Budget Friendly Gifts for Teachers

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The end of the school year can be a very expensive time. Yearbooks, costumes for school musicals and plays, field trip costs, end of the year parties, prom, graduations and gifts for teachers can all add up to a lot of money. In the month of May, I had to shell out money for two kids to be in musicals (I was able to pull costumes together for less than $20 thanks to the thrift store.), one field trip that included me (admission combined was $10), Teacher Appreciation Gifts and food for an end of the year party. I know […] Read more »

Youth Sports: Are They Worth the Expense?

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My son has been involved in youth sports since he was three. We have run the gamut; gymnastics, karate, soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, and football. My initial goal in exposing him to youth sports was to have him expend some of his little boy energy in a way that was safe and fun for him. Little did I know the love for competition would blossom at such a young age; he is addicted… to thrill of practice, games, and being a winner. For those of you that don’t know me, I am a divorced single mom and my son is a […] Read more »

Do You Trust Me?

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“Unless Vonnie wants to go along to the mall with me…” our friend’s voice trailed off. Sure, I’ll go. I can look for a spring coat for Tori,” said my wife. A new spring coat for our daughter was in the budget, as previously discussed while planning our spending for that weekend. The coat was actually the final expenditure for the weekend as it drew to a close that Sunday afternoon. In a whirlwind of activity, I got ready to go to the gym, Vonnie and her friend put on shoes, grabbed their purses and headed out door with my […] Read more »

The Best Discount Cards for your Budgeting Dollars

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The wallets and key rings of consumers have been filling up with little pieces of plastic that promise deep savings. Whether it is a loyalty card that offers you discounts on products or a membership card that offers even greater discounts chances are the stores you shop have one to offer. The economy is forcing millions of us to find new ways to earn extra money as well as cut back on expenses. One of the easiest ways to do this is to find the right mix of discount, membership and loyalty cards to stretch your hard earned dollars farther. […] Read more »

Make Sure Your Budget is Realistic

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Budgeting is one of the most important things you can do to build wealth. A budget is used to set up how you are going to make the most of your money. You can make sure that you use your money in a way that is in line with your priorities. It’s all about control. The most important part of a budget is for it to be realistic. Budget guidelines are great, but you aren't expected to fit your life into someone else's box. A budget that isn't using real life numbers is doomed to fail. Read more »

10 Small Ways to Increase your Emergency Fund Without Noticing

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Making Extra Money for Your Savings Account

For many of us, myself included, squeezing money out of your budget takes a lot of fancy footwork. Finding ways to save the money to build up your emergency fund or save for a new car when things are already tight requires numerous income streams. Often times you can not make room for a second job and that is when using your imagination, your dedication and the few minutes of free time you can carve out of your day to make extra money. This list, when separated, may not bring a lot of extra money (accept for the first one) […] Read more »

Why “Go Big or Go Home” is Destroying Your Budget

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In the U.S., we like our space and we like big. We drive big cars, we like big houses, and one of our favorite phrases is even “go big or go home.” We are obsessed with size in every way, shape, and form, and it is destroying our budgets. The greatest offenders to our larger than life attitudes include: Your Home In other countries, even the industrialized ones, it isn’t uncommon to see a family of 5 sharing a small apartment. In the U.S., however, we expect everyone to have their own large room and there to be adequate space […] Read more »

One Crazy Budget

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I know of a family who has the following budget. Income: $21,700 Expenses: $38,200 New Credit Card Debt from 2011: $16,500 Total Credit Card Debt: $142,710 Included in their expenses is $394 to charity and $7,930 in medical expenses. They also support both sets of grandparents which costs approximately $7,010 per year. Both sets of grandparents helped out a great deal financially in the past and did so expecting to be taken care of in their old age. One set is wealthy and one set couldn't survive without the extra income. Read more »

No Restaurants in November 2011 – Final Results

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Hello everyone. First let me apologize to you all for the delay in getting this post up. Last week was a beast of a week and Friday was probably the most insane day of them all. My wife went back to work after 3 great months of maternity leave. 🙁 We did learn some things and feel very blessed to have been able to share that time together. For starters it inspired and motivated us to develop a plan to bring my wife home so we’re both stay-at-home parents. My wife is a great nurse and loves her job but […] Read more »

An Uncomfortable Conversation

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With me sitting on the edge of our bathtub, and my wife brushing her teeth as she prepared for bed we began a very serious budget discussion. We were on day three of a week long visit from our Kentucky friends and were burning through our discretionary funds at an alarming rate. We needed to reign in our spending, and ensure we kept ourselves on budget, or we were going to run out of money fast. The next day the four of us were planning on going shopping for the supplies needed for Thanksgiving Dinner. As a group, we had […] Read more »

No Restaurants in November 2011 – Do You Have a Checklist?

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Hello guys and gals! So here we are two weeks after starting my “insane” challenge of avoiding restaurants for the entire month of November. I’m excited to see where each of you are and how you’ve managed to do so far. It’s been fun no? LOL I have done perfectly so far but surprisingly had a hard time last week. It wasn’t even because I “wanted” to eat out. It was more of what I referred to in my last post where I talked about not planning meals and being out and about around meal time. Needless to say I […] Read more »

No Restaurants in November 2011 – First Week Peek Plus Recipes!

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If this is your first time visiting last year I hosted my very own No Restaurants in November challenge. The point was to save some money and hopefully curb some bad eating out habits while being transparent about all of it. I revealed how much we spent in October of 2010 and our savings at the end of November. The challenger was a huge success in terms of popularity so I decided to bring it back every year. If you want to know more about it read No Restaurants in November 2011 – for the rules of the road. It’s […] Read more »

Day 1: No Restaurants in November 2011 – Let the Savings Begin!

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Time to break out the cookware!

So today it begins. No Restaurants in November baby! If you missed the rules I am giving myself (and possibly you) click here to see if you have what it takes. Yep those are challenging words! :D Have you decided to be TOTALLY WEIRD by participating in such a thing? WARNING: Your friends may laugh at you. You may get called some names. Your actions may cause people to feel judged. If this happens to you, please tread carefully. Unpredictable behavior may ensue. I get it. It totally sucks to be the only person at work with a bagged lunch, but guess what? It also sucks to be broke and/or keeping yourself from reaching your goals. Read more »

No Restaurants in November 2011

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Recently, I ran a poll about what challenges you the most about becoming debt free and I thought the results were great. There were 70 voters total and the results can be found here. Today, I want to talk about one of the TOP 5 challenges picked by you and am excited to bring back something I did last year that was very popular. Of course I’m talking about my No Restaurants in November challenge! According to my EOD Poll, 37% of you picked EATING OUT as one of the five things that challenged you the most about becoming debt […] Read more »