Eating Cheap vs. Eating Healthy

At my house, we are by no means super-health food addicts. We don’t have the most wonderful diet, and I think once I have more disposable income (i.e., I’m not paying 95% of my income to pay down my mortgage by making 5 times the monthly …

Upcoming Wealth, Money & Life Carnival

Stay tuned for the upcoming Carnival of Wealth, Money, and Life to be hosted on How I Save Money. The members of the Wealth, Money and Life Network are choosing transportation as the theme of the month for June.

A New Budget Item

It has been a busy week which prevented me from posting this week. After comparing quotes and discussing options, I signed a contract for a lease on a new car today which I will detail more about next week. I thought I would take a few minutes to poin…

Money Market Rates - How Low Can You Go?

Back in March I wrote “MMA Rates are Falling, What are You Going to Do?” Then my best money market earner was AmTrust Direct at what I described as a “measly 3.75%”. In less than three months, AmTrust Direct is now at 2.75% and is no longer my best earner. That honor now goes to ING at 3.00%. This somewhat surprised me since ING has traditionally been my lowest account.

When I last discussed money market rates, I begun to accelerated the pace of moving funds from my money market account (MMA)…

And the winner is….

I chose sfordinarygirl as the winner of the book, A Million Bucks by 30. Please send me an e-mail with your mailing address.

sfordinarygirl said…
My frugal habit is cooking from scratch. I’ve baked my own breads, made my own jam and countless other foods you can buy prepared but I make an effort to plan ahead and make.

Since my food budget is starting to run wild, sfordinarygirl’s advice really hit home. My grandmother used to make strawberry jam in the summer and freeze enough for the…

May Spending Report

Budget/Actually Spent

Rent $670/$670
Utilities $15/$13.94
Laundry $10/$10

Car Payment $225/$225
Insurance $10/$8.80
Gas $125/$131.42 I have increased my gas spending to $150 for June.

Health Care $85/$113 I will be reimbursed for the overage through my FSA.
Gym $30/$30

Food $200/$237.28 I’m over on my food budget again! I spent $149.03 on groceries and $88.25 eating out.

Fun $100/$96.22 This also includes the donation to Obama’s campaign, shipping supplies and postage for half.com…

Tracking My Finances In May: Day 29

Welcome to How I Save Money and tracking of income and expenses for the month.

Income for the month to date: $907.67
Expenses for the month to date: $2703.78
Net effect: -$1796.11
I received $101.47 income from the ads that run on this blog so that m…

Weekly Carnival and Article Review - May 30, 2008

Each Friday I highlight the Carnivals I participated in over the past week, along with any notable articles that I came across. For those readers not familiar with carnivals, it’s where personal finance bloggers submit their best articles of the week with one blog serving as the host. The entries are separated into various categories such as Investing, Credit, Debt, Budgeting, Frugality, Wealth Building, Money Management, Financial Planning, Insurance, Taxes, The Economy, Real Estate, et….

Oil Sticker Shock

DH and I had a wonderful trip to the grocery store the other day, and I had many things on my list. Imagine my surprise, when I had a look at the oil - OLIVE OIL! It was $9.12 for a quart and something. I thought I was going to throw up, especial…

Going back to school….

As I’ve mentioned a few (hundred) times, I will be moving to attend graduate school in the fall. While I did receive a position that will cover my tuition and provide a small stipend, my monthly income will be about $,1000 after taxes. My income will be decreased by more than 50%….How will I survive?!

I need to start looking for an apartment, but I wasn’t sure how much I should spend. I created a rough estimate of my expenses to figure out how much will be left over for rent.

Food …