Every year, around Thanksgiving, people can be seen running around like chickens with their heads cut off, completely frazzled. Now, I realize there are a few different components at work here, but money is usually the root cause of this behavior. Where to find the money to pay for all of that food is really the kicker. But, this is something that we can resolve by creating a change with how and what we spend our money on.
When it comes to appliances, these are things that are must haves in our current society, not want to haves. Just because we must have them in our day to day lives, doesn’t mean that we must spend a fortune on them. Appliances are like cars in my mind. We need them but we don’t need all of the extra stuff they are trying to get us to buy. Not only that but certain brands perform longer and stronger than others. Since we have to have them, then why not save money on the initial purchase of a good product to save even more in the long run?
Since we began this whole “frugality” thing in 2013, we continue to look for ways to DIY things we’d normally hire out for. Our biggest victory (possibly until now) was do-it-yourselfing our son’s speech therapy.
“S” couldn’t say his R’s – they came out sounding more like W’s. After just a few short lessons with a YouTube video from a certified speech therapist, he had it down!!
We were psyched. No driving from our country home to the city several times a week for speech therapy, and no spending hundreds (or thousands) of dollars for speech classes.
Our most recent DIY victory? Taking our oldest daughter’s senior pictures. Read more
Editor’s Note: Hi everyone! Please welcome our new staff writer, Shanah Bell. Shanah will be sharing her story and advice on the blog twice/month. We thought she’d made a great second voice on the blog in addition to Laurie’s. Enjoy!
Teaching children about money, and the power that it truly has to make or break your life, is one of the hardest parts of parenting. As a family of 5, with the age ranges of our children vastly different, that gets even more difficult to navigate. How we need to teach the 5 year old is completely different than the way we can teach the 12 year old.
After several days of storm-related clean up, Texans and other costal state residents are still working to dig themselves out of one heck of a mess. It’s heartbreaking watching the stories coming out of Hurricane Harvey’s warpath. So much grand-scale destruction. Read more
According to Experian’s State of the Automotive Finance Market’s latest report, people are still living with a love affair of driving expensive cars.
But is buying a new car really that bad? Does it really destroy your chances for financial freedom like so many experts claim it does? Read more
Yep, it’s only August, but according to the latest data you’re going to spend some serious cash on holiday gifts and other expenses. The National Retail Federation said that holiday spending for 2016 exceeded their estimate, landing at 658.3 BILLION dollars. Read more
Hey, friends! Today we have a guest post from fellow blogger Mrs. Raggedly Rich. Enjoy!
One of the best ways to manage expenses proactively instead of reactively is to plan ahead.
Doing this is second nature to me. And it always comes in handy. Whether it’s travelling from one city to my hometown at the end of a contract, or backpacking across Europe for a month, my default is to plan ahead.
When you diligently research routes, hunt for tips & tricks, and spend hours processing the information, it can only do you good in the long run. There is a balance you need to achieve when you go the researching route – everyone’s different. Read more
It costs money to look good. A recent article in the Huff Post showed that the average woman in the U.S. spends $8 a day on her face alone.
Montana girls came in at the lowest rate: $3.50 a day (go, Mrs. Montana Money Adventure!) while New York, Connecticut and West Virginia tied for the highest at $11 a day (although I doubt Mrs. Living Rich Cheaply spends $4k a year on her beautiful face. Andrew, what’s the scoop?). Read more
***Disclaimer: We are not medical doctors and are simply sharing our opinions here and what has worked well for us. Consult your doctor before changing your health care plan or the way you manage your health.
Four years ago, in our quest to cut expenses, we changed to a higher deductible health insurance option with lower premiums. We realized this was a bit risky with 4 kids, so in order to ward off some of this risk, we’ve put some practices in place to help minimize our need for medical care. We’ve found that by optimizing our health, we rarely go to the doctor now, and have saved several hundred dollars, at least, in our healthcare spending each year. And it’s working. In fact, in 2016 we only spent $139.55 out of pocket for medical expenses not including our monthly premium, even on our high deductible plan. We’re no longer those people that the doctor’s office knows so well. We show up every year or two for our annual physicals, and that’s about it. Here’s some of what we’re doing to keep healthcare costs low. : Read more
