With the holidays fast approaching it’s time to talk holiday shopping, and more importantly, holiday budgets. While you may have yours under control, have you shared with your teens how to manage their holiday budgets? We’ve got all the details on how you can help teens holiday budget and some ways to help them stretch their […]
5 steps to take the boring out of budgeting
When it comes to budgeting and managing money I sucked at it for a long, long time. (and still sometimes do) Eventually I wised up to the fact that credit cards were NOT free money, and that I was an actual grownup and had to learn what words like amortization, APR, and equity actually meant. […]
How to Budget
Budgets are a necessary part of your personal finances. They only seem like a four letter word. Many people cringe when they think about looking at all of their bills, or seeing all their debt in one place. However, budgeting gives you something you wouldn’t expect–freedom from worry and peace of mind that you can […]
New Year’s Financial Resolutions
During my giveaway for David Bach’s book I asked everyone to enter by telling me what your top financial resolution is for the year. I loved the responses so much, and wanted to share them with you. Save more My advice: If you are trying to save a certain amount or percentage have it automatically […]
Joint Finances (or not?)
There has never been a time we kept our finances separate. I have been a stay at home mom for over 11 years, and from the beginning our finances have been combined. With only one income (for the most part), this was the only way to go.
I suppose if we had started out as a dual income family things might be different. I did (and do) most of the shopping for the family, and he earns the money, so separating the finances never made sense.
Budgeting Bi-Weekly Pay
One of the things that held us back from being financially successful for years, was confusion over how to allocate our money. A topic that came again and again over the years was how to make a monthly personal budget when you get paid bi-weekly. It is one of the main reasons our budgets failed […]
How We Saved $17,000
Previously I talked about gathering all your financial info so you know where you are starting. I call this digging your head out of the sand. 😉 When I started digging my head out of the sand the first thing I did was wrote down everything we spend money on in a typical month, and […]
No Spend Month Update
We’re over halfway through out no spend month, so here’s an update. We have gone over the $600 mark, as of today our total is $897.82. The new goal is to stay under $1,100. (I know we have 2 expenses left for the month, plus gas and anything else that comes up) We have 12 […]
NO Spend Month (1/1/09-1/31/09)
Not spending for a month is not an original idea with me. I found an article in Reader’s Digest about it. I found blog posts about other people who have done a No Spend Month. My favorite example is over at Small Notebook where Rachel and her family participate in a No spend Month yearly. The […]
How To Start A No Spend Month
The main reason I started this blog is due to the hugely popular response our No Spend Month story garnered. We were featured in USA Today and on The Today Show as the face of families everywhere who are trying to cut back. I first read about the idea in Reader’s Digest (my grandmother’s yearly […]
