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No Spend Month

Is Being Debt Free Worth it?

I had a great talk with Millennial Money Man yesterday and my favorite piece of advice he gave me was to “write what you’re passionate about.” It took me literally five seconds to think of the one thing I’m really passionate about right now: Getting out of debt. A lot of people don’t understand why we’re doing this. They’re living great lives with money in the bank, shiny cars in the driveway, all with a six-figure negative net worth. So why would I deprive myself in my 20’s, the “best” years of my life, to sacrifice 60% percent of our monthly…

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The Baby Steps Explained, And Why They Work!

These are the steps that introduced me and my husband to what financial independence is and for that I am eternally grateful. But a lot of important considerations get looked over if you just find a list of the steps and start crackin. The articles circulating the web are from two camps: Dave Ramsey people, who are relentlessly devoted to the man, and people on the other side, who do math. My goal is to neutrally answer the question: What are The Baby Steps? The Baby Steps, outlined in the book The Total Money Makeover, are the foundation of personal…

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What is 3-6 Months of Expenses and Which Should I Have?

The traditional emergency fund is 3-6 months of expenses. Most people don’t have it and some have way more. The one thing most people can agree on is that they have no idea what their 3-6 months of expenses should look like. The first step to having a solid emergency fund is knowing why you need it and what it’s for. If every time you save $1000 you have an “emergency” haircut, you’ll be battling this vicious cycle of emergencies forever. Why do I need an Emergency Fund? An emergency fund is for unexpected emergencies. You know they’re coming but…

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Best Personal Finance Podcasts For Millennials

10 Best Personal Finance Podcasts for Millennials

I used to not consider myself a big podcast person. While everyone else was hopping on the Serial train I was calling NPR like “Can I just hear some Justin Beiber?” But since writing about the best personal finance podcasts for millennials three years ago, I've become a podcast pro in my own right. This article started as a list of podcasts I wanted to try to save my readers the trial and error of finding them on their own and has led to me starting my own podcast about frugality with my friend Jill. It's called Frugal Friends Podcast and…

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Emergency Fund Tips

Tips to Help You Fund (and Keep) Your Emergency Fund

Everyone who’s ever had an emergency will tell you money is key to making good decisions. We make bad financial decisions when we're broke and desperate. That’s why having an emergency fund is vital to starting any personal finance journey. We currently keep a mini emergency fund of $1000 while we’re paying our debt and so far it’s worked out great. Now we have a five-month emergency fund because we're debt free! But it’s hard to save, hard to know how much to save, and hard to avoid the temptation of $1000 sitting in your bank account screaming to be used.…

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How to Make $27K by Eating out Less

When I think about places where money goes to die it’s not into fixer upper houses or trips across the globe, it’s everyday stuff. Stuff that in the moment I think I need then a few hours later I wonder why it was such a big deal. There’s nothing wrong about these purchases, it’s just that over time they add up. And this year, we’ve crossed the line. Americans now spend more at bars and restaurants than on groceries. A few billion dollars more.  And millennials spend more than any other generation. Millennials (ages 20-34) are now America’s largest generation making…

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5 Ways to be Better at Conscious Consumption

We’ve all been there. You walk into your favorite store, the one with the amazing branding and the conveniently set up dollar bins and somehow walk out with $100 worth of stuff when you just went in for conditioner. Or is it just me? I have accumulated stuff over the years sitting in drawers and boxes, cluttering up my closet and I have no idea how it got there or why it is there. Since taking a closer look at my finances and being more aware of my purchases, I was embarrassed by the number of foods from the grocery…

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Marriage And Money

3 Habits for Blissful Money Matrimony

As of this month my student loan has a 1 in front of it. That started as a 5! I realize I couldn’t have done this without my amazing [frugal] husband. Through this journey, I am constantly reminded how important it’s been to be on the same page with our finances. Our shared goals and vision for the future have made the hard months bearable and the pitfalls easier to climb out of. By the time I met Travis I’d seen more couples divorce in my age group than I want to count. It was so significant to me that…

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Unfollow Your Friends

Why Unfollowing my Friends Helped my Finances

For the last 15 months we’ve been paying off our $84,000 of consumer and student loan debt. We’re $60K down and have $24K to go. It’s been a combination of hard, easy, fun, annoying, and exhausting. There are times I wish we hadn’t taken out the loans, but I know we wouldn’t have the jobs and friends we love without them. So even in the arduous task of paying them back, I’m grateful. Why Unfollowing my Friends Helped my Finances   In paying off our student loans in such a short amount of time I’ve learned a lot about myself,…

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Budget Myths Debunked

Budgeting is a B Word – Budget Myths Debunked

Everyone I talk to about debt tells me “I know, I need to get on a budget.” In my head, I’m like “duh!?!” But the truth is, I remember what it’s like to be single on a 36K income staring 60K of debt in the face. It’s horrifying, overwhelming, and seemingly impossible. So I just ignored it. I let the interest pile up and said I just can’t do this. Flash forward two years and the budget is a vital part of my life. I am by no means a master budgeter and I’m always the one that ends up…

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