I was reading a post yesterday that asked for comments about money epiphanies and what has changed in our life since then. One of the first things that came to mind (besides paying off a ton of debt) was how I created this blog. The original purpose of it was to document …
My youngest is about to turn one year old. I ran into a friend at daycare the other day, who asked about plans for his birthday party. She seemed genuinely confused when I told her that we are not having a party for him. Why in the world would we …
Our town limits the amount of garbage that we can put out to the curb each week. The other morning, Mr. Smith told me about an interesting thing that happened while he was putting out the garbage. He brought our one can to the curb (for a family of five), …
The main purpose of this site is to document our journey out of debt and to financial semi-independence, so it should be no surprise that this update has a lot to do with money. We’re continuing to keep our expenses super low, while finding new ways to increase the amount …
We are always on the lookout for free, fun activities for the kids. They seem to have the most fun playing outside with sticks, dirt, water, and rocks – all free! It’s still a bit chilly to be spending too much time outdoors. I was really excited to find out that Home Depot …
Daydreaming about your goals can be a great source of motivation. Mr. Smith and I are always ruminating about the unique life that we’re designing for our future. Of course, we’re very excited about our cross-country trip with the kids and often discuss different destinations or the practicalities of that adventure. …
One of the highlights of our weekend was playing Monopoly as a family. We have always liked the game and used to play it on nights spent visiting with friends and drinking a few adult beverages. One of the wedding gifts that we registered for was a fancy wooden version. In more …
And a dollar short? Ha! No, while we could definitely use some more money (who doesn’t?), we continue to make progress on paying off our debt. Recently though, the recurring theme of my days seems to be that I’m always falling behind on something. I remain convinced that working full-time prevents you from …
We have a lot of debt to pay off. Instead of just limiting spending on new clothes, I’ve decided to not buy anything new at all. This year will be number three of my clothing fast. One of the ways that I’m making the most of the things that I already …
2016 is the third year in which I will attempt to go without buying any new clothing. We have too much debt. If we ever want to reach our extreme goal of financial semi-independence, then we need to take drastic steps to minimize our spending. But, *SPOILER ALERT* it hasn’t been …