The year my oldest was a baby, we may have gone a bit crazy on Christmas gifts. We decided that since she was our first, it was totally okay. Justification, right? ;) I don't remember how much we spent but I do remember she got a lot of toys. I do remember that we were able to save quite a bit of money by following some of the advice I will be sharing in this post. Budget friendly Christmas gifts for baby are quite possible. Shop used Like most everything else, shop thrift/consignment … [Read more...]
Money Saving vs. Sanity Saving: What is More Important?
How often do you do money saving activities? Are they now second nature or do you have to think them through? How about this: do you sometimes feel stressed out by trying to save money to the point you are jealous of people that don't have to make everything from scratch? Money saving vs. sanity saving can be a real struggle. I know that I go through the struggle a couple times a year myself. So how do you decide which to choose? There is no one answer. Each situation, family, and budget is … [Read more...]
Why You Need an Emergency Fund TODAY
You keep hearing it from all over the place, "you need an emergency fund." You know it's probably true but you figure you'll get around to it...eventually. Besides, you have other things you need to pay for and save for right now. Why save now for what might happen? There are lots of reason why you need an emergency fund today, and not some time in the future. 1- Emergencies happen at any time It's called an emergency fund for a reason. You never know when an emergency may happen. It may … [Read more...]
4 Steps to a Money Saving Plan
Last year was not the best year for me as far as saving money. So many things hit that it just became not as important. Or we wiped out what we had every time we saved. We put more than $2,000 into car repairs/tires as well as replaced a water heater. We ended the year in a very tight spot financially. For that reason, I have decided to attack this year and create a money saving plan. I've done a bit of a money saving plan before but this year I am kicking it up a notch. If you got derailed … [Read more...]
Building an Emergency Fund and Paying Off Debt – Why to Do Them Together
If you are a fan of Dave Ramsey or have just heard of him in passing, you are probably aware of his baby steps. His baby steps are set up to help you get out of debt and then live a great financial life. He advises to do one step at a time. Baby step #1 is building an emergency fund of $1,000. Baby step #2 is paying off debt. This is the debt snowball that you may have heard of (throwing everything you have at your small loans, paying it off, then paying everything you had been on the next … [Read more...]
Pantry Organization: Making Your Space Work
Until we moved into this house, I never had a pantry. We always used cabinets or shelves to store our food. One of the reasons I liked this house when we looked at it was because of the pantry cabinet. In the six years we have lived here I have been arranging and rearranging the pantry to work best for us. It's also possible I have a thing for pantry organization. I see these pictures on Pinterest of these gorgeous, organized pantries and get kind of jealous. (I really love this one, this one, … [Read more...]