• How to survive a spending freeze

    Today was our FIRST day of the October Spending Freeze and I already got lots of messages about…what do I do?? how can I last for a whole week??? What now?? SOOO I thought I would quickly go through and answer a few of the FAQ about HOW TO SURVIVE A SPENDING FREEZE. First things first: WHAT IS A SPENDING FREEZE?? And WHY?? A spending freeze or spending ban is simply choosing a period of time to go without spending money. You intentionally go without spending, then set the money that you WOULD have spent aside for savings, sinking funds, debt, etc. This is a great way to pay off…

  • Budgeting tips: What are sinking funds??

    Budgeting. The dirty word that nobody wants to talk about, but EVERYBODY wants to excel at innately or learn through some sort of magical osmosis. But then month after month and then year after year we spend our hard earned money and have no clue where it goes. ORRRR we work really hard on our budget, and rock it’s socks off for a month until a holiday or birthday or field trip or soccer uniform pops up and throws a wrench into our perfectly laid plans. AND THEN we deviate from the budget a little…and then a lot…and then we throw the budget out the window and go back to…