Today we have a guest post from Kayla, a debt-free college graduate. She’s going to give us more insight on how going to college debt free is always the best way to go. Thanks Kayla!

In general, two main perspectives exist when it comes to going through college without taking on debt. On the one hand, Perspective A says it’s normal or even good debt, because you’re improving yourself and your value in the marketplace. Perspective Z says, “what a relief! No debt tying me down after graduation.” There are variations and moderations of each perspective as well.

If you’ve never looked at the “how to pay for college” debate from Perspective Z, you may have overlooked several advantages for taking the debt-free college route. In many ways, it just makes sense. [Read more…]

This post is from a fellow frugal-minded sister, Kate. She blogs over at Modern Alternative Mama. Kate and I have similar thoughts about living free from the bondage of debt, so I asked her to share a bit today about how she was able to make it living on a tight budget. Thanks, Kate!

Six years ago, my husband and I were newlyweds.  He was just out of college, working an entry level job (at the company where he still works) and I was still in college.  In addition to Ben’s entry level job, he also worked three days a week – two evenings and all day Saturday – as a salesman at his college job, a local computer store.  I worked one day a week as a private music teacher.

We had to work all of those hours.  We just didn’t make much money, and we had a lot of expenses (like a 4-bedroom house that we really did not need at that time).  For the first several months, we simply used credit cards to get by, and let our debt get out of control.  But in May, 2007, we sat down and decided it was time to do some Dave Ramsey reading together, and get serious about our budget.

Those first few months, before Ben got a promotion and a decent raise were incredibly frustrating.  Our house payment was over 50% of our take home pay.  Our debt payments comprised another significant percentage.  We cut our expenses to the bone – no eating out, no more cable, no new clothes, nothing – and we still literally did not make enough money on paper to pay our basic expenses – housing, transportation, and food.  I cried a lot when we wrote our budget and we fought.

Annie has LOVED bubbles ever since she was born. They fascinate her…and now they keep her occupied for a long time. Score for the bubbles! Today I’ve asked the Morefields from A Morefield Life to do a tutorial on how to make your own bubble solution. Thanks guys!

Living in an age full of technological marvels has its pros and cons. We can get in our cars and drive across town in a flash, hop on a plane and zip clear across the country in less than a day. Electricity and indoor plumbing, unavailable to most people just a hundred years ago, make our lives easier in countless ways. From the products we buy to the services we use, it seems like everything is or has to be ‘convenient.’ And while convenience can certainly be nice at times (no outhouses for me, thank you!), sometimes they can have a cost that, in the long run, truly isn’t worth it.

Today most kids have no clue where their food comes from because their parents get it out of a box, in a store full of similar boxes, conveniently prepackaged and filled with all sorts of convenient ingredients meant to ‘preserve’ it for the weeks or months it takes to get it from the farm to the factory to the trucks to the warehouses to the stores and, finally, to the pantries of time-strapped families who then nuke it in the microwave. By the time it’s finally consumed, there’s little (real) taste, or nutrition, left.

Soaps, long-ago home-made with a few ingredients, are today full of harmful chemicals and artificial ingredients. Same with laundry detergent, shampoo, household cleaners, and a host of other products. Such is one price of convenience, the cost of the perception in this fast-paced world that people simply do not have the time to make something, anything, from scratch. We have far more important things to do, like watch TV and… shop for more ‘convenient’ stuff. 

I’ve always been fascinated with red doors. I think that houses with red doors look so inviting and classic. But, when I found out the meaning behind them, I knew that for our next house, we’d have a red door for certain.

This is our front door before. All white and not red. I love red…I love red and white together. This was the first time I had ever painted something like this before, so I was a tad nervous…but I was determined and I got it done. Don’t mess around with a motivated pregnant woman. [Read more…]

I’ve always found geocaching fascinating. I wanted to do a post about how it was a good family activity, but I don’t have the experience. Enter, my friend Amanda from Spinning Yarns and Other Things (and also a friend from high school). She and her family LOVE geocaching together, so I asked her to do a write up for you guys. Thanks Amanda!

What IS Geocaching?

