Simply Frugal. Simply Healthy. Simply Happy.
From the category archives:
Three years ago, we moved to North Carolina with a small nest egg but no real plans. Tony had a job waiting for him (an extremely low-paying teaching assistantship), but I spent three months looking for a full-time job in my field before I starting working part-time. We were frugal out of necessity. it’s scary [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This post originally ran on January 22, 2009. A year later, I’m still struggling to stay motivated, especially after temporary setbacks. Besides, I think we can all use a little encouragement as the novelty of New Year’s resolutions fades. These days, I’m thinking as much about fitness as I am about finance. I’m still working [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Yesterday, I wrote about our money management dilemma: when we keep extra money in our checking account, we’re more likely to overspend, but without a cushion we’re vulnerable to overdraft fees. We only keep enough money in checking to cover our living expenses, so I’d like a safety net to avoid fees if I make [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
A little over a year ago, we moved most of our money into our savings account. We didn’t want to keep very much money in our checking aside from what we need to cover our monthly expenses. I decided to leave a $1,000 cushion in our checking account. The idea was that $1,000 would serve [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Yesterday I confessed that we kind of blew our budget this month. After a summer living on cash, we went a overboard once we started using our debit cards again. It wasn’t that we went completely nuts and totally disregarded our budget. It was much sneakier than that. It was a few things here and [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
When our no spend summer ended in August, I told myself we weren’t going to go overboard. I told myself we were going to keep our budget just as tight. I was wrong. Just as I feared, we went a little overboard for the past month. So overboard that it’s only the 23rd and we’ve [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Is it really September 1st? It seems like just yesterday when I started no spend summer, but it’s been three months. Tony received his first paycheck of the school year at the end of last week, which means our experiment is over. But I have to be honest, it feels like it ended at the [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
One of the top complaints I hear about cash budgeting is that it’s harder to track spending with cash. When you’re swiping a debit card, it’s easy for to track spending electronically. When you’re spending cash, there’s a little more work involved. I use Mint.com to set and track my budget. The idea of changing [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Our no spend summer has resulted in the lowest balance on our checking account in, well, as long as I can remember. I was paid Friday, and after paying our bills and buying our groceries, our checking account balance is now $250. I know there were times when I was in college, and even after [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
We were not as successful this month as last month. We made a handful of unnecessary purchases on our debit card in desperation, not because we needed things but because we wanted them. I know, I know, we’re bad. But this is an experiment. In the beginning we set a goal, and even though we’ve [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
