August 5, 2022
After nine years of pandemic isolation, we decided this would be the summer of family day trips! Our kids hadn’t been to any of the area museums or towns or restaurants or libraries due to: a) pandemic; b) being babies before the pandemic. We’ve made up for that dearth of activity in force. Swimming, beaches,…
July 26, 2022
Jenny and her husband Will live in the Upper Midwest along the shores of Lake Michigan with their two children, Sam (age 16) and Alex (age 10), and their one old cat. Will is 56 and the couple always planned for him to retire at 60 and to pay for Sam and Alex’s college educations….
July 7, 2022
June was a month of celebrations! My husband and I marked FOURTEEN years of marriage, Kidwoods “graduated” from Kindergarten, Littlewoods finished her first year of preschool, we went to a town-wide end-of-school party with a food truck and BOUNCE HOUSE. And, we bought the folding wagon of my dreams. The Folding Wagon of my Dreams…
July 5, 2022
Kait and her husband Dave live in Alaska with their three young children. Kait works as a Postpartum Doula and Dave as a scientist for the state. They love their outdoorsy lifestyle and have created an incredibly close-knit community with their neighbors and friends. However, their beloved home has some serious structural issues that need…
July 1, 2022
The heralded day is here. It’s Day One of the July Uber Frugal Month Group Challenge and there’s still time to join me–and thousands of other frugal devotees–for our month-long journey to financial wellness. Sign-up in the box below by 11:59pm EST today, July 1, 2022! And again, this is not the Underwear Fang Monkey…
June 23, 2022
It’s UFM time!!!!! We take the UFM as a group twice a year: in January and July and it’s time to sign-up for the July edition! It’s like Christmas in July, but cheaper (SINCE IT’S FREE!) and more exciting–debatable, but you will feel really good about yourself afterwards. What is this UFM of which you…
June 20, 2022
Taylor loves living in Washington, DC and enjoys her job in global public health. She likes to travel, spend time with her family and friends and has a stellar roommate/friend. The only trouble? She’s tired of renting and would like to buy a condo to start building equity and planning for her future. Can she…
June 10, 2022
My May expenses are a great illustration of why it’s so important to track your spending every single month: this was a month rife with unexpected, aberrational, one-time expenses. But by tracking, I’ll have a clear picture at the end of the year of our actual annual spending. Because weird expenses happen all the time….
June 1, 2022
Leigh is a diabetes educator living in Denver, CO. Her children are on the cusp of adulthood and she’s looking around her soon-to-be empty nest, considering her options. She’d like to downsize to a smaller home in her same Denver neighborhood and is interested in exploring the possibility of buying a second home in The…
May 19, 2022
Knowing where your money’s at is the first step in financial planning. Before you can set goals, panic about having no money, or compliment yourself on your ability to buy a new back scratcher, you’ve got to know: What you earn What you spend Your debts Your assets In other words, your overall net worth!…
May 12, 2022
Vanessa lives in Eugene, Oregon with her boyfriend and three cats, Freya, Orpheus and Gandalf. Vanessa works as the Licensing & Contracts Officer for the University of Oregon and is an attorney by training. In 2018, she bought her first home and is now facing the prospect of some pricey renovations or the possibility of…
May 4, 2022
Home Improvement This month marks our sixth anniversary of moving to our homestead in Vermont and, coincidentally, the month we start renovation projects! When we first saw this house seven years ago, we knew there were a number of things we’d like to eventually change. But, we waited. First we waited because we’d just moved…