Finances & Budgeting

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,...

Disclosure: this post is sponsored by Costco. We are thrilled to be working with them for our second Costco Mom Hour next month.  Costco :: My Solution to Buying Organic for Less Green I joined Costco about a year ago (at last year's popular Costco Mom Hour, in fact!). I never thought of myself as a "buy in bulk" type of person, but I figured I'd give a shot and see how it went. Here we are a year later, and I'm pretty much hooked on Costco. Why? For me, it's all about the availability of certified USDA Organic products, often at a fraction of the cost when compared to other sellers of organic products. Buying organic food is something that is important...

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by our partners at Pelican State Credit Union, who have been providing financial services to individuals and families in Louisiana for almost 60 years. I remember when I hit the lottery. At least, I hit the lottery according to 12 year-old me’s standards. I found out about the Accelerated Reader, or “AR,” program in school. It gave students a chance to earn prizes by reading books and taking tests on them. Anyone who reached 100 points was rewarded with a $100 savings bond! I saw that dollar sign and made it my goal to get 100 points. My friends would want to play video games, but I had books to read. If they only knew about...

Budget Backyard Beautification The weather was getting nicer, but our backyard was boring and bland.  In fact, I didn't even want to go out there. One Friday night, I'd had enough. I did what any normal mom would do and searched Pinterest for ideas. I didn't want to spend a lot, and there was no shortage of ideas. And if you know me, you know that coming up with an idea on a Friday night means that it needs to be done by Sunday afternoon. We hit up Lowe's and got blocks for a retaining wall, spray paint, patio pavers, and sand. We (and by we, I mean my husband), started by transplanting the grass to other parts of the yard...