Geocaching. It’s a weird word, I know, but it is so much fun. It even sounds a little bit illegal but it isn’t.  Some of you may be thinking, “What in the world is that??” The answer is simple. Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt that uses coordinates of latitude and longitude to mark the treasure instead of maps. When you find the treasure box you can take something from it, but you must leave something of equal or greater value.

We decided to give geocaching a try this past summer. After our first cache we were hooked! We have now successfully found 71 caches. There is very minimal cost involved and it has turned out to be an awesome family activity with an educational aspect to boot.

[Read more…]

Let me take a moment to summarize the main point of thousands of leadership, self-help, dieting, marriage, parenting and tons of other books that span literally millions of pages.  Just about all of them can be boiled down to one big thing: changing your mindset from “I’ve always done it that way” to “I’m willing to try something different.”  In other words, those books are all about making a positive change.

I know I’m usually pretty pointed when I write articles for you guys, but today I want to do a bit of rambling on the topic of change and the decision of whether or not to change.  What prompts me to write about that?  In short, Stacy and I are going through so many life changes right now that we’re having a hard time keeping up!  I also talk with people nearly every day who struggle to make a change because they are paralyzed by the unknown.  More accurately, they are paralyzed by their FEAR of the unknown.  They ask questions like, “what happens if I can’t find a job by the end of the month when our savings runs out?” or, “which college should I attend?” and expect me to give them the answer.  Those are pretty serious questions and honestly, there are tons of possible answers.  Here’s the thing: as Jon Acuff wrote in one of my favorite recent reads, Quitter, “…not doing anything is its own decision, and the odds of failure are horrible.”  But people get so caught up in the fear of making a choice that they make no choice at all, or almost as bad, they default back to “I’ve always done it that way” thinking when something has caused that approach to stop working.  So what’s the answer? [Read more…]

Recently there was a music video that took the parody world by storm – “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” This is the type of song I would never sing…unless I was being silly and dancing around the house like a freak of nature.  Not that I would ever do such a thing. *Cough* The song is really rather vulgar. And I would NOT recommend watching the video…unless you think Speedos are sexy. Pardon me while I go gag. [Read more…]

Some of you might have missed my Facebook post on Wednesday – but Barry and I closed on a house! Below, we’ve given you a video tour but I’ll give you some details up here in case video isn’t your thang. We wanted to show you inside…and then again when we finish (which will likely be over a year), we’ll do an “after” video.

We were able to finally purchase a house – a foreclosure from Wells Fargo bank. The house was a reverse mortgage and ownership had been granted back to the bank after the man passed away. The house has been vacant for two years as the bank went through all the legal processes.

When we first saw this house, we loved it. The neighborhood is great – very well established, quiet, close to the interstate, but still in the country…and everyone knows EVERYONE on the street. The bank was asking $115,000 which was out of our budget. Still, we went to see it.

Customer Service is often considered an oxymoron. Here’s the deal. Things aren’t always going to go exactly as you had in mind. But the difference in making it a minor inconvenience, a major catastrophe, or a great example of how a company (or person) wowed you is what “customer service” really can be. Let’s take a look at a situation and talk about how to get the best outcome possible when things don’t go as planned.

The Situation and Steps I Took

I’ll use the example fresh in my mind of a recent hotel stay.  I travel fairly regularly, and there is one hotel that I stay at so often that I know almost all the staff by name and they have assigned me “my room” I’ve been there so much.  On my last trip there, I had a problem.  I was traveling on a flight that landed a bit after 10pm.  By the time I got my luggage, picked up the rental car, bought some drinks/snacks at a grocery store for my stay and got to the hotel, it was about midnight.  I went to the check-in desk and met someone I didn’t recognize.  She told me my room had been given to someone else because I didn’t check in early enough and because the hotel was oversold.  Mind you, I stay at this hotel constantly, had the room reserved with a debit card and had called three times (total) to book/confirm prior to my trip.  This should not have happened.  There was a convention in town and the best they said they could offer was to place me in a room completely on the other side of the city.  Not good enough.  So in addition to what Stacy and Leigh Ann have already shared, here’s my take on how you can get the most out of your customer service issues: