the other hand, there's no going back.  We'll be billed for the use. Do you know how much your utility bills are each month?  Do you pay attention?  Because utility bills feel like they're out of our hands, many people ... read more

Here’s something to think about. There’s a word that’s been costing you money! That word is “fixed” as in “fixed expenses.”  When I say “fixed expenses” what’s your first impression? If you’re like most people, you associate “fixed” with words like “unchangeable,” “permanent” and “unavoidable.” That’s why this word is costing you money! A fixed expense is absolutely not unchangeable or unavoidable. It’s just an expense that’s the same amount every month. Today we’re going to show “fixed” ... read more

Today we’re going to show you the method of budgeting that totally changed the way we feel about budgeting. It’s a move away from the traditional budgeting that has you feeling like a failure every month.  We want a budget that will empower you to really tell your money what to do instead of the other way around.  We use YNAB- that’s You Need a Budget-- for managing our budget, so that’s what I’m going to show you today, you can apply these same principles to a pencil and paper budget or ... read more

It’s time to address the B-word.  You knew this was coming sooner or later.   If “budget” is a bad word in your vocabulary, it’s time to fix that! A budget doesn't have to be depressing and restrictive-- it can be exciting and freeing!  We actually love our budget! It was exhilarating when we settled on our current process and knew we had something that would really help us manage our finances intentionally, instead of watching them as they went by.  We still look forward with ... read more

Do you know what's one of the most shocking expense categories that people discover when they start tracking their expenses?   It’s food.  Between grocery trips throughout the week, eating out for convenience and entertainment, and grabbing snacks at vending machines and gas stations, food expenses add up quickly.  If you don’t keep track of how much you spend, you might be in for a rude awakening. Part of becoming more frugal is changing our habits, and that’s not always easy.  Today we’re ... read more