Time for another family budget update! The big news this month is that we're finally taking an income (albeit a very small one) from the rental apartment above our garage. Before we had renters, we spent a few thousand dollars on repairs to get the apartment ready. That came out of our family budget since we didn't yet have rental income. In the last year we've had renters in the apartment, and have paid utility and maintenance expenses from the incoming rent, but left the remainder of ... read more
Where Do You Keep Your Emergency Fund?
We need help with our emergency fund. Not to reach our goal of $25,000 before the end of the year. I think we're actually going to be ahead on that (you can see details in our budget report coming Wednesday). The question is where to put the money. Right now, our emergency fund earns 1.0% interest in a Capital One savings account. That's nowhere near the heady days of the 5.5% interest you could earn on a savings account in 2006, or the 10% interest in 1987, but it's more than the near ... read more
Money-Saving Kids’ Closet Organization Hack
Today's creative money-saving idea comes from Jennifer Byars. If you have a money-saving idea to share, you are welcome to submit a guest post (you don't have to be a blogger). See the guest post submission guidelines for details. I have been told that we are only as frugal as our organizational skills. I am frugal but, admittedly, very unorganized. I am a busy mom always trying to find ways to make life easier and save money. I have a solution for organizing my children's clothes for ... read more
6 Hacks to Never Waste Produce Again!
Ever since I started sharing my monthly grocery shopping hauls, especially now that we're trying to eat healthier (more real food, less processed stuff), I have received so many questions about how we are able to eat all of our produce before it goes bad. We try to do pretty much the whole month's shopping at once, though we may make a small trip or two later in the month for bread, milk, produce, something random, or a great deal. So how do we buy so much produce without wasting ... read more
$360 Monthly Grocery Shopping Haul– May 2018 (+ video)
After lots of inquiries about how we feed our family of seven on less than $400 per month, I started showing you exactly what we buy with our grocery spending. Of course I don't expect anyone to buy the exact same things as we buy. Food preferences are pretty personal, but hopefully showing you what we buy (and don't buy) will help you reduce your own grocery budget if that is something you're trying to do. If you would rather have me tell you all about May's grocery haul, check out the ... read more
Transparent Family Budget Update– April 2018
We were really curious to see how our 2017 taxes were going to turn out. Our tax situation was different than it had ever been so we weren't quite sure what to expect. Last year we bought a house (after not having owned one for five years), ran two profitable businesses (my blog and my husband's law firm), rented our above-garage apartment (as first-time landlords), and added another kiddo to the four that were already at home. Another happy change is that we faithfully put aside money each ... read more
Refinancing Our Mortgage (from 30-year to 15-year)– Everything you want to know
Do you get more done when you have a deadline? Us too. The adage that "work expands to fill the time available for its completion" can be true in business, in school, and in financial goals. So as we mentioned in our last two budget updates, we decided to limit the time we spend paying off our house! In March we re-financed our mortgage from a 30-year to a 15-year loan. I asked my husband to write a blog post to give you all the mortgage re-fi details (actually I think he ... read more
What I Wish I’d Known About Money in College
I haven't always been the debt-smashing budget boss I am today. Nope! Far from it! I wasn't a financial disaster in college, BUT I was a complete newbie to managing money. I got my first checking account and my first apartment in the same week (after moving two thousand miles away from my family). There I was all on my own and no one had ever taught me to budget! If I could go back and have a chat with my college self I would share some financial wisdom that I've picked up over ... read more
How to Increase Your Income to Pay Off Debt
I get lots of emails from many of you who are just starting on your journey to pay off debt. Your stories and situations are often similar to ours. You are excited to find another family who started with big debt. You are encouraged that we were able to pay off our debt while I stayed home with our kids. If you've followed our story from the beginning, then you know that we have come a long way! Looking at our income now, our goal to pay off our debt quickly may not seem as daunting a ... read more
$250 Monthly Grocery Shopping for April (with video)
This is our fourth month giving the behind-the-scenes look at how we grocery shop for our family of seven! (The little guy is just barely starting on solids, so I often say family of six when I talk about groceries.) I don't have any deep dark grocery secrets (at least I don't think I do), but people are always asking, both here and in real life, how I keep my grocery budget so low. That's why I started sharing the full list and prices of all the food that we buy in the month. If you would ... read more
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