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 […]
frugal living
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 […]
NO SPEND NOVEMBER
Do you think you could go one day without spending any money? What about two days? Three? A full week? Every now and then, we do a “no spend challenge” around here. A typical no spend challenge is where, for a set period of time, you basically are in a spending freeze with your finances. […]
FINANCIAL MISTAKES NEW PARENTS MAKE
My son M was born my last semester of law school. People frequently ask me how I survived being in law school with a new born. It really wasn’t that bad, but to be fair, I don’t have anything else to compare it to! The hardest part for me though was keeping our spending in […]
HOW TO DO PORTLAND ON A BUDGET
My littlest no longer little brother got married this weekend in Portland. Everything was perfect, and I mean everything. First, on our way there, our son M and I got upgraded to first class, aka heaven. I literally put my legs out in front of me and they couldn’t reach the seat in front of me. […]