Tag Archives: budget

How to Save Money: Home, Special Event, and Seasonal items

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There are two things I know for sure. Life is busy and life is expensive. So much so that sometimes, even fun things like decorating our home and birthday celebrations lose some of the joy. We’re too worried about spending too much or making enough time to get everything done. Sometimes, don’t you wish you just had a magic wand to make some of the stress of it go away? I know I do. And that’s exactly why I’ve compiled this list on how to save money on a few of those very things!   How to save money on birthdays, holidays and special events When it comes to buying special items for parties, birthdays, holidays and special events and … More…

A Simple Coupon Strategy to Save Money Every Day

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I used to be an extreme couponer. Huge basement stockpile and all. I spent my free time cutting tons of coupons every week, constantly searching for the best deals, and shopping all the time so I’d never miss a bargain. I saved a ton of money, but it also took up a LOT of my time and energy. That’s time and energy I now find better spent playing with Zachary and doing family activities. Another downside, besides the time and energy it took, was that I also bought a lot of unnecessary things. This caused me to inevitably spend more than I needed to in many situations, even if it was cheap. I just couldn’t pass up a great deal. Most … More…

Goals Update January 2017

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In November, I posted about how Andy and I had decided to split the responsibilities for our goals. The idea is that by splitting who was solely responsible for our success in each of two areas, we’d increase our accountability. Each month I’ll be checking in with an update until we reach or change our goals! Here is last month’s update. Let’s see how we did this past month.   The Goals We have two major goals. Of course, there are other goals besides these two but we’re focusing in on two since there are two of us. Once we get these under control we can expand onto the others. Each of us is in charge of a different thing. … More…

Inexpensive Valentine’s Day Gifts for your Spouse

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Valentine’s Day can be a difficult time for a husband and wife. You’ve just spent a lot on everyone you know for Christmas presents. At the start of the New Year, your finances were on the list of goals for this year. Now, here comes Valentine’s Day, demanding you spend money on each other in the form of Valentine’s Day gifts. It’s really, really easy after years of being in a relationship to have a rational, logical conversation that goes something like this: Husband: Hey so, we’re supposed to not be spending too much this year. Wife: Yeah, I know. Husband: So what do you want to do about Valentine’s Day? Should we go out to dinner? How much do you want to spend on gifts? … More…

Goals Update December 2016

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Last month, I posted about how Andy and I had decided to split the responsibilities for our goals. The idea is that by splitting who was soley responsible for our success in each of two areas, we’d increase our accountability. Each month I’ll be checking in with an update until we reach or change our goals! Let’s see how we did this past month.   The Goals We have two major goals. Of course, there are other goals besides these two but we’re focusing in on two since there are two of us. Once we get these under control we can expand onto the others. Each of us is in charge of a different thing. I’m responsible for the healthy … More…

How to Increase Accountability on Goals with your Spouse

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Like most people, we sometimes struggle with overspending or overeating (or eating the wrong things). So earlier this year we made a plan to combat those problems. Unfortunately, we didn’t “plan” our plan very well. We set goals and decided on ways to monitor them, but that was about it. We left the actual monitoring on autopilot. I expected him to keep me accountable and he expected the same of me. It didn’t quite work out that way and our progress toward our goals was stagnant. After some trial and error, we decided to try another way to increase accountability for our goals.   The problems we are trying to solve are in an effort to live better. We’re not … More…