I’m here for an oil and air filter change, and could you check to see why the car’s overheating so fast? 24 hours later, we’re $1,031.30 poorer with a new water pump and timing belt. Maybe I’ll revisit those sinking funds to adjust what we’re putting into our Maintenance and Repairs budget. Ugh. It was only May 2!! Did we not just buy brand new tires two weeks ago?! No, Daddy, put the blue water back in it. ~ Augustus The pool has taken on an extra-bright green lagoon…
Category: Motivation
Net Worth & Debt Update: A Month of Freezer/Pantry Meals
Dinners from our Pantry & Freezers (And April’s $100 grocery budget) (& Our Net Worth & Debt Update): Fair Warning to Foodies: This ain’t no gourmet food blog so don’t disappoint yourself looking for dinspiration here. (see what I did there?) We’re cleaning out the freezers and pantry this month. If you’re looking for the net worth and debt update, scroll on down to the bottom. April 1 – We were all so full of Easter lunch and candy that dinner was a tub of cottage cheese. Getting creative with…
Net Worth & Debt Update: March 31, 2018 – Wait, What?
Hoowee, boy! Where have we been? I’ve had a lot of guilt over not writing for nearly four months, so here are my excuses: Our oldest started Pre-K, so now the boys go to two different schools, which has required a little extra coordination. Also, it costs just as much with tuition, after school care, and all that fundraising to have him in pre-K as it did in daycare–no cost savings this year. Then I had emergency surgery in September to yank out my gall bladder, appendix, and an ovary with…
2017 Super Ambitious Goals and Net Worth Update
So, we’re just past the middle of 2017 and it’s time to report on our progress. In keeping with our Super-Ambitious 2017 Goals Post, which was a few months late, this mid-year check-in isn’t perfectly on time either. However, it has given us a few extra weeks to settle into our summer garden, as you saw last month. 2017 Super-Ambitious Goals Update: Earlier this year, I showed you my goals for achieving a “Level 10” year on Burton Farm. In each of ten areas in the bullet journal I keep,…
How to Start Your Seeds on the Cheap
I love seeing row after row of uniform black plastic seed starting planters in garden centers and greenhouses. They’ve been dutifully watered and sunned, shaded and fertilized by the garden pros in the nursery. They even have the guts to set them out before the last frost of the year, so we can get our gardens started early! After spending so many cold days looking out the windows, dreaming over the seed catalogs, I’m itching to get started with my own seeds, but not quite ready to be outside. To…
Net Worth & Debt Payoff Progress through 10/31/16
We emerge from October 2016 bruised and bloodied, like the zombies of Halloween. This month was brutal! Have you ever noticed how when you start to track something, it starts creeeeeping along? I’ll spare you the suspense: we are at 1.86% paid down. That’s -0.08% less than last month. While on one hand, it feels stagnant, I’m trying to see it as Staying Afloat. Here’s what went down. Our real estate contract expired October 5, so I went into full-realty mode to market our two properties myself. (You…
Net Worth & Debt Payoff through 9/30/2016
Let’s just call this month a big fat “How NOT to Use Credit Cards.” Have you seen pins like the one on the right in your Pinterest feed? Beware, advertisers hire wily copywriters to separate you from your money. Even though this pin says transferring a balance is ingenious, and even though I did exactly what it says, I have to disagree with the “ingenious” part. No, I’d have to say it’s the slippery slope of managing your credit. Let me tell you why: You’ve just opened yet ANOTHER credit card. Welcome…
How to Pay for Christmas with Pre-Tax Money
Say what?! Yes, you can pay for Christmas gifts with Pre-Tax Money. I know, I know. It’s in the semantics, but if other strategies haven’t worked for you, this one might. Have you filed for your Flexible/Health Spending Account reimbursement yet for the year, by the way? Have you earmarked that money yet? Let me explain. Open Season is generally around November, so be sure to sign up for this awesome tool to save money and you could have Christmas money saved up for next year with little effort. If…
Bust the Excuse: I Don’t Have Space to Homestead
This is part four of a four part series on why you don’t homestead. If you would prefer to read the posts in order (which is in a random order, by the way) you can click here. I’ll wait right here. Today’s excuse is “I don’t have any space or land to homestead!” I DON’T HAVE SPACE. AKA: I DON’T HAVE LAND. You dont’ have to have forty acres to homestead. You can homestead in a 250 square foot apartment in the city! You’re probably already doing some homesteading and don’t…
Net Worth & Debt Payoff Update thru 8/31/16
Do you ever feel like you’re not making progress with your debt? This month, I’ve felt like I was treading water with our finances. But after digging deeper into the numbers, I can see that we are still improving. It’s small, but it’s in the right direction. We increased our debt payoff from 1.47% to 1.58% in a month when we took a one week family vacation (paid cash!). See the details in the chart below. So, what did we do this month to attack our debt? One. I opened a…