Finances & Budgeting

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...

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My husband and I entered our marriage with $250,000 in student loan debt collectively. What a way to start a marriage, right? Looking back, our vows should have stated “for poorer or for poorer.” Before I depress you, within a little less than 5 years of being married, we became completely debt free. No, we didn’t win the lottery. No, we didn’t inherit a fortune from a dead uncle. What we did is we worked our butts off to pay down debt. Here is our story. Between college debt, grad school debt, post doctorate training debt, personal loans, and credit cards, we were living the America dream. You know that dream ... lots of education and no money. I was working...

Valentine’s Day (like all holidays in my case) is creeping up quickly. My husband is impossible to buy for and our time together is very limited between demanding careers and little kids. We’ve found it’s easier to have fun experiences together than to give each other gifts. Dinner and a movie are great but can get expensive fast. Here are some low to no cost date options for you and your honey. Downtown Baton Rouge on a Saturday One of my favorite Valentine’s Day’s with my husband was when we spent a Saturday downtown together. We had breakfast at the Farmers Market (not over 10 bucks) and there’s lots of options! We went to the capital building and although my husband grew up here,...