I heard today that Olive Garden in New York City is charging $400 a person on New Year’s Eve. Holiday parties can get expensive, but that is just ridiculous! We were invited to spend the evening with a few other families in our neighborhood. It will be a potluck style …
A belated Merry Christmas to everyone! We had a wonderful time celebrating the holiday with our family. I think we did a good job of balancing the fine line between being cheap and being frugal. This is quite an accomplishment with all of the pressure to spend, spend, spend this time …
This blog serves several purposes. First, it serves to document our journey to financial semi-independence. Secondly, it keeps us accountable to our goal to become debt free and build up assets to support our financial semi-independence. Finally, I had hoped to make some money with my writing. The blog certainly …
Cyber Monday was just a few days ago, another “holiday” devoted to spending money on material possessions. I admit to scanning through some of the “great deals,” but the only ones that gave me pause were the video game systems. Mr. Smith wants one. He has always loved playing video games and …
I’m probably in a minority of moms who don’t find mornings that stressful. It has taken a while, but my routine is finally tweaked to be as efficient, and frugal, as possible. Of course, saving money is always an important consideration. But I also had to reassess my priorities when it comes …
As with many different things, a little bit of advance planning for Halloween can keep costs down. I had been asking my children about their costumes since September in the hope of getting ahead of the game. Unfortunately, Goofball seemed to change his mind on a daily basis. I waited …
The little steps are important, but sometimes you need to dive in headfirst to instigate monumental change. We’re been working hard at our regular jobs, dabbling in ways to make extra money, and trying to cut expenses as much as possible. However, suddenly, it feels like we’ve reached a milestone …
I am in love with our bread maker. There I said it. It is just so easy, the bread is delicious, and it saves us money. What is there not to love? I remember that my parents had a bread machine when I was growing up . They never really got the hang …
This past month has been all about readjustment. Goofball started kindergarten, Mr. Smith returned to part-time work, and the youngest two returned to daycare three days per week. We have been creative with building efficiency into an alternative schedule, and so far it seems to be working. We’re very busy, but …
It is far too easy to become bogged down and depressed by the numbers representing our total debt. At this point in our journey, we still have credit card balances, a consolidation loan, student loans, and mortgages. I try to channel some motivation from our past mistakes, resolving to fight back …
