Hello! Sorry for the absence – I’ve been vacationing in beautiful Boca Raton, Florida đ My mom was there visiting her parents and sisters, so we decided to drive down too and hang out with everyone for a few days! It was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l! I got to see my grandparents, my four aunts and some of my cousins. It was a great trip and I’m sad it had to come to an end.
How to Save a Lot of Money
Do you want to know how to save a lot of money? Here are some tips that will ramp up your savings and allow you to save a lot of money!
How to cut back on utilities
Since moving into a larger home, I have been worried about what our utilities were going to be. Well, after receiving our gas bill last week and our electric bill over the weekend, it’s safe to say we will be cutting back immensely this month.
Our gas bill was $167, our electric bill was $196 and our water bill was $48.
Let’s break it down…
January was a cold month here in NC, especially for us considering we are from AZ. We decided to put our thermostat at 70 degrees and adjust as needed depending on that first bill. This may surprise some of you, but I’m actually OK with the $167 gas bill. John and I decided if it was more than $200, we would turn it down but since it’s $167, we’re keeping it at 70 degrees. I know I’m a wimp…but I’m FREEZING even though to most people 70 is probably warm. I definitely plan on lowering the thermostat next winter once we’ve adjusted a bit to the colder climate. In comparison, our electric bill in AZ over the summer months was $250-$300 keeping it 80-81 degrees in a 1700 sq ft house. It’s all relative…
How to feel rich regardless of income
Happy Wednesday! Before I dive into today’s topic, I don’t know if anyone noticed but I got a new theme installed on my blog! It’s from Pixel Me Designs and I could not be happier with it. Laura, the designer, is wonderful to work with. I purchased a pre-made theme but emailed her a question and she responded immediately. I am all about good customer service and Laura surpassed my expectations! For those of you new to my blog, I have a self-hosted WordPress site and am using Genesis Framework. Laura provided me with the Child Theme that goes along with Genesis Framework. You can read more on how to start a blog here.
The original theme I was using didn’t properly load “page 2” and on, making it difficult to navigate my site. I deleted that theme a few weeks ago and was just running off of Genesis Framework. I took my time purchasing my current theme because I wanted to find one that I LOVED and that was functional. Having an appealing, easy-to-navigate, fully functioning site is vital if you wish to make money from  your blog.
Anyways, on to today’s topic…
5 Reasons day trips can be better than vacations
John and I have been fans of day trips since we started dating, but our love of them has only accelerated since having kids. But isn’t it hard having kids in the car for that long? Um, nope! Sure, they scream at times and I may or may not have spent an hour massaging my one-year-old’s feet yesterday on our trip to Myrtle Beach, but they are contained and they are usually content. This gives John and I a chance to chat, listen to music and enjoy the open road! To us, life is all about experiencing as much as we can and we feel our best when we’re on the road. Who knows, maybe one day this will lead to a cross-country adventure in an RV đ
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 save on moving expenses
As I mentioned in a previous post, we are going to be moving into a rental home (that we really, really love) in less than a week! To say I’m excited would be an understatement. As much as I hate to complain, living in this apartment has been tough. Our furniture is way too big for the space, the layout isn’t open and there are no windows except for in the bedrooms. While it’s cozy, I sort of feel cut off from the rest of the world when I’m in here. I can’t wait to open up the blinds in our new home, give the girls and our dogs space to run around in, have a microwave (a small luxury I’ve missed), grill outside on our deck and just feel “settled.” I’ve loved living in North Carolina and while it already feels like home, I know living in a house will make it feel even more like home.
That being said, moving can be expensive. While this is nothing compared to when we moved across the country, I still want to save as much money as possible during this move.
One simple way to save time and money
In life, there are two things everyone wouldn’t mind having a little more of – and that’s time and money. IÂ would love to have more time to spend with loved ones, more time to cook yummy meals and desserts, more time to spend working and more time to spending relaxing. And who wouldn’t want more money? I would save more, invest more, give to charity, help out those in need and probably shop more, too.
Since moving from Arizona to North Carolina, I feel like I’ve discovered the secret to having both more time and more money.
7 Ways to save money on rent
As most of you know, we seriously considered breaking our lease to rent out my “dream home” in my dream neighborhood. While money was an important factor, it wasn’t the deciding factor (though it very well could have been). Turns out the house backs up to a major highway. Huge bummer!! While the leasing agent said it was “white noise” and that it wasn’t that noticeable, I would have gone crazy living there. I’m already the world’s lightest sleeper so there was just no way I would ever live near a highway or major road. As a mom of a toddler and a baby, peace and quiet is just too precious to me!!
But, this whole process got me thinking on ways you can save money on rent. I actually had written out a contract for that house had we decided to move forward with an offer (this was prior to seeing it).