Well, March wins for the craziest month ever! In March’s report, I asked our Debt Smashers how the current world conditions (I’m looking at you covid-19) were affecting (or likely would be affecting) their debt payoffs and financial goals. Many of you are putting financial goals like debt payoff on hold in favor of bulking […]
Quarantine Food Storage Challenge– Update 1
For those who missed it, our family is doing a 100% food storage challenge. We are challenging ourselves to not go to the grocery store until the pandemic passes. This will not only keep us and other safe, but it will give us a chance to “try out” our food storage to see how it […]
Real Family Budget Update– March 2020
I’m sure it goes without saying that March was a crazy month. Since March 16th our whole family– all eight of us– have been home all day every day. Mike is working from home. The kids are schooling from home. Pretty much everything on our calendar for the next three months has been erased. Fortunately […]
How We Saved $7,000 in 4 Hours: A No-Cost Mortgage Re-Fi That Makes Sense
Sometimes we focus on saving in small ways and forget to question the really big expenses. With refinance rates at crazy low numbers, this might be the time for you to reduce one of your biggest expenses–your mortgage payment. At the end of last year we refinanced our mortgage from a rate of 3.625% to […]
How We’re Living Off Our Food Storage– No More Grocery Shopping For Us
It’s official. No more shopping for us! Well, at least until life is back to normal. Maybe that’s just a month or maybe it’s through the summer. I’ll explain why we’re doing this, then show you what our food situation is at the outset of this crazy challenge. I’ll update you with new posts and […]
Big Changes to Our Financial Goals (post COVID-19)
I’m sure your life is looking a little different than it did a month ago (I know ours certainly is), but I hope you are well and adjusting to this new (albeit temporary) normal. I haven’t heard from any you whose health has been directly affected by COVID-19, but I have heard from many of […]
Making the Most of Quarantine 😷
Has the coronavirus cleared your calendar too? I can’t think of the last time our calendar looked so empty! Thankfully we are all well, but like many of you, we are currently sheltering in place. While there’s lots of disappointment about what is being missed, we’re actually enjoying having time to do things we otherwise […]
Debt Smash-athon FEBRUARY 2020 Progress Report
Well, life in March may be crazy, but you guys did an awesome job smashing debt in February! We smashed nearly $100K of debt between us! Let’s go back to February for a minute and celebrate you amazing financial accomplishments and talk about your big wins and how you did it! It’s so motivating to […]
Monthly Grocery Shopping– March 2020
The world has turned upside down in the time since I made this grocery shopping trip and when I’m posting it. When I made this shopping trip I had no idea that a week and a half later store shelves would be cleared of food and basic household products because of the coronavirus. Needless to […]
Real Family Budget Update– February 2020
Every month we make our personal finances public by sharing everything we earn, spend, save, and pay toward debt. We’ve been sharing our finances since September of 2013 (when we were in six figures of student loan debt) and haven’t missed a month! Our hope is that getting an inside look at one family’s way […]
Debt Smash-athon JANUARY 2020 Progress Report
When I asked if you wanted to continue the Debt Smashathon in 2020, I got a resounding YES, so we’ll keep it going this year as well! This is our first debt smashing report of 2020. If you don’t already get the link to report your progress at the end of each month, sign up […]
Monthly Grocery Shopping– February 2020
If you’re curious what a typical grocery haul looks like for a frugal family of 8, then keep reading. Today I’m sharing what we bought in our monthly grocery shopping trip in February. We went to Winco and Sam’s Club and spent right around $300. That leaves about $150 for other grocery/food purchases for the […]
Real Family Budget Update– January 2020
Whew! After posting 28 blog posts and 28 videos since the beginning of the year, I’m a week late getting January’s family budget update published. If you missed all the activity, you can you can sign up for the Frugal Fresh Start Challenge here! If you’re new here, every month we make our personal finances […]
Create Frugal Habits
Saving money here and there by living frugally is great and deserves to be celebrated, but what if you were able to replicate and automate that savings every month, every week, every day by creating frugal habits? Frugal living gets easier once you form strong frugal habits. What seemed like a sacrifice at first, becomes […]
Don’t Give Up Giving Even When Money is Tight
One of the dangers of spending a lot of time talking about personal finances is that it can get to seem like life is all about money. And it’s not. It’s easy for money to become the focus, the goal in itself. That’s like making food the focus of our lives. It’s true that we […]
Hold Monthly Budget Planning Meetings
It may not sound fun, romantic, or exciting, but I’ve got to admit that I really look forward to our monthly budget planning meeting. We treat it like a date! The kids are in bed and we’re together focused on the same thing. We’re on the same team working to achieve our goals. Seeing our […]
Frugal Gifting– Not the same as giving a cheap gift
It’s the thought that counts. We’ve all heard that before, but how many of us believe it? Do our gift-giving practices reflect what really matters or are we caught up in the price (or perceived price) of our gift? Today we’ll talk about how you can give great gifts on any budget. We really wanted […]
Own Your Money Choices
Have you ever been teased for being frugal? How did you react? Did you get offended? Did you blame your circumstances? Or did you OWN it? If this has happened to you, congratulations! If you’re being teased about the frugal changes to your lifestyle, then you are probably on track to reach your financial goals. […]
Do it Yourself (Or Don’t)– Is it Worth it to DIY?
The phrase “do it yourself,” or DIY for short, means taking back the responsibility for something that you would otherwise buy or hire out. DIY projects are all the rage these days. With a desire to be more natural and get back to basics, many people are interested in discovering ways to be more self-reliant. […]
Buy Used Instead of New
Before you buy something new, do you consider buying it used instead? It’s no secret that a great way to save money and become more frugal is to get things second-hand instead of buying them new. Anything you can buy new, you can also buy used. You just need to know where to look and […]
Budget for Future Expenses
If your budget is tight and has always been that way, it might be hard to imagine thinking ahead about expenses before they arise. You’re still drowning in what happened yesterday (or last month or last year). Having the foresight to plan for known upcoming expenses, or the possibility of upcoming expenses is one of […]
Save Water. Save Money– How to Really Reduce Your Water Bill
The average American shower uses 17.2 gallons of water and lasts 8.2 minutes. There must be some really short showers out there, because I’m pretty sure our average length is about twice that! We’re going to talk about real ways to save money on your water bill, and how many gallons and dollars that actually […]
Frugal Entertainment– How to Have Fun on a Budget
If you’re under the impression that budgeting and being frugal means there’s no room for fun, then this post is for you! Our fun budget is usually zero, but our family has lots of fun. You don’t need to spend lots of money on entertainment to have a great time! Whether you are looking for […]
Debt Smash-athon DECEMBER Progress Report & 2019 Year-Long Totals!
Well friends, we did it! We smashed debt throughout 2019. We’ve all had ups and downs, wins and fails. In 2019, some of you made the decision to start tackling the debt that has been looming over you for years. Some of you celebrated debt freedom during the year! And lots of us are somewhere […]
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