Talking about personal finance shouldn’t be taboo! That’s why we share our real budget with you every month. In fact, talking about budgeting is a great way to learn how to budget Our budget will look different than yours, and that’s how it should be. Our needs, values, and priorities are different, so it only […]
Sweet Potato Soufflé– Our Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish
One of our most favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner? Sweet potato souffle! While it’s not the healthiest version of sweet potatoes for your Thanksgiving spread, this sweet potato souffle is absolutely the tastiest. And let’s face it, covering your sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar, like many people do, isn’t healthy either. But sweet […]
Budgeting gets much better than Mint anyway. We switched to YNAB nine years ago and haven’t looked back!
If you are one of the 3.6 million people who uses Mint for managing your personal finances, you might be panicking with the news that Mint will be shutting down completely by January and is hoping to push users to Credit Karma. As a long-time user of Mint, I can tell you that budgeting gets […]
3 Inexpensive household items we use to save hundreds of dollars each month
The internet is full of “money-saving” products with all sorts of promises to make your life easier while keeping cash in your pocket. I’m sure some of those gadgets are great and for the right people would make a financial difference, but that’s not what I want to talk about. Today I want to share […]
Let’s normalize talking about budgets. Here are our actual expenses and income numbers for September
Want to see what our real budget looks like? Every month we share our family’s actual budget numbers with you because we think talking about personal finance shouldn’t be taboo. In fact, talking about budgeting is a great way to learn. Your budget won’t look like ours because your priorities are different, your family is […]
How to make your own pumpkin puree (from ANY pumpkin)
Fall means it’s time for pumpkin everything! I love eating pumpkin all year long, but in the fall the rest of the world (well, at least the country) joins me. Do you know what makes pumpkin recipes even better? Making your own pumpkin puree! Seriously. If you’ve never tried making homemade pumpkin puree, then make […]
If a future government shutdown would affect your paycheck, make these 3 money moves now
If you work for the federal government or depend on work as a government contractor, then you probably breathed a sigh of relief when Congress managed to pass a 45-day budget just hours before the government was preparing to shut down. We managed to avoid a government shutdown on October 1st, but we might be […]
The simple 3-step calculation that will save your gas budget
Unless you own a gas company or an oil well, you’re probably not a big fan of the gas prices lately. I paid $5.67 per gallon yesterday and that was at the cheapest station in town! It’s easy to throw our hands up in the air and decide there’s nothing we can do about the […]
Here’s a detailed look into everything our family 8 spent and earned in August
Welcome to another Family Budget Update where we share our real numbers with you! Why do we share all the details? Budgeting is such an important skill for everyone, but very few people are taught how to do it! It isn’t taught in most schools (except, eventually, in the School of Hard Knocks!) If you were […]
Our family of 8 spent $3,048 on a 3-week cross country road trip. Here’s the cost breakdown
Memory-making family adventures don’t need to be expensive to be unforgettable, but sometimes it can be tricky to figure out how to keep the costs down. After sharing our cost breakdown for our 10-day Washington DC trip for our family of 8, I’ve had a lot of requests to share the numbers for other recent […]
7 “Normal” Things We Don’t Spend Money On
The great thing about personal finance is that it’s personal. Some people take “personal” to mean that it’s private. I think of the “personal” in personal finance as meaning that it’s about your individual choice. No one can tell you what you should do with your money. The choice is yours! It’s personal. The way […]
Family Budget Update- July 2023
I am back on track with budget updates! If you missed our May 2023 budget update and June 2023 budget update, that will catch you up on what has been going on. Also, last week I published a post explaining the details of how we are working the finances for the Ukrainian family that we’re […]
Handling Finances For Sponsoring a Refugee Family
Since our new Ukrainian friends arrived three months ago we’ve had a lot of questions about our experience sponsoring a refugee family. Some questions are cultural. Others are about the more personal experience. Many questions are also financial. Most people know that we believe talking about money is helpful, not taboo. Every family has to […]
Family Budget Update- June 2023
I am back on track with budget updates! If you missed our May 2023 budget update, that will get you up to speed on what we have going on. For those who have been waiting for the post explaining the details of how we are working the finances for the Ukrainian family that we’re sponsoring, […]
Family Budget Update – May 2023
It has been about eight months since I’ve shared a family budget update. That’s a long time, considering I published monthly budget updates for NINE years without missing a month. As you probably know, there have been some major changes since our last budget update in September. The most notable is that we took in […]
THANK YOU (… and They’re Here!)
I am long overdue in offering a heartfelt THANK YOU to those of you who so generously supported us in welcoming our Ukrainian refugee family. It has been two and a half months since I shared that our family was “adopting” a Ukrainian family. We gave up renting out our Airbnb apartment so that they […]
Frugal Recycling Hacks You Need to Try!
I love making the most of what I have and hate being wasteful. Today I want to share with you some hacks to make the most of one of the most wasted items from your home, the bag that the cereal comes in. Years ago, I saw Money Saving Mom reuse those cereal bags to […]
We’re Doing Something Big and We Need Your Help
If you get my emails, then you know that our family has a big financial undertaking coming up. We have never done anything of this magnitude before and that’s exciting and scary at the same time. We are preparing to sponsor a family of Ukrainian refugees through Uniting for Ukraine, the US government’s program to […]
A $1,500 Mistake– How We Deal With unexpected Expenses
Back in November when I was taking a break from blogging, we were blindsided by a massive, completely unexpected bill. If you’ve been around here much, you know that Mike and I faithfully budget each month and are pretty on-top-of our finances. So how could we get surprised by a $1,500 bill? I’m finally ready […]
Teaching Kids to Receive with Gratitude
Merry Christmas friends! It’s the last day of our Frugal Festivities series and today we’re talking about gratitude. Specifically let’s talk about how to teach your kids to receive with gratitude. If you’re reading this on Christmas day, then you might have a renewed desire to teach your kids about gratitude after watching them plow […]
Christmas Morning Traditions That Don’t Cost Anything
I love hearing about different families’ traditions on Christmas morning. The beautiful thing about Christmas morning traditions is that most of them don’t cost a thing. If your family is looking to adopt some new traditions for Christmas morning, then stay tuned because that’s what we’re sharing today! Let’s talk about simple, frugal Christmas morning […]
3 Ways to Improve Your Finances for Next Christmas
We’re nearing the end of the Christmas season. Did you stress about money? Are you dreading your upcoming credit card bills? Want to be in a better financial position next Christmas? You can be in a completely different financial situation by next Christmas. Imagine not being burdened by Christmas expenses before or after the holidays. […]
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Hands down, the single easiest way to improve a holiday meal is to add homemade cranberry sauce. Please don’t make the mistake of associating this special treat with that jellied cranberry stuff that comes in a can. The two aren’t even related. Real homemade cranberry sauce is to canned cranberry sauce what freshly sliced garden-grown […]
The Best Molasses Sugar Cookies
One of the things I love about the Christmas season is the abundance of homemade treats! Our 25 days of Christmas Cheer on a Budget wouldn’t be complete without sharing one of my favorite holiday treat recipes: my grandma’s Molasses Sugar Cookie recipe. I love the way these molasses sugar cookies are soft and slightly […]
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