If you have a space to rent, whether it’s an entire space (even your own home) or just a room, there is money to be made on Airbnb. When we were looking for a house to buy back in 2016, one of our soft requirements was that the property have an extra living space, like a basement apartment or mother-in-law quarters, so we would have the option to rent it out if we wanted. That is exactly what we found and bought in 2017. Then, in 2018 we started renting with Airbnb. We weren’t sure what the demand would be like, as we are in a pretty rural, non-touristy area. We were shocked, in the best way ..read more

Sometimes saving money just requires asking a simple question or two. With very little effort you can be saving money on your monthly bills and beyond. In many cases it is just a matter of asking to pay less. It never hurts to ask, right? The worst that can happen is… nothing, which is exactly what is going to happen if you don’t ask. How much money could you be saving? Today I’m sharing four examples that teach four principles about how simple questions can save loads of money. I would love to hear your experience in being brave enough to ask potentially awkward questions in order to save mo ..read more

It’s no secret that I love budgeting! Sure, sometimes it’s annoying trying to reconcile accounts and it’s frustrating that saving takes so long. Progress can feel slow when you’re working to pay off big debt, but then feeling the peace that comes when you have control of your finances is worth all of the hassle. Budgeting is key to being in control of your finances. Budgeting is not just something that’s recommended for people who are struggling financially. It’s the truly the key to reaching your money goals, and that’s true for all people. In March, we made some sudden, exciting money moves ..read more

If you’re trying to save money on groceries, the last thing you want to do is throw food away! Wasting food, simply put, is wasting money. In the past I’ve shared 7 ways to use milk that is almost expired to help people not waste one of the most common staples in our kitchens. Today we’ll look at bananas! Bananas are the perfect healthy snack to have on hand. Nature even has them conveniently individually wrapped for us! It can be tricky to be always stocked with bananas, though, as they can ripen fast, especially in the summer. The good news is that there’s no such thing as a bad banana ..read more

Every month we share our family’s real budget with you in an effort to break the taboo about money and help you see how a budget can help you reach your financial goals. When we started openly sharing our finances on 2013, we had six figures of student loan debt. Through hard work and diligent budgeting, we paid off our debt less than three years later. We didn’t stop budgeting when we became debt free. Quite the opposite! As a well-oiled frugal budgeting machine, we tackled one financial goal after another. If you have financial goals, you should budget. If you don’t have financial goals, yo ..read more

Living frugally can be quite an adventure. As with anything in life, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. And sometimes you just have to laugh. Years ago I regularly shared frugal feats, flops, and funnies posts to share with you some of the daily ins and outs of living the frugal life and hopefully to encourage you on your own financial journey.  But it has been a while since I shared one! It’s a good exercise to think through our successes and failures to keep a good perspective. And I always appreciate a good laugh. I would love to hear any of your own recent frugal feats, flops ..read more

Until about four years ago, we all took for granted the ability to purchase whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. When covid hit and the world started shutting down, many people raced to the store to stock up on the most important things. Before supply chain issues had even begun to surface, panic buying cleared the shelves of essentials, like toilet paper! Unless you were in the bidet industry, with sales through the roof, that time of shortages was probably a little stressful for you. Would it have been nice to be stocked up on everything your family needed, so you didn’t have to worry abo ..read more

Learning to talk openly with your kids about your own finances is one of the best ways to give them the financial education that they’re not getting anywhere else. Keeping finances hush-hush does more harm than good.  If you don’t teach your kids about finances, they’ll likely have to get their education from the school of hard knocks. We shield our kids from lots of things in the real world, but one thing we don’t shield our kiddos from is our finances. How you incorporate financial education into your parenting is up to you, but I will give you some important topics to get you sta ..read more

We’re back with a fresh 2024 budget! It might look very similar to last year, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?! While the general budget hasn’t changed a lot with the new year, we have a new goal to work on. I can’t overstate the importance of setting financial goals. If you don’t have firm financial goals, your money will slip through your fingers and you won’t know where it went. Any extra funds will get swallowed up without anything to show for it. If you’ve never set financial goals before, now is a great time to start! Even slow progress is still progress. The time will pass w ..read more

Talking about personal finance shouldn’t be taboo! That’s why we share our real budget with you every month. In fact, talking about budgeting is a great way to learn how to budget Our budget will look different than yours, and that’s how it should be. Our needs, values, and priorities are different, so it only makes sense that we would spend money differently too. Even though our numbers and categories are different than yours, you can apply these budgeting strategies to your own finances. Okay! Let’s just jump into the numbers for December 2023! Spending in December When we first understood ..read more