I enjoy budgeting because I love the peace that it brings. Knowing that our needs are covered and that we are working toward our goals greatly reduces my overall stress. While no one likes expensive budget curve balls, they’re so much less stressful to manage when you’re on top of the day-to-day money management. We […]
Budgeting for a Trip to Cuba (and Why We’re Going)
After planning the surprise Florida trip for our anniversary, I was eager to dig into planning another trip for the two of us. I wanted to take advantage of my Southwest Companion Pass, so I looked through all of the destinations with Mike. I told him that in addition, to all of the US destinations, […]
Our Family’s Transparent Finances for October 2025
Years ago, before we started budgeting, I was always stressed out about money. Every transaction had me on edge. While we didn’t carry any credit card debt, we used credit cards. I felt like my mind was always bogged down with thinking about how much the credit card bill would be so that I could […]
Create a Christmas Book Countdown that Your Kids Will Love Every Year
One of the most anticipated Christmas activities at our house is our Christmas book countdown. All of our kids, currently ranging from 6 to 17, enjoy this nightly tradition to count down the days in December until Christmas. Even though most of the books are the same every year, there is an element of surprise […]
Complete Cost of Demolishing a Double-Wide Mobile Home on Our Own
Some of you might think we are crazy after I shared our new financial adventure. We were making great progress on paying off our home extra fast when my husband had the idea to invest in another property. It wasn’t a turn-key property either. We knew it was going to take some work to get […]
September 2025 Family Budget Update
I went a few months without sharing a budget update, but I’m back at it. We were still managing our money with YNAB as we always do, I just didn’t write a blog post to share all of our details for the past few months. Why do I share my budget online anyway? Well, most […]
Why you should identify your financial non-priorities
It’s commonly said that you can afford anything but you can’t afford everything. That might not be entirely true. There are certainly some things that I (and probably you) couldn’t buy even if we used every dollar we had. But the sentiment is so true. We all make choices daily about what to spend our […]
We Bought an Investment Property
I alluded to some budget surprises in our June 2025 Family Budget Update, but I wasn’t quite ready to talk about how our finances would be changing yet. I was still alternating between shock, fear, excitement, and dread. Frankly, I wasn’t sure how to tell you all that we chose to take on new debt. […]
Frugal Feats, Flops, and Funnies from the Summer
As a family of eight with financial goals, we are all about saving money on the things that don’t matter to us so that we can be free to spend on the things that are our priorities. My husband and I were both raised in frugal families, so we aren’t strangers to the frugal life, […]
June 2025 Transparent Family Budget Update
I love budgeting because it makes so many things possible that otherwise wouldn’t be. When I first saw that our law school debt added up to six figures, I felt physically ill. I couldn’t envision the crushing weight of that debt ever going away, especially when our take-home pay was under $40K a year. But, […]
South Florida Anniversary Trip – Complete Cost Breakdown and Budget
Mike and I are coming up on our 20th wedding anniversary this year, so I decided to plan a surprise trip to celebrate! Mike knew that I was taking him on a trip, but he didn’t know where we going or what we were doing. He didn’t have a clue until we got our boarding […]
May 2025 Transparent Family Budget Update
Do you like living by a budget? Some people associate budgeting with being poor or feeling restricted, but that’s far from the way I see it. Living by a budget is for everyone, no matter your means. Budgeting allows you to be in control of your money (whatever amount that is) instead of having your […]
April 2025 Transparent Family Budget Update
At the end of the month, I love reviewing our budget and planning our finances for the next month. When we look at our budget at the end of the month, we aren’t checking to see if we our spending matched up exactly with the amount we set for our budget categories at the bginning […]
We took our family of 8 on a 6-night cruise. Here’s the complete cost breakdown.
We recently returned from a 6-night cruise with our family of 8. We’ve been planning and saving for this trip for about 18 months. We’ve never taken a trip like this before, so we were super excited! As always, I’m reporting back to share all of our spending with you. Of course I don’t expect […]
March 2025 Transparent Family Budget Update
It’s budget update time! I always look forward to going through our budget at the end of the month and planning our budget for the next month. When we look at our budget at the end of the month, we aren’t looking to see if we matched our spending up exactly with the amount we […]
5 Genius Ways to Save Money on Toilet Paper
Every family has certain expenses they are focusing on lowering. Once you’ve lowered your bills, reduced your grocery spending, and cut out superfluous spending, you can look more closely at even more specific expenses. I don’t know about your family, but our family seems to go through a lot of toilet paper. When I look […]
Frugal Feats, Flops, and Funnies: Show, Shipping, Shopping, and Sleeping
In addition to sharing ways to save money, budget, and reach your financial goals, I love sharing our day-to-day frugal adventures. The frugal life is full of ups and downs, some of which can only be appreciated by other frugal-minded people. Do you have friends or family who also live frugally? Maybe you have certain […]
How to Save Money on Glasses (and even get some free!)
If you wear glasses, you know that they can be expensive! Back when we were paying off six figures of student loan debt, I was especially diligent at figuring out how to reduce every one of our expenses. While some of our spending habits have changed as our finances have changed, our spending on […]
Monthly Grocery Haul- Family of 8- March 2025
It has been a while since I shared a monthly grocery haul. That’s because life has been crazy and I haven’t been doing meal planning and monthly grocery shopping like I should. You can see what happens when I do that in our last budget update! Yikes! During March I am committed to lowering that […]
Want to win at personal finance? Stop using this phrase!
What do you think when you hear someone say “I can’t afford that?” Do you admire them for their self-control or wish you could be as budget-conscious as them? Careful, now. Those words can actually be symptoms of some serious problems in their relationship with money. It may sound counterintuitive, but if you really want […]
Frugal Feats Flops and Funnies: Socks, Sales, and Flying Free
Being frugal isn’t just about making a money-saving a decision here and there. It can become a way of life! While we were working hard to pay off six figures of student loan debt, living frugal was a necessity in order to reach our goals. Now, a dozen years later, we’re still sticking to many […]
February 2025 Family Budget Update
Every month we share our family’s real budget with you in an effort to break the taboo about budgeting and help you manage your own budget. Unfortunately, personal finance isn’t offered in most high schools and most people don’t ever have experience with a real budget until it’s their own. When we started openly sharing […]
4 Ways We’re Lowering Our Grocery Budget This Month
I love a new month to have a fresh start! Our grocery budget has been creeping up lately and I’m determined to stop it! I know I’m not the only one who feels like their grocery spending has gotten out of control. The difference is that I know better! I am a grocery savings expert […]
How to Get Started with Sinking Funds (and Why You Should!)
Have you ever been hit with a big bill that you didn’t budget for? If so, it’s time to set up some sinking funds so that next time you can be prepared. The annual premium for our disability insurance is due next month. While it’s not a surprise, it would be easy to forget that […]
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