This Christmas Savings Plan will prepare you for the holiday shopping season! Hello! If you've never been to my blog before, let me introduce myself. My name is Lena, and I'm so glad you're here! This blog is where I share all the creative money making and family budgeting ideas that pop into my head, as well as other fun stuff like recipes and coloring pages. Today I want to share with you something I created to help us make a game out of saving money. It's a 26-WEEK EXTRA $1,000 BY CHRISTMAS SAVINGS PLAN that starts with $26 and ends with exactly $1,001. You start with $26 the Keep Reading
The Second Best Thing You Can Do for Your Finances
A few months ago, I wrote a post entitled "The Best Thing You Can Do for Your Finances." After I published it, I realized I had a whole bunch of other things to add to the financial best practices list, so I am going to turn this into a series! I think it will be nice to have a collection of my favorite financial moves. I'm not a practicing CPA anymore, but I still really do enjoy helping others with their finances on the blog. As always, my personal finance tips are merely suggestions - before you act on any of my advice, make sure to consider your exact financial situation and make Keep Reading
Experiencing Budgeting Burnout? Give Yourself a Break!
Ever wanted to cheat on your budget? Find out why it's okay! Do you ever get tired of being careful with your money? I do. I have a website about taxes, I write articles on personal finance topics, and I consider myself pretty strict with myself when it comes to spending money. But my self-discipline has its limits. Take, for instance, the time in our life (me and my husband’s) when we were socking away money in anticipation of having our first child. We were self-disciplined enough to save all (or nearly all) of my income for a year and a half before she was born. And because I was Keep Reading
5 Ways to Save on Utilities When Money is Tight – Practical Money Saving Tips
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of IGS Energy for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine. At some point or another most of us have had money issues. Either we spend more than we make from poor budgeting decisions or we don't make enough to cover life expenses. Things happen. When those things happen to you, there are some things you can do to keep finances under control and get you back on track. One thing I like to do is focus on big ticket household expense like utilities. 5 Ways to Save Money on Utilities To begin, take a deep breath and remember... These do not have to Keep Reading
How to Make Saving Money & Making Money Fun!
I often find myself worrying about money. Do you? Do you wish you could have a life where you weren’t under financial strain? I can go weeks without really worrying about our family finances, but then I realize that I’m spending too much in one area or find myself wishing I could go on a trip I can’t really afford. That’s when I realize that we’re sometimes cruising along for the ride, not really having a full picture of our finances. And then I start to get stressed about it. This stress spills over into my relationship with my husband and taints the time I spend with my kids. My Keep Reading
26-Week No Brainer $1,000 Savings Plan -Start with $26, End with Exactly $1,001
If you're anything like me, you have a habit of letting Christmas sneak up on you. I always know it's coming, and I always start worrying about it in October but for some reason I can never seem to get my act together and save for Christmas gifts ahead of time. This year WILL be different. I created this 26 week savings plan based on some other challenges I've seen out there, just in time to start it in time to save $1,000 by December (by starting in June). Week by week, if you save ever increasing amounts (by $1 increments) starting with $26, you will amass $1001 in Keep Reading
How I’m Saving Up $3,500 This Year For Our Trip to Disney World
We are going to Disney World this October, and I am already starting to plan for it. I know based on our last trip that we will easily spend at least $3,000 on this trip (more like $3,500-$4,000), so I am getting a jump start on my savings plan. I don’t mind dipping into savings for big trips like this, but I would much rather save up the money ahead of time. I kind of like knowing we have the money allotted in advance and can have fun worry-free. Last time we went to Disney World, my youngest daughter got a double ear infection on top of just recovering from pink-eye, so that was worry Keep Reading
10 Weird Ways to Make Extra Money to Pay for Christmas Presents
Every October, I print out this Christmas gift list template and write down everyone we need to buy presents for. I estimate how much I think I should spend on each person and add up the total. Then the fun starts. Because I love thinking up ways to make extra money, I have fun with our Christmas budget. It doesn't stress me out one bit - I look at it like a challenge! I like figuring out ways to make money between October and December 25th to pay for all of the Christmas gifts on my list (that, and also trying to see if I can find coupons & deals along the way so I can come in lower Keep Reading
How Much Does It Cost to Own a Dog?
