My Fall Spending Relapse

Ok, so I have to admit that I’ve had a minor spending relapse over the past couple weeks.  I woke up bored on Labor Day, so I decided to go shopping with my sister.  We ended up making it an all day event with a break for lunch.  I think we hit up about four [...]

September 16, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Credit Cards, My Progress, New Spending Habits, Want vs. Need  No Comments

I’m Officially Out of Debt

At last!  I just paid my credit card balance down and paid back the personal loan that I borrowed from a friend.  I started seriously attacking my debt back in June.  I managed to pay down $4,700 in debt within three months.  Needless to say, I’m a little giddy right now.
I thought that getting rid [...]

August 28, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: My Progress, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars, Want vs. Need  One Comment

Slight Change of Plans…

In about two weeks, my dad turns 60.  He has been planning to retire on his 60th birthday for about 2 years now.  To celebrate, he was going to tell off his boss, pack his bags, and take the family on a two week vacation to Europe (in that order).  Then during this past winter, [...]

August 24, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Lessons From My Family  No Comments

This is What Frugal Looks Like: New Series at Almost Frugal

Check it out!  Kelly at Almost Frugal has launched a new series called “This is What Frugal Looks Like”.  This week’s article in the series features yours truly.  Kelly has interviewed different folks to get their opinion about frugality and how it pertains to their everyday lives.  Here are the questions I was asked:
1. What [...]

August 13, 2009  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Frugal or Cheap?, Money News, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

The Luxury of Laziness

One of my friends spends her entire Saturday morning shopping for groceries.  Each week, she scans the grocery ads that come in the mail, looking for deals.  Then she plans out which stores she will hit for these discounted items.  Grocery shopping takes her and her husband about 4 hours every weekend and they often [...]

August 12, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: DIY, Money News, My Progress, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments

Could You Save $1,000 in 30 Days?

I read this post over at I Will Teach You to Be Rich.  I’m already trying to save about this much money each month, but could you?  If you needed to, could you completely give up luxuries like cable, internet, and an air conditioned house?
It’s an interesting challenge because it pits our love of saving [...]

August 5, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Banking Accounts, Money News, Spending Zero Dollars, Want vs. Need  2 Comments

I’m Halfway Out of Debt

I started this blog a month ago with a mission: Get out of debt (roughly $4,700) in within 4 months and save up $10,000 within a year.  It’s been about 6 weeks now, and I’m halfway out of debt!  This puts me right on track to be completely out of debt by September, and then [...]

July 14, 2009  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Credit Cards, My Progress, New Spending Habits  No Comments

Survival Strategies

Here are some money-saving survival strategies that I want to use:

Bring lunch from home.  Boring?  Yes.  Cheap?  Hell yes.
Avoid lots of city driving by running all errands in one day.  Do the speed limit on the highway.  I have definitely noticed my gas mileage and my wallet benefit from this so far!
Learn to cook.  More [...]

July 7, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Cheap Thrills, DIY, Food, Frugal or Cheap?, New Spending Habits, Spending Zero Dollars  No Comments