Finances & Budgeting

Each year, almost immediately after Halloween, our calendars become full with holiday commitments, leaving hardly any time to stop and breathe until after the New Year. Around this same time of year, thanks to social media, we fall into the comparison trap and evolve into a wannabe Pinterest perfect Christmas super mom. You know her, and you may even become her when the end of November rolls around. She wants to make meaningful holiday memories with her family in all the ways---baking cookies, crafting ornaments, taking Santa pictures, and hosting holiday parties, all while trying to budget and shop for the perfect gifts for loved ones and juggle her normal non-holiday related responsibilities. AND don’t forget to MOVE. THE. DANG. ELF. We tend...

My best friend Katelyn and I have been discussing Twilight for a couple months now. Twilight was THE teenage romance series, while we were in middle school and high school. It is also a perfect example of emotional abuse, which, by the way, sets a great stage for physical abuse. Wind Goodfriend Ph.D. does a great job of naming a few of the thousands of examples of abuse Edward displays: He stalks Bella He encourages Bella to have as little interaction as possible from anyone outside his family He preys on her low self esteem He damages her vehicle so she can’t get away Before you go on assuming he was doing this to protect Bella, I just want to point...

I’ve always been the type of person that had absolutely no idea what to do or say when a loved one was hurting. I’ve always felt absolutely useless in these situations and as if I needed to step aside and let an adult handle it. Here are some things that stuck with me during a time I needed help: Don’t try to fill the silence. My best friend once said, “There’s not anything you can say to make it better, but there’s a lot you can say to make it worse.” Just let her be sad, hurt, angry, etc. It’s kind of selfish to fill silence just because you’re uncomfortable anyway, right? Buy a houseplant. Even if a mom thinks she has...

I turned 30 last week. Generally, I’ve been excited about my 30s.  It’s the decade my children will start school and my real stay-at-home mom duties begin. You know, the soccer games and the class trips.  It’s the decade our finances won’t completely hold us back from the fun we’ve imagined for our family. You know, the dinner parties and the beach vacations. The opportunity to finally choose a home we love and not settle for a house “that’ll do for now.”  The chapter where we create a family closes, and the chapter where we raise that family and build a forever together begins. Right? Thirty, Flirty and...Thriving? It was all very glamorous in my head…until it happened.  Yes, I’m 30. I’m a stay-at-home mom. My...

  Debt is as American as baseball and hot dogs. You would be hard-pressed to find someone completely without some student loan or car payment. Up until about a year ago, I personally didn’t think twice about toting around this ball and chain because it just felt like these were the “bills,” but we were just cycling through the months without an actual plan. My husband and I had decent incomes but still found ourselves wondering where the money went. Things felt sloppy, and we grew tired of working so much and feeling like we had nothing to show for it. Throughout the first half of last year, disorganization was costing us big time and enough was enough when our...