Overhauling your personal finances can feel pretty overwhelming, especially if you’re starting at ground zero. Luckily, you don’t have to overhaul your finances to get big, lasting changes. Here are seven small financial changes you can make that have a big impact. Tracking Your Spending Tracking your spending is the number one thing you can do to bring a better awareness to your personal finances.
Inexpensive Ways to Decorate Your Home
Here lately my energy to work on my house has suddenly reappeared. Over the long weekend I painted two rooms and then headed upstairs to a bathroom that hasn’t been used or touched since we bought the house, right around one year ago. The changes I’ve been making lately have been super inexpensive but have made all the difference in how my house looks and
5 Reasons I Buy Used
Much of the items you’ll find in my house are used. A good 90% of my furniture is used, my clothes are (mostly) secondhand, a lot of my kitchen paraphernalia is handed down from my mother in law and my vehicles are used. I have no shame when it comes to buying used. Here are five reasons why. It Costs Less Let’s start with the
5 Main Factors that Affect Your Credit Score
If you’re suffering from a low credit score I’ve got both good and bad news. The bad news first: there’s no magic bullet to quickly fix your credit score. The good news is that improving your credit score really comes down to five simple factors and the process is actually much easier than you think. Here are the five main factors that affect your credit
What the Average American Family Spends on Food
One area of spending that I’ve increased in recent months is food. It turns out that when you try to eat healthier you end up spending more money on food than when you were eating junk. My higher than normal food bills got me wondering what the average American family of four spent on food. It turns out I’m not doing quite as bad as
4 Tips for Frugally Growing Your Own Food
While growing your own food is often touted as great money saving advice (and I believe it is) it’s one of those areas where it’s easy to go overboard and can quickly become expensive. If you’re interested in growing at least some of your own food here’s how to keep the cost in check. Don’t Buy Kits Have you ever thought about buying an herb
How to Strike Financial Balance
When it comes to money it’s easy to go to extremes – either spending too much or being so tight with your money you’re not living life to its fullest. At one point or another I’ve been at both ends of the spectrum. I used to be at the frugal end of the equation. It would kill me to spend more than $3 on a
Benefits of Living in a Small House
I have a love for smaller homes. Up until last year the biggest house I’ve lived in during my adult life was a little over 1200 sq. ft. When my husband and I moved last summer we bought a house that was a little larger than we both preferred but bought anyway due to several other factors. While I do love where I’m at now
17 Best Frugal Activities for Kids
Over spring break my kids were home with me for the week. In all honestly it was so nice to have them back home and not have to deal with going back and forth to the school twice per day. And to my surprise we didn’t have any boredom crop up over the week. We did so many activities and everyone stayed happy. In honor
The Top Supplies You Need for a Baby
Clever marketing would have you thinking that you need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get everything you need to bring home a baby. Fortunately, this just isn’t true. With my first daughter I fell for the trap and bought so many baby related items that never got used more than once. When my second daughter came around I knew what I was