My kids have been asking me for a dog lately. I thought I was prepared for the added responsibility, but one thing I'm not looking forward to? The cost! As I was researching the cost of having a dog, I came across this interesting infographic from Mint.com. I personally always had large dogs growing up, so that's my preference for our family now. But I didn't realize until I saw this that there is such a big difference in the cost of a large dog versus a small dog! If I wasn't allergic to cats, I think they're my favorite price. LOL How Much Does It Cost to Own a Dog? Do you have a Keep Reading
Prepaid Debit Card Budgeting System (with 1% Cash Back) – Part 1
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for American Express Serve. I applied for the Serve Cash Back card to facilitate my review and received a promotional item to thank me for my participation. As many of my readers know, I love writing about family finances. I’m a busy parent just like you, and I’m all about finding simple ways to save money, make money, and stretch our monthly budget so we can afford to splurge. I know I’m not alone in saying that the day-to-day money decisions I make as our household’s money manager is what makes or breaks our Keep Reading
Easiest Way to Get Everything at a Discount
Christmas shopping season is quickly approaching, and that always makes me think of how I need to come up with a Christmas list & budget. If I don't, I inevitable overspend and find myself regretting some purchases after the fact. There is one simple trick I know that helps me get a discount on virtually anything I purchase that I wanted to share with you today. It's quite simple really. And it all has to do with Amazon. It's something I noticed a couple years ago when I first got my Prime membership and started doing more shopping online. As a normal online Keep Reading
7 Valuable Lessons to Teach Your Kids About Money
Today I am honored to have a guest post on the blog from personal finance writer, Anum Yoon. Take it away Anum! Without question, we want the best for our kids. The highest rated schools, the safest cars and even the healthiest lunches. We want to know they are prepared for life after high school or college. But financial education isn't included in most student curriculums. Do you know if your kids know how to budget their money? If you want your children to go to college one day, or even just have a financially sound life, prepping them for a world of real household finances should be Keep Reading
8 Ways We Destroy Our Frugal Efforts
As any frugal person who fights the good fight every day, I go back and forth between being great at controlling my spending to losing control and buying something totally on impulse. We all overspend at certain times, but do we ever really examine some of the reasons why we might be sabotaging our frugal efforts? Stefanie O'Connell over at U.S. News & World Report interviewed some of the top money-saving pros on the web to find out 8 ways we sabatoge our own efforts at frugality. WhatMommyDoes is quoted at #8! Check it out: 8 Challenges to Staying Frugal More from Keep Reading
3 Tips for Sticking to a Budget While Eating Healthy
Everyone who knows me knows that I love to save money. In fact, I used to have a slight coupon addiction. I can’t stand paying full price for anything, knowing that I will eventually come into contact with coupons or discounts for the same exact item if I can only time my purchase properly. Enter healthy eating. Do you know how hard it is to stick to a budget when you’re trying to eat healthy? It’s nearly impossible! It’s a constant battle between what’s good for my body and what’s good for my wallet. And there aren’t really many coupons for fresh items. You just have to Keep Reading
3 Super Simple Things You Can Do Right Now to Save Money
I would like to thank Giving Assistant for sponsoring this post! When it comes to doing something I don't want to do (like dieting or budgeting), I try to set simple goals to trick myself into thinking it's actually easy. I find that breaking a large goal into manageable bites makes the overall process less daunting. 3 Simple Things You Can Do Right Now to Save Money Today & Over the Long Term 1. Cancel a paid subscription or service you rarely use. Odds are you're a busy person - and do you really have time to process all the input that comes into your life? Find that one Keep Reading
