When I took my first job after law school, coincidentally around the same time I decided to aggressively pay off my student loan debt, I was really stumped about how I was going to dress professionally and also live on a tight budget. There just wasn’t extra money for clothes in our budget, but I […]
frugal living
CHEAP BUT AWESOME VALENTINE’S DAY GIFTS FOR HIM

Valentine’s Day is approaching faster than I care to admit. I’m still feeling slightly hungover financially from Christmas. But I firmly believe in celebrating holidays, even Valentine’s Day, no matter what your financial situation is. Which is why I created this list of cheap but awesome Valentine’s Day gifts for him, so that you can […]
CHEAP PLACES FOR KIDS’ BIRTHDAY PARTIES

Our little man’s FOURTH birthday is coming up! So I’ve been on the hunt for a cheap place to have his birthday party (if we have one at all). Even though we are on a journey paying off six figures of student loan debt, I try to do my best to live an abundant life, […]
FREE GAMES TO PLAY AT CHRISTMAS

One of my very favorite things to do during the holidays is to play games with family and friends. There’s nothing more dreamy than cozying up by the fire, passing around candy and hot cocoa, and duking it out with the ones you love most. Given that we’re on a debt free journey, we are […]
CHEAP BUT AWESOME CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Looking for some cheap but awesome Christmas gifts? Danny and I both grew up in households where Christmas was a really big deal. If I’m being honest, it is really tempting to do big Christmases the way our parents did for us. But our parents were in much different financial circumstances that we are, and […]
I MAKE GOOD MONEY SO WHY AM I ALWAYS BROKE?

A couple of years ago I was talking to a dear friend who had recently started working after being a stay at home mom for several years. She more than doubled her family’s income when she started working. She asked me something one day that blew my mind. She said, “Now that I’m working we […]
HOW TO AVOID HOLIDAY DEBT

Have you ever stayed up really late on a night where you had to wake up early the next day? Did you totally regret it? Maybe it was fun in the moment (sometimes it’s not even that fun in the moment!) but didn’t you fully regret it the next day when you had to wake […]
HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR SAVINGS ON BLACK FRIDAY

Can you believe that it’s almost Thanksgiving? I really haven’t processed that summer is over yet– it took our first snowfall yesterday to really open my eyes. Why does it feel like the older I get, the faster time goes by? That seems cruel. Does anyone else feel this way? Anyway, with Thanksgiving next week, […]
CHEAP THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR HALLOWEEN

I feel like Halloween is already over because we celebrated so hard this weekend. Our neighborhood does a really fun Halloween parade followed by a big celebration with trick or treating, bouncy houses, all that good stuff. I also ran a 15k, we had a church Halloween party, and Danny’s work threw a big Halloween […]
FRUGAL LIVING HORROR STORIES

A few weeks ago, I had a good friend tell me about her father in law who is a successful surgeon and crazy frugal. When I asked her what “crazy frugal” meant, she shared some amazing examples. She explained that when their family goes out to the movies, the father in law will rummage through […]