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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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, […]
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. […]
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 […]
