It’s no secret that I hate my mortgage. It’s no secret that I don’t believe there’s such a thing as good debt. But we do really love our house, our neighborhood, our short commutes, and our proximity to family. So we grin and bear it. Since I fell into personal finance, I’ve taken a Bandaid … [Read more…]
The second month of my pregnancy was, hands down, the most spendy month of my frugal life. While I don’t think it was quite on par with my 200-pairs of-shoes existence, it was exorbitant by every other month, especially when it came to our grocery bill. Of course, I understood that when there was a … [Read more…]
I talk about spending seven dollars on breakfast for the month, and everyone wants to know my secret. Oatmeal. Oatmeal is my secret. And our lunches are so cheap. You know why? Because we make them and because we’ve worked really hard at reducing our expenses. I realize that I’ve talked a lot about what our … [Read more…]
What’s the opposite of frugal? Me, if our 2017 budget is any indication. While I’ve never shared an exact breakdown of our monthly budget, I have hinted at it here and here. And since our budget for January will match all the other months, it’s pretty easy to run the numbers for the year. We’re … [Read more…]
We’re known as the generation that photographs our food. There’s #instayum, there’s #foodspotting, and there’s the overly clever #yummmm. Thanks to us, brunch is chic, and if you want rosé all day, no one will stop you. What do millennials eat? Do we live out these hashtags in real life or is this a social media … [Read more…]
I am terrible at setting goals. I also don’t really share numbers here. At least not in any streamlined way. If you read my posts about unexpected expenses and the $24k in debt we killed last year, you’ll get a fairly decent picture of my income and my spending. But let’s leave a little mystery … [Read more…]
If an extra expense cropped up, how would your budget fare? Would you cut back? Would you hustle harder? There are challenges to both. If your budget is already fairly bare bones, there may not be any remaining notches to tighten the belt. If your work week is already jam packed, carving out extra hours … [Read more…]
Where are all my bi-weekly paycheck people at? If you pick up a paycheck every other week–or every week–then you know that there are months where you’ll land an “extra” paycheck. For me, one of those months happens to be September this year. While my monthly budget is structured based on two of my husband’s … [Read more…]
Is your budget really as smart as you think it is? One of the first things many people do when they are trying to get their financial fitness on is to create a budget. Undeniably, there is a requisite amount of trial and error involved in the first few passes. A budget should meet everyone’s … [Read more…]
When it comes to making a donation to a food pantry or a food bank, I used to think it was a no brainer. My mind mapped out a Venn diagram of sorts that considered what my dietary staples included, what I knew to be non-perishable items, and then I tried to scoop up whatever … [Read more…]