It’s budget time! Many people dread making or reviewing their budgets, but I love it! Some people think that you can only enjoy budgeting when you have lots of money to work with, but I had the opposite experience. I learned to love budgeting when we didn’t have lots of money. In fact, we were in six figures of student loan debt when I learned that a budget should be your friend, not your enemy. Instead of seeing our budget as restrictive, our budget became the main tool to help us reach our goals. In our budget we choose to put our money where our priorities are, instead of just spending it ..read more

Don’t let our upcoming epic trip to Guatemala mislead you. Road trips are our normal vacation style. As a frugal family of eight, we get a lot more bang for our buck when we take road trips than any other kind of vacation. We get to see so many hidden treasures throughout our country and we love it! Just by their nature, road trips are cheaper than most other vacations, but in this post, I’m going to give you some tips that will help you make them even more economical! I’ll show you how you can save money on gas, food, entertainment, and accommodations. I’ve spent tens of thousands of miles i ..read more

In addition to talking about budgeting and finances, I love to share from-scratch recipes, frugal dishes, and ways to use garden produce.  Today I am sharing one of my favorite ways to eat zucchini– zucchini brownies! We don’t have any zucchini yet this year, but hopefully we will soon! Zucchini lovers and haters alike will love these moist, chocolatey brownies.  Hiding zucchini in brownies is a great way to trick picky eaters into getting some veggies.  And the frosting is dreamy! As a bonus, zucchini brownies don’t even require eggs! We started a garden the first year we were ..read more

How is it already June? While time may be flying by too fast, I always enjoy finishing off one month’s budget and having the fresh start of a new month’s budget. As one month ends and the next begins, it’s a prime time to review your budget and financial goals, resolve to make improvements where needed, and start with a clean slate. Instead of seeing budgeting as a chore or a punishment, I see it as an opportunity and a privilege. Rather than spending money on a whim, we can plan our spending based on our priorities. That way we will have money for the things that are most important to us, ra ..read more

Can you imagine a lost and found that has millions, even billions, of dollars in it?  Neither can I.  Yet every state has a lost and found like this.  It’s the unclaimed property division, a part of the state treasury or controller. The billions of dollars of unclaimed property is spread out among everyday people like you and me.  The problem is most people don’t know about it.  Surely if we knew we lost hundreds or thousands of dollars, we would quickly claim it.  I’d willingly claim anything with my name on it! About 1 in 7 Americans have unclaimed propert ..read more

A couple of months ago, I started making freezer meals our go-to plan for dinner. Before that, getting dinner on the table used to be so tough. With all of our kids’ sports and other activities (for which I’m the main driver), plus all of the commitments that Mike and I have, our evenings are pretty full. We had lots of leftovers nights and fend-for-yourself nights. Having meals ready to go has really improved and simplified life. As I mentioned in May’s Grocery Haul blog post, my plan for May was to stock our freezer with freezer meals for us to use on a regular basis. You asked what my free ..read more

When I very first started blogging in 2013, I would often have “debt discussions” with my early blog readers. At the time, my husband and I had  just decided to pay off our law school debt as fast as we could. Since we had six figures of debt, we knew it was going to be a long haul. Paying off debt was always on my mind and I was happy to talk about our goal and progress with anyone who would listen. Not everyone is as open and willing to talk about debt with their in person friends as I was. Others who had similar financial struggles and goals were looking for a place to talk about debt ..read more

It’s been a while since I shared our monthly grocery haul. This past year has been a whirlwind, so I haven’t been as organized and intentional as I like to be. With rising food prices, our grocery spending has been higher than it ever has. Still, in the past 12 months, our average monthly spending on food for our family of 8 has only been $711. Even with inflation, you can still feed your family without breaking the bank. Of course this just doesn’t happen. I have specific strategies that I use to keep our budget low. I share those strategies in my course Grocery Budget Hero. The course inclu ..read more

I’m always a fan of living by a budget, no matter your means. Budgeting allows you to be in control of your money instead of having your money control you. Your budget gives you the freedom to spend where you want because you are the one who sets the budget. If you don’t prioritize your spending ahead of time (by budgeting), then you are likely to spend not according to your real priorities, but based on what is convenient, more enticing, or whatever opportunity comes up first. Budgeting is especially fun when you have a goal you’re working toward (which should be the case most of the time ..read more

The closer our kids get to leaving the nest, the more we are prioritizing family travel and adventure together. Our oldest will graduate from high school in just two years, so we are eager to take some of the trips that have been on our short list for a long time. If you read our March Family Budget Update, then you know that we made a recent decision to budget for a big trip together this summer in addition to the trip we already have planned for Spring Break 2025. A friend recently gave me this financial advice for traveling: “Just come up with how much everything will cost, then double it ..read more