Spending Money – $aving Money Tip$

admin May 7, 2015 Spending Money, toddler craft

Mother’s Day 2015 Toddler Craft

Writing at this blog has been transformative for me. Just one of the many, many changes has been in regard to gift-giving. Prior to writing here I would always send some type of (usually $$$) gift for Mother’s Day to all the important women in my life. I am fortunate to have many: My mom, 2 living grandmothers on my side, hubs’ mom, and one grandma on his side. That’s FIVE people to whom we’d send gifts every Mother’s Day. Generally I’d spend about $50/person. I remember shipping Bath and Body Works gift packages one year. I did a chocolate-of-the-month gift one year. I’ve done gift cards to restaurants. You get the picture. This holiday was pricey for me. But it doesn’t have

Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation

admin May 7, 2015 going away gift, Spending Money

Cheap Going Away Gift Basket

Since my friend was moving cross-country, I decided to put together a little going away roadtrip-ready gift basket. This was super cheap to put together, but is thoughtful and practical at the same time. In my basket I included: 3 current magazines, purchased through trade-in credit at our local used bookstore (tip: this is a great idea for magazines to flip through while you travel, too. They sell current issues for as little as $1 at our store). Cost: $0 3 dollar store snacks (Corn Nuts, Yogurt-covered pretzels, and trail mix). Cost: $3 3 candies from Walgreens (Skittles, Lemon heads, and Rasinetes). Cost: $3 1 basket from Dollar Tree. Cost $1 Total Cost: $7 Another idea that I had after I’d already given the basket to

Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation

admin May 5, 2015 Spending Money, taxes

April ’15- Month in Review

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week thus far! I want to start doing a “month in review” here on BAD to clue everyone in on what’s occurred during the previous month. I think this will help summarize what’s going on in my life as we move forward on my debt reduction journey and allow people to quickly get up to speed that didn’t catch my weekly updates. To summarize, A LOT occurred in April: I began the month (technically it was March 31st, but let’s call it April) by telling you what’s been bothering me even since I started my hardcore paydown (read it here). This was the hardest to write but most heart felt post to date. Update:

Debt Management, Relief & Consolidation

admin April 29, 2015 Spending Money, successes

Lofting Beds – Money Well Spent

We spent the weekend in construction mode. I decided a month or so back that Little Gymnast would move into the twins room for the summer no matter what we decided as far as long term housing. He’s just at the age and with them working quite a bit this summer, it was a good time to make the move. I researched bunk beds, custom built lofts, diy lofts and as I was at the hardware store pricing things needed, I came up with my own brilliant, if I do say myself, design. I called my dad as he has years of construction experience and ran my idea by him to make sure it was viable. With just a few modifications, he thought it would work