Budget Archives - Page 3 of 3 - the frugal millionaire

The expense of having babies

As many of you know, I am a mom to two sweet little girls. My oldest is 2 1/2 and my youngest is 16 months. While life is busy, it’s very full. Not a moment goes by where I have nothing to do, and I love that feeling (though it can definitely be stressful at times).

Before having my first, I was very worried about how adding a new baby was going to affect our finances. At the time, John was working for himself and I was planning on quitting my stable 9-5 so I could stay home with our daughter. We didn’t have much in savings and without me working, we knew it was going to be tough to add to our savings.

But, we survived (in fact, we thrived). Even though we went from two full-time incomes to one and added a new baby to the mix, John and I did just fine. You see…having a baby wasn’t as expensive as I thought.

Check out the rest of my article, including a breakdown of how much it costs to have two kids, over here on See Debt Run.

How we slashed $900 per month in expenses

Groceries, food, restaurants, coffee and the like used to be where a good portion of John and I’s income went. In October, we added up our “miscellaneous” expenses – expecting them to be around $1500 or less – and we’re shocked (and disgusted) to discover we spent roughly $2,100. Thank goodness we made good money that month, but still, $2,100 is not a necessary amount of money to spend on food and household items!!

So for November (and all months moving forward), we decided to make some changes.Continue Reading

How to stop stressing about money

So, first things first. I typed up a nice long post this afternoon recapping my parents visit and saying how much we spend when guests from out of town visit and then… The post got deleted when I clicked “Save draft.” That’s never happened before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

So, onto another topic on how to stop stressing about money. I don’t know about you, but I am ALWAYS stressed when it comes to finances. No matter how much we save each month, how much we cut back or how much we make, I’m stressed. It’s seriously like a sickness and it’s GOT to stop.

How we stay out of credit card debt

My husband and I have no credit card debt, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, when we first started dating, he had around $3,500 in credit card debt and I had about $1,100 in credit card debt. Within a year of our relationship, my credit card debt was at $4,400. We took 9 trips our first year of dating and we would book everything on my credit card, he would give me half…and I would spend it on other items. Oh to be young, in love and not have a care in the world about money!

It was actually ridiculously easy to pay off our credit cards. All it took was a little bit of budgeting. When you’re young, making good money and have basically zero responsibilities (no kids, no mortgage, etc), it’s easy to cut back on vacations, trips to the bar and shopping. Man, looking back, I sure was living the life haha! If I remember correctly, we paid off our credit card debt in about 5 months.

What we’re spending on Thanksgiving

Happy Monday! So, I had a goal this weekend of getting a few posts done in advance that way I could focus on the holidays. That unfortunately did not happen as I ended up getting sick on Saturday evening and it lasted until Sunday evening (not bad, I know). I had a sore throat, fever and headache. Gah – to me there is nothing worse than a sore throat!!! I would much rather be throwing up than have a throat ache. Anyone else with me on that?!

Anyways, yesterday evening after I was feeling better we headed to Walmart to purchase our ingredients for Thanksgiving. I thought it would be interesting to share what we’re making and how much we spent.

How to simplify your budget and save more money

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t really follow a budget. Now, that’s not to say I don’t know where my money goes, don’t save and spend frivolously. In fact, I do the opposite of all of those things. But an actual budget? I’ve just never really taken the time to create it and follow it. It seems too time-consuming and stressful, and I personally like my method of managing money. It’s allowed us to save, move across the country, invest and work for ourselves. Not to say not having a budget is for everyone, but here’s why I don’t follow one and what exactly I do instead.