As I've surveyed friends and readers about their grocery budgets (those who actually have them), I've found that the numbers are all over the board. Family size doesn't seem to be the determining factor in how much a family spends. Do you ever wonder what people actually spend their grocery budget on? I've been making all of our personal finances public here for four and a half years. I've shared our low grocery numbers for years, but this year I'm committed to showing you what we ... read more
How to Use a Credit Card Like a Debit Card– Keep Benefits, Lose Debt
One of the things I love, love, love about the way we manage our budget is how we handle credit cards. Though we've always paid our credit cards off in full each month, I used to stress over the timing of credit card payments. I'm going to show you how you can stop stressing over timing your credit card payments and start using your credit card like a debit card. Once we started living on last month's income and embraced the YNAB credit card process, we've never had to wonder or stress or ... read more
Transparent Family Budget Update– January 2018
Time for our first budget update of 2018! I debated whether I should keep sharing our real personal finance numbers with the world or not. I started being transparent with our income and expenses in the fall of 2013 when we decided to buckle down and tackle six figures of student loan debt. The accountability has been huge! Knowing that I'll have to share everything with you keeps me in line more than you know! In the middle of 2016 we finished paying off $144,000 of debt, but I have ... read more
Mid-Month Grocery Shopping– January
In January we spent $350 on groceries for six people. The first $200 was spent at the beginning of the month in our monthly shopping trip to Sam's Club and Winco. The other $150 was spent in a few mid-month trips, including a trip to a local orchard! As promised, I'm going to show you everything all of the groceries we bought this month. Sometimes a mid-month trip will involve Sam's Club or Winco if I am out that way, but most of my mid-month shopping is done at Grocery Outlet. If you're ... read more
Why I don’t freeze soup (and what I do instead)
Our winters here in Northern California are milder than anywhere I have ever lived. We don't get snow at our house, but we do enjoy a rainy season. I love having four seasons, even if they aren't as extreme as in many places. One of the best parts of cool weather is soup. Seriously! Soup warms you from the inside out. And what's even better is that soup is super easy and super frugal. And recipes are optional. Unlike many frugal folks out there, I don't ever freeze soup. I'll ... read more
Keep your Financial Goals on your Radar
How many times do we make a goal and then forget about it? Or maybe we don't forget about our goal, but the craziness of life takes over and crowds out the important habits we were developing to aid us in achieving our goal. A couple of years ago my kids had a "penny wars" fundraiser at school. The kids were encouraged to bring in pennies and spare change (and you better believe they accepted paper money and checks too). Students could add the money they brought to their class's jar or they ... read more
Our Monthly Grocery Shopping Trip Notes (+ Video)
Ever since I started sharing our family's real budget with you, I've gotten questions about what we actually eat on our low grocery budget. While we were getting out of debt our grocery budget for our (then) family of five was less than $300 per month. Now that we are debt-free we've increased our grocery budget a bit. I just calculated our average monthly grocery spending for 2017 to be $398. For the record, when I talk about our grocery spending, I'm just talking about food-- not ... read more
You Need a Budget– Book Review
If you've been around Six Figures Under for any length of time, you know that we budget with YNAB. We have for years! Learning the You Need a Budget methodology revolutionized the way we think of and handle our money. I know that sounds dramatic, but it's true. As someone who has used, loved, and written about YNAB for years, I was planning to get the new book You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You ... read more
Family Budget Update– December 2017
Happy 2018, friends! I'm excited for the new year! I've been a little absent here lately because of 2017's adventures (new house... no internet, new baby... no sleep etc), but I have lots of plans for Six Figures Under in 2018! As I mention below under the grocery category, in the new year I'm planning to give you some more insight into what I buy and what I cook on a $300-$400 grocery budget. I want to do both videos and blog posts to show you how we manage to eat well without feeling ... read more
The Cash Back Hack I Learned Too Late
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of RetailMeNot. All opinions are 100% mine. Don't you hate it when you learn an awesome trick to save money right after you spent a bunch of money where you could have used that very trick? Well that just happened to us! As I explained in my November family budget update, we bought the components for a new computer as well as a TV and accessories and a trampoline over Thanksgiving weekend. Three major purchases for our family. Like ... read more
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