Fast Foods

Quick trips to the drive-thru while out can bust a budget, but sometimes this seems inevitable. If you are out all day your family needs to eat. To keep from spending money on unhealthy food, we keep a few “fast foods” in the pantry we would not normally buy. When we are leaving the [...]

Living on Less ~ Ways to Cut Expenses

Many people have asked how we live on half of our income. We are able to do this for two different reasons. First my husband has worked for the same company (US Navy) for 22 years. Whenever you work for a company that long you will receive raises and promotions, so plain and simple, he [...]

Save Money by Paying Bills Online

I have used online bill pay since we were stationed in Cuba 7 years ago. Back then it was purely for convenience reasons as the mail was incredibly slow at times and I didn’t want to make a late payment. After we returned to the states I continued pay bills online and over time I [...]

Feeding a Crowd

Friday my husband promotes to Lieutenant Commander. This is a big deal for us, because less than two years ago we didn’t know if he had a future in the military. We are celebrating by having a large party at our house the night of his promotion. We expect between 50 and 70 people for [...]

Thrift Store Style

Many people tell me that thrift stores are great when their kids are little, but once they hit the teen years they have to start shopping at the mall. I disagree. Shopping for teenagers at the thrift store is hard because… shopping for teenagers is hard in general. Don’t even get me started on the [...]

How to Swaddle a Baby

Most if not all newborns like to be swaddled. You can purchase a swaddling blanket for about $30, although I have seen them for as low as $10 or you can learn how to do it yourself.
To swaddle all you need is a receiving blanket and a baby. The thin ones work best. Also [...]

I Fly for Peanuts!

I am not a world traveler, in fact I really do not like airplanes, especially ones that plan on leaving the tarmac. But, by necessity I occasionally have to be a big girl and get on an airplane that actually leaves the ground. Since I also do not like to spend a lot of money [...]

Saving Money on Paper and Ink

We go through paper and computer ink like crazy around our house. It seems the kids are always printing out coloring pages, or I am printing coupons or home school resources.
Paper and ink can get expensive though, so here are some ways we save money printing.
Scrap paper. I have a huge binder of scrap paper. [...]

Living on Less ~ April Update

Time for our monthly financial check-up. I missed March’s update because I was having a baby. It is probably a good thing because I never made out a budget for the month, whoops! Bad idea folks, very bad idea. I really don’t know how much we spent because I spent several days in the hospital [...]

Credit Cards ~ They Don’t Work For Us!

I wrote this post exactly one year ago. The message is the same and even more timely with the current economy.
I have hesitated writing this post for many months because I know that people have strong opinions on the subject of using credit cards. I believe that most of us would agree that having a [...]