My Money Story – Childhood

True Confessions
I used to be more frugal than I am now. I sometimes wish I could be as frugal as my grandma was or at least as frugal as we used to be when we were living at poverty level. During those years, I remember reading books for tips on frugality, only to find I was already more frugal than the book recommendations! For example, one book recommended renting movies instead of buying them or going to the theater. Well, we… Read the rest

Tracking Electricity Usage

electricity
It's time to tackle our electricity bill. Our monthly electricity bill is rather high – $334 per month year round. It's to be expected during the summer months, when the temperatures are searingly hot and air conditioning makes life bearable – as long as you stay indoors. However, we have never used our heater, so one would hope the cost would go down during the so-called “winter months” here in the desert of Arizona. When I was a stay at… Read the rest

Brainstorming: Getting the Family on Board the S.S. Budget

Just Stuff
Mr. Debtbeater recently blogged about an “exciting month” wherein his debt reduction plan didn't go quite as he'd planned. I find myself in the same boat sometimes, so I was thinking this morning how I might go about encouraging more participation. Here are some thoughts I came up with: Ask my other half to post. It seems like the PF blogs I read (and I don't read all that many) are one person or if married, just the one spouse.… Read the rest