It's time for a monthly check-up to account for how we are doing on our big fat goal. In order to pay off our remaining debt by the end of 2016, we will need to put just over $3,000 per month toward our student loans. We know that this is an audacious goal, considering that my husband makes only slightly more than that $3,000 each month. I am happy to report that we put $2,800 toward our debt in September! While this isn't as high as our goal of "just over $3,000," it is very close and ... read more
4 Expenses We Don’t Cut Out, Even in a Bare Bones Budget
To minimize spending and put more of our hard-earned money toward debt, we go without some luxuries (or even things that are just plain normal for others). Some of these things may even be considered extreme. Most of them keep our life simpler and less cluttered and make us happier anyway. In all of our slimming down spending and trimming off excess, there are a couple of expenses that we don't cut out. Tithing God has given us all we have and all he asks is for us to return one-tenth ... read more
How Juggling Car Seats Saves Us over $100 a Year
We have two cars: my husband's car that gets 30 miles per gallon and my minivan that gets 20 miles per gallon. Our kids' three car seats live in the van most of the time, but to save money we move them into the car on Saturday nights in preparation for Sunday morning when we drive just over 20 miles to get to church (remember how we live in the boonies?). Van: 40 miles @ 20 mpg = 2 gallons of gas @ $4/gallon = $8.00 roundtrip to church Car: 40 miles @ 30 mpg = 1.3 gallons of gas @ ... read more
Stretching Ground Beef with Vegetables– Frugal, Healthy, and Convenient
It's no secret that meat is expensive. If you are trying to get out of debt or have a tight budget, buying less meat is a great way to cut kitchen costs. By hiding fresh vegetables in your ground beef, you not only make each pound of expensive meat go further, you sneak in nutrients that your veggie-haters may not be getting otherwise. Typically the only meat we buy around here is chicken and ground beef. I use chicken in several slow cooker recipes and ground beef in some of our ... read more
The Big Fat Goal: Pay Off the Remaining $100,000 in Student Debt in 3 Years
I have dreaded actually sitting down to calculate how long it will take us to pay off the remaining approximately $100,000. I was afraid of what the numbers would say and what that would mean for our future. We really are enjoying our time living in my in-laws' basement, but we still look forward to the day when we are done with student debt and can start saving for a place of our own. Our Debt The bulk of our loans (about $56,000) is at a 7.9% interest rate. The next $34,000 is at 6.8%. ... read more
How Homemade Bread is Helping to Pay Off Our Student Loan Debt
We have not bought bread since we decided to be serious about getting out of debt. It's one of many changes we've made to lighten our debt burden. First of all, you must know that bread is not something we take lightly. No Atkins diet for us! We often have PBJs six days a week. We also use bread for toast or french toast for breakfast. Sometimes, especially when there is hot bread just out of the oven, we have bread and butter for a snack or with dinner. There are a few problems with ... read more
Is this Extreme Frugal Living?
We don't live out of a van. We don't (usually) dumpster dive. We (very) occasionally pay full price for things. We buy disposable toilet paper (yes, there are very green people who use cloth, in case you didn't know). That is why my husband scoffed at my blog's original tagline: "Extreme Frugal Living to Match Extreme Student Debt." There's no doubt that six figures of student debt is extreme. The question is whether our frugal living qualifies as "extreme." My husband grew up in a ... read more
Cloth Diapering Anniversary
We are celebrating a year of cloth diapering around here. One year ago, we started cloth diapering with our third child, our 11-month-old son, as something of a frugal experiment. In the past, between coupons, sales, closeouts, and manufacturer deals, we spent very little on disposable diapers. When I could get diapers for $3 per package, I would buy dozens of packages, even when we didn't have a child in the sizes available. We never paid anywhere near full price for diapers and I never ... read more
Benefits of Living in the Boonies
My husband drives an hour each way to his office. It's not just the office that is far away. Except for the post office and the elementary school, there is nothing closer than 40 minutes from our home. Living in the boonies was a hard adjustment for me. In law school we were surrounded by friends. There was always something going on. The kids and I had play dates all the time. We had friends over for dinner often. We were close to everything. In the past year, I've learned to love ... read more
Living at Home
I mentioned that my husband is eager to buy a house. Much of that eagerness comes from the fact that we are currently living in his parents' basement. This isn't the classic deadbeat-adult-son-living-in-his-parents'-basement scenario. This is the attorney-and-his-wife-and-three-kids-living-in-the-parents'-basement version. (Update: We have four kids now.) It's not as bad is it sounds, though (and that says a lot coming from the daughter-in-law). The basement is really almost its ... read more
