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20 Life Hacks to be More Frugal Today
We could all stand to save a little money, right? Sometimes we feel like our spending is out of control and we just need a simple way to rein it back in. Frugality doesn’t mean living with nothing – it simply means that you are wisely using what you have readily available to you and consuming less. In other words – simple living. D and I started living more simply about a year ago (which you can read more about in another one of my posts) and haven’t looked back since. Our life was made much easier when we weren’t shopping or eating out all the time. We just consumed…
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Preparing for Baby: How We Put Together Our Nursery for Less than $500
Preparing for your bun in the oven sounds very expensive and daunting. It gets even more expensive when friends and family tell you that they swear by this really random, not so cost effective item. What if there was a way you could put together your entire nursery for $500 or less? When we found out that we were pregnant for the second time (and this time it had stuck), we were thrilled beyond measure! and then stressed into infinity. How were we going to pay for this? What about hospital bills? Would I keep working? What about daycare? And DIAPERS!? So many diapers! That’s probably every pregnant lady’s thought stream…
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DIY Dish Detergent Tabs
I am finally going to share with you my number one, all time favorite cleaning hack and DIY: Dish Detergent Tabs! This DIY has saved us the most money every month compared to my DIY Swiffer Duster and my “all natural” surface cleaner (although it is super cheap, I just wasn’t convinced that it was actually cleaning anything). This post contains affiliate links. By clicking on a link and purchasing a product, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you! It’s how I keep Hello Brownlow running. 2017 began our journey into using, buying, and living on less. Part of it is an environmental issue for me. The…
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Our $50 July Grocery Budget Challenge – Results!
$50 grocery budget? Sounds crazy. We did it! It was rough at times, but it was worth it.
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The July $50 Grocery Challenge – Half Way Done!
We are officially half way through our $50 grocery budget Challenge for the month of July. I must say that it has really opened our eyes to many things including how much food we waste on a regular basis and how much time we use preparing food. Our meal plan deviated slightly for the best reason: my grandparents’ garden was overflowing!! They graciously sent us home with acorn, butternut, yellow, and zucchini squashes, okra, green beans to feed an army, garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes and some peppers. We are beyond blessed to have green thumbed family that is willing to share. Every thing we knew we wouldn’t eat before it spoiled…
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The July $50 Grocery Challenge
The July $50 Grocery Challenge I am all for saving money. It’s kinda our thing. But only spending $50 on a month’s worth of groceries when we normally spend $200? You’re out of your mind! Or is it actually possible…? July is going to be a rougher month for us financially as our maternity and family leave will finally catch up with us and we’ll be missing a few paychecks. We’ve planned to strip our budget to the bare bones – required bills (mortgage, utilities, phones, internet, etc – $1400), necessities (groceries, gas, pet food, etc – $520), and day care for Little Guy ($1000). This is a no spend…
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5 Tips to have a Successful No Spend Month
How to have a Successful No Spend Month A month of no spending sounds quite daunting, right? No eating out, no shopping, no going to the movies, no wine… It can be hard to picture a full month without those things. But when you buckle down, whether it be for financial reasons or you just want to simplify how you spend time with your family, it can make for an amazing month. D and I regularly do no spend months. The primary reason was to get our emergency fund fully funded. The second reason was because we were expecting a new baby in May of this year. He ended up…
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4 Steps to Mastering the Cash Envelope System
4 Steps to Mastering the Cash Envelope System My husband, D and I have used the cash envelope system from Dave Ramsey’s methods for about six years now. We can finally say that we have mastered the art of cash budgeting! While we still put somethings on our credit card (fully paid off every month), we successfully use cash for our everyday expenses. I have previously posted on how we significantly slashed our budget after we first got married. The envelope system has played a HUGE part in that. As we are now preparing for baby number one, we have refreshed our focus and have become diligently tracking our expenses.…
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5 Tremendous Ways to Save on Your Professional Wardrobe
Looking professional can be stressful and expensive. here are five tips to help save you money!
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How to Win at Meal Planning
Have you ever wondered into your kitchen in the evening and asked yourself what do I want for dinner? You go about aimlessly opening and closing the pantry and fridge only to order out? I’ve been there too and all too often. When we realized how much we were spending on eating out and quick food, I started to really meal plan. Meal planning and list making is something that I have grown into. Maybe it’s genetic? My mom is a list making, organized freak who either has something on a list or it’s labeled. If it’s not labeled or listed, it just doesn’t exist (or at least that’s…
Save. Live. Be Minimal.
