Budgeting for Christmas sounds like a problem for future you, but that’s not really true. It’s never too early (or too late!) to budget for Christmas so that you can save money, and enjoy the holiday season and holiday spending without the stress. It seems like common sense. Why suffer through financial stress at the…
Saving money is always in season, helping you to reduce debt and live the life you love. There is an ebb and flow, however, as to when you can save on what. You have to find creative ways to save money, dependent on the season. The month of July has some unique money-saving opportunities. Check…
Want to visit Legoland in San Diego? Not wanting to spend a lot of money? I get you! Traveling to California can cost a pretty penny, so one would assume that Legoland would also be pricey. Can you do it on a budget? Thankfully, there are ways that you can save. Check out these tried…
Living debt-free means we have a lot more freedom than we once did. Here’s our story of how a big family in debt paid off their consumer debt and started to live debt-free. And stay that way. This is me, back in 2007 when debt and money troubles weighed on me heavily. We had been…
There are many approaches to paying down debt and gaining financial independence. Bryan and I have been debt-free since 2009. It took 18 months to pay off $18,000 in consumer debt. Here’s our zero based budget example that got us there. You hear the word budget all the time: budget-friendly this, budget-friendly that. I think…
Having money goals can be great motivation for earning and saving money as well as give direction in how you spend your money. But how do you set SMART financial goals? Money can be a huge stressor for a lot of people, particularly for couples and families. When Bryan and I were dating, we were…
See this girl? She was freaking out on the inside. You can kinda see it in the eyes. Not because she was turning 35, but because she finally realized her finances were not what they should have been. Yikes. Were they ever in the wrong direction! After six weeks without a paycheck, she and her…
Wondering how to travel and enjoy good things in life when your budget doesn’t exactly match up? Here are some strategies we used on our recent trip to Hawaii so that we could eat well but stay on budget. Bryan and I love to travel. It’s a shared passion of ours that we are hopefully…