I love the holidays: the lights, the songs, the festivities. However, I really don’t like the busyness or the emotional and financial strain that often comes with them. Sometimes, looking at my December calendar makes my head spin. Seriously! Over the years, I have learned to take a giant step back away from the emotional … Read more
Soup is not only delicious, it also is one of the fantastically easy ways you can cut back on your food budget! I pay between $1 and $1.50 for an entire pound of dried beans, depending on the type I am purchasing. Because the volume triples after cooking, a pound of dried beans (2 1/4-3 … Read more
Finding ways to save on your food bills has never been more important. I’m a stickler for not wasting food. Our family goal is to waste no more than 3% of all the food that comes into our home. So, I make an effort to research how to use every bit of edible material. It … Read more
I’ve been married for 31 years. That means I’ve had a good deal of experience in doing what our family calls, “praying in”. Raising children on a salary which was nearly always under the national US median, came with a fair share of times when we really didn’t have the money for anything extra. That’s when my kids would come to me and I would say, “Honey, we’re going to have to pay that in.”
Ready to see your grocery budget plummet? I’ve been married and budgeting on a small income for 37 years. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that in order to successfully reduce my grocery bills, I must use what I have on hand and stop wasting food if I want to spend less … Read more
November has begun and suddenly Christmas is staring you in the face in great, big scary numbers! But, it doesn’t have to be that way! Gift baskets are easy to assemble and can be very inexpensive. Items can be purchased on clearance or thrifted ahead of time and used to create gift stash in your … Read more
When it comes to lowering winter utility bills, most people believe that their energy bill is a fixed cost, but this is NOT true!When we were living on an income which was thirty percent under the national median and trying to make headway on some major life goals, we began to look for strategies to … Read more
If you’d love to connect with your kids, but feel like it will cost you loads of extra money, then read on! I love spending time with my kids – seriously! They are amazing people with lots of interesting ideas. Time together has been a hallmark for our family for a very long time. However, … Read more
Graduating with a debt-free college degree is not a pipe dream. Our oldest recently began his senior year of college. It feels a little surreal as each day we get closer to his graduation in May. He’ll graduate with two associates degrees and one bachelor’s degree and absolutely no student debt! That’s right! He’ll have … Read more
We decided it was time to transform our teen’s relationship with money. So, twelve years ago we allowed our teen to take over our family budget for six months.Our oldest son was 16 at the time. That’s right! We handed it over lock, stock, and barrel. Well, sort of. He couldn’t do something crazy like add … Read more
