My husband wears a suit six days a week: 5 days to work and 1 day to church. His suits are the most expensive pieces of clothing we own, both because of the original price tag as well as the ongoing price of keeping them clean. Around here the average price for dry cleaning a […]
July 2014 Debt Repayment Progress Report
Debt Repayment At the beginning of each month we estimate a preliminary debt payment, leaving enough to cover our estimated expenses for the month and a cushion for unexpected expenses. Usually that’s at least $1,000. Then, at the end of each month, we take whatever is left after actual expenses and make a second student […]
Saving Money with Alternative Housing Arrangements
When you are getting serious about paying off debt (which we are, in case you’re new here), you are willing to make sacrifices that you otherwise wouldn’t make. What each individual or family is willing to give up is different. That is fine! Some of the ideas I’m going to share may sound a little […]
How to Make Razzleberry Jam
Around here, wild blackberries abound. They are thorny, but they’re free! Pull over just about anywhere and you can help yourself to delicious, flavorful berries. To preserve your skin, you’ll to wear long sleeves, but not your favorite shirt because blackberries stain! We’ve gone the free route many times, but now we we are lucky […]
Being Happy On Any Income
We’ve all heard that money can’t buy happiness, but do we believe it? It’s easy to imagine how money could solve our problems, especially when we’re talking about debt, but is money a requirement for happiness? Can we be happy on any income? My belief is that we really can be happy no matter what […]
Living on Last Month’s Income
One of the major changes we made to our budgeting strategy after learning the YNAB method was “living on last month’s income.” And boy has it been a game-changer! What is living on last month’s income? In traditional budgeting methods, people assign amounts to spending categories according to the money they expect to earn that […]
Republic Wireless Experiment and Review– Finding the Most Frugal Phone
As I was writing about my experience losing my cell phone and looking for comparable rates for replacing it, I got thinking more about the options. In order to share the two best candidates I found, I went through the same research I had done months ago. The more I learned about Republic Wireless, the […]
How to Get Started Paying Off Debt
I often get emails from people who are finally ready to face their debt but don’t know where to start. Here’s a quick one I received from a reader recently. I really need your help and advice. We are in debt and it seems to be growing. We are struggling to make it every […]
How Menu Planning Saves Money
One Friday not long ago I glanced at the clock and saw that, once again, dinner was half an hour away and I had no idea what to make. A search of the cupboards and refrigerator was uninspiring. Every idea I thought of would require more prep work that I had time to do or […]
My Favorite Cash Back Sites and Apps
I mentioned to my brother that I would be posting about cash back sites and apps today. He’s generally pretty savvy, so I was surprised that he didn’t know about any of these cash back programs. If you didn’t know you could get cash back on nearly every online purchase and some in-store purchases too, don’t […]
Public Service Loan Forgiveness– Risks and Considerations
If you have student loans and have considered working in the public sector, you’ve probably heard about Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). When you see your loan totals upon graduation, loan forgiveness may sound like a wonderful prospect. It may even sound to good to be true. Take a good look at these risks and considerations […]
My #1 Garage Sale Pet Peeve– Don’t Make This Mistake!
I love yard sales, garage sales, rummage sales and estate sales. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt. I don’t mind digging through random things to find unique treasures and deals. I love saving money by buying second-hand. Sometimes I even make money by finding great deals and reselling the items. I’ve been to loads of […]
Our Favorite Free Family Activities
Our entertainment budget is pretty minimal since we’re working hard on our big, fat goal to pay off our law school loans asap. Just because we don’t spend much on entertainment doesn’t mean we’re not having fun! Fun definitely isn’t measured by the money you spend. In fact, free family activities may even be more fun because […]
Reader Question: How do I tell my spouse about my credit card debt?
I recently heard from a reader asking for advice on how to tell her husband about her debt. While we’ve talked about whether debt in marriage is considered yours, mine, or ours, we haven’t discussed the dynamics of divulging your debt to a spouse. I will be the first to admit that I have no experience in […]
The Costs of Being Disorganized
We’re fairly organized people, or so we like to think. We can almost always find what we’re looking for, even though a good portion of our things are in “storage”. We pay our bills on time. We keep our commitments. While I like to think that we’re organized, there have been a few instances lately […]
June 2014– Debt Repayment Progress Report
Debt Repayment At the beginning of the month, we budgeted the money that we earned last month and decided to start with $1,300 toward loans. We reserved some extra for our end-of-the-month payment. Then at the end of the month, we emptied all of the extra from our categories into our debt payment (our strategy for […]
Earn up to $176 FREE for Opening Capital One Online Checking and Savings Accounts
UPDATE: The Independence Day promotion has ended, but you can STILL follow the link to get a $50 bonus on a checking account, $25 bonus on a savings account, and $25 bonus on kids accounts. I don’t usually share time-sensitive deals on Six Figures Under, but I wanted to share with you a deal that is […]
Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
For our first eight years of marriage, we did not have a dishwasher. We managed, but with each move I was hopeful that our next place would have a dishwasher. When we moved into my in-laws’ basement we installed counters and cabinets that my in-laws got for free years ago when someone else was updating […]
Avoiding Entitlement in Debt Repayment
Not long ago, my kids began claiming “It’s not fair!” whenever anything didn’t go their way. Trying to curb the habit, we are constantly reminding them what “fair” actually means. The rule is that if you finish your dinner, you can have dessert. When only one child finishes dinner and gets dessert, the others cry, “It’s […]
Dumb Phone to Smartphone, but still just $10 a month?!
Since we live in a basement apartment (in the boonies) I don’t use my cell phone much at home. I really rely on it when I’m away from home though. Losing My Phone Last fall I lost my cell phone. Twice. Each time it was missing for over a week! I was pretty sure that […]
How Long Did You Wait to Get Serious About Your Debt?
Debt is a pretty big topic at Six Figures Under. Dealing with debt can be a long and rough road. Combine that with the fact that debt isn’t often discussed openly, and you’ve got a recipe for discouragement. I love being able to discuss debt together here each Wednesday. Hearing your progress is encouraging. I like helping […]
Personality Traits That Make Debt Repayment Easier
While no one will tell you that debt repayment is easy, there are some personality traits that can make your journey to debt-free easier. Talking with many people about their struggles with debt has helped me to notice personality traits in myself and others that contribute to (or hinder) success in eliminating debt. Let’s focus on the personal […]
Maximizing Our Debt Repayment at the End of the Month
Now that another month is over, I want to show you another aspect of how we budget. I’ve talked about our budgeting history, about why we switched from Mint to YNAB (and how it is wonderful), and about how we budget to zero each month. Today, I want to explain what we do at the […]
May 2014– Debt Repayment Progress Report
I love the accountability that blogging about our debt journey provides. As usual, here is a look at what we earned, spent, and paid-off in debt last month! Debt Repayment Our beginning of the month payment was $1,459, just what we needed to pay off our balance transfer that we used to save on interest. […]
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