Six Figures Under

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 old hat. What was hard initially turns into just the way we do it. So what sorts of frugal habits are we talking about here? Turning off the light when you leave the ... read more

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 progress, reaffirming our goals, and making sure we're on the same page is motivating and fun!` Before I lay out the way we do our monthly budgeting meetings, I want to be clear that there is no one right ... read more

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 to touch on gifting in the Frugal Fresh Start Challenge, because there will constantly be opportunities to give gifts, and they can derail the progress toward your goals if you let ... read more

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. The internet is loaded with tutorials for doing things yourself. Pinterest is filled with all of the homemade cleaning and personal care products you can imagine. Images of home décor ... read more

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 how to look effectively. Keep a List The first key to effectively buying used is to keep a list of things that you need to buy. When you’re looking to find things secondhand, it may take longer to find exactly ... read more

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 the keys to getting out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. Hopefully, as you live within your budget by only spending money you actually have and continue minimizing your bills ... read more

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 means. We’re measuring and calculating specific numbers here, not just repeating conventional wisdom. In many countries, clean drinking water is abundant and cheap. But it’s not free. ... read more