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 […]
January 2025 Family Budget Update
Budgeting has always been key to reaching financial goals, but in these uncertain financial times, budgeting really is crucial! I’ve been sharing our family’s real budget since 2013 when we were in six figures of student loan debt. A lot has changed with our finances since then, but one thing hasn’t changed- we still budget […]
Easy Way to Cook a Turkey for Meat and Broth– plus cost analysis!
Have you ever wondered if it’s worth it to stock up on turkeys around Thanksgiving when the price seems to be dirt cheap? This was (and is) my mother-in-law’s habit, so I was curious how cost effective whole turkeys are, considering you’re paying for the weight of the bones and all of the “extras” (not […]
October 2024 Family Budget Update
What do you do when you have unexpected expenses? As you’ll see in our budget below, we try to plan ahead by adding to sinking funds for specific purposes. By adding money to each of these categories every month, we build up sums of money that will come in handy when those expenses come up. […]
Frugal Feats, Flops, and Funnies- Owl Edition
Both my husband and I grew up with frugal parents, so we come into frugality naturally and it has served us well. Carefully and intentionally minimizing expenses was a huge part of how we were able to pay off six figures of student loan debt in three years. I love helping people learn to be […]
Our Secret for Saving on Heating Bills (+ 8 More Money-Saving Strategies)
It’s finally starting to cool off and feel like fall here! Aside from being soup and sweater season, another lovely thing about fall is that utility costs are lower because you don’t have to pay to to cool or heat your house. Stretching this low utility cost season even further is one of our number […]
5 Ways we’re saving for a family vacation (without using our own money)
It sounds pretty crazy to save for a vacation without using our own money. No, we’re not stealing! And we’re not using anyone else’s money. But I want to see how much we can save creatively from money that isn’t our regular income. Hear me out! We have something exciting planned for our family in […]
Transparent Family Budget Update – September 2024
I always look forward to going through our budget at the end of the 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 set for each budget category. Throughout the month we track our spending […]
Frugal Feats, Flops, and Funnies
It has been a while since I shared a new edition of Frugal Feats, Flops, and Funnies. As you probably know, the frugal life has its share of adventures. Some of those adventures end with a smile, some with a frown, and others leave us laughing. This is a series where I share some of […]
Transparent Family Budget Update for August
Today I’m sharing our transparent family budget, including all of our spending and earning, from August. If you read my last post, then you already have an idea about the most exciting part of this budget update: we bought a car! While that might be the most exciting, it’s all of the other things in […]
We bought a new car!
Okay, not a new car, but a new-to-us car. If you’ve been following our financial journey, then this probably isn’t a big shock, as we’ve been saving for a new vehicle. We still had a long way to go until we reached our goal amount and we didn’t buy the type of car we had […]
Two-Week Family Trip to Guatemala – Budget vs. Actual Spending
After deciding to take a trip to Guatemala, I immediately got to work making a budget. Rather than just save up a random sum of money and hope it would be enough, I did lots of research and created a meticulous, well-thought-out budget. If you missed it, you can check it out here. Not only […]
July 2024 Transparent Family Budget Update
It’s the time of the month where I tell you how much I love having a budget! Budgets often get a bad rap because some people see them as restrictive, but if you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know that I believe the opposite is true. Rather than being restrictive, a […]
Update on Our Ukrainian Friends
In March of last year I shared some big news. I announced that we would be pausing our Airbnb and remodeling our above-the-garage apartment into a space for a Ukrainian refugee family. Three months after their arrival I shared all the details of how this has changed our finances. Now that our Ukrainian friends have […]
June 2024 Budget Update
It’s budget time! Many people dread making or reviewing their budgets, but I love it! Some people think that you can only enjoy budgeting when you have lots of money to work with, but I had the opposite experience. I learned to love budgeting when we didn’t have lots of money. In fact, we were […]
How to Save Money on Road Trips
Don’t let our upcoming epic trip to Guatemala mislead you. Road trips are our normal vacation style. As a frugal family of eight, we get a lot more bang for our buck when we take road trips than any other kind of vacation. We get to see so many hidden treasures throughout our country and […]
Everything we’re packing for 2 weeks of backpacking in Guatemala
Not too long ago, I shared with you our budget for our family adventure in Guatemala. I have literally been packing and planning since I booked the flight. Although it’s still a while until we’re actually leaving, I thought it would be fun to show you what we are bringing. Though we’re packing super minimally […]
Zucchini Brownies with Perfect Chocolate Frosting
In addition to talking about budgeting and finances, I love to share from-scratch recipes, frugal dishes, and ways to use garden produce. Today I am sharing one of my favorite ways to eat zucchini– zucchini brownies! We don’t have any zucchini yet this year, but hopefully we will soon! Zucchini lovers and haters alike will […]
May 2024 Budget Update
How is it already June? While time may be flying by too fast, I always enjoy finishing off one month’s budget and having the fresh start of a new month’s budget. As one month ends and the next begins, it’s a prime time to review your budget and financial goals, resolve to make improvements where […]
Find Money You Didn’t Know You Lost– Search Your State’s Unclaimed Property
Can you imagine a lost and found that has millions, even billions, of dollars in it? Neither can I. Yet every state has a lost and found like this. It’s the unclaimed property division, a part of the state treasury or controller. The billions of dollars of unclaimed property is spread out among everyday people like […]
Freezer Meal Prep for the Month
A couple of months ago, I started making freezer meals our go-to plan for dinner. Before that, getting dinner on the table used to be so tough. With all of our kids’ sports and other activities (for which I’m the main driver), plus all of the commitments that Mike and I have, our evenings are […]
My Shoulders and Your Budget
When I very first started blogging in 2013, I would often have “debt discussions” with my early blog readers. At the time, my husband and I had just decided to pay off our law school debt as fast as we could. Since we had six figures of debt, we knew it was going to be […]
Monthly Grocery Haul for our Family of 8 in May 2024
It’s been a while since I shared our monthly grocery haul. This past year has been a whirlwind, so I haven’t been as organized and intentional as I like to be. With rising food prices, our grocery spending has been higher than it ever has. Still, in the past 12 months, our average monthly spending […]
Our detailed family budget with all of April’s income and expenses
I’m always a fan of living by a budget, no matter your means. Budgeting allows you to be in control of your money instead of having your money control you. Your budget gives you the freedom to spend where you want because you are the one who sets the budget. If you don’t prioritize your […]
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