We live in one of the most expensive cities in the United States. Home prices continue to increase faster than most other major cities, but the high expenses don’t stop there. Utilities, transportation, food, healthcare, and taxes all on average are higher in this beautiful city. This post contains 5 ways to live debt free in a high cost of living city.
Despite those odds stacked against our wallet, there are a lot of opportunities to save money and grow our side incomes while living in a high cost of living area.
The other day on Instagram I requested all our Pearls to ask this frugal living mama anything. You ladies came up with some really fun questions!
Some of the questions are related to family finances and some are random questions related to our everyday life. At first I thought I might leave those ones out, but on second thought left them in.
On some level, every decision we make can boil back down to our core values of frugal living. From the kind of hair products I choose to use to the worries of my husbands job. They all play a role in the decisions we make with our finances.
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How do you manage a family budget when life gets busy? It feels like you don’t have the time to sit down and write out where you want your money go. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Man O man! It has taken some major dedication for hubby and I to set aside the time for our family budget these past few months.
We have been busy with birthday month (3 out of the five of us have birthdays within weeks of each other) and preparing for doors to open to my online course 30 Day Family Finance Rescue.
And I know you know all about the random crazy that comes with a growing family! The irregular appointments, meetings, and activities that pop up and seem to throw your entire weeks (and subsequently month’s) schedule totally out of whack!
I am here to tell you that if you can relate to anything I just said, then you are too busy to NOT budget. When life gets crazy, it is all the more important to do regular budget dates!
In this month’s family budget update I am going to not only walk you through the exact numbers that have gone in and out of our bank account, but I will also share with you what we have done to balance our family finances while living through several crazy busy weeks!
Debt is such a burden! Borrowing money from one person to pay another is a horribly stressful way to live your life. Aren’t you sick of it yet? How to start paying off debt can feel like an overwhelming thought.
The constant weight of the worry “what if” that you carry around on a daily basis. Think of the full breath of fresh air you can inhale once you get that off your back!
But where do you begin. What is step one and where do you go from there? That is exactly what we are going to be chatting about today.
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Man it’s been a minute since we share our family budget update and holy cow a lot has happened since I last took you into our bank account! I have a lot to share with you this month!
I also really want to know what information I can share that would be most helpful for you and your family. So stick around and we can chat!
With all the extra holiday spending and budgeting behind us, it’s exciting to look to the New Year with new financial goals! Hubby and I in the process of sigging down with our Financial Unity Workbook and and planning our 2019 goals around what we currently value most for our family finances.
Starting a family budget doesn’t have to be restrictive! Look at it in a way that you are actually telling your money what to do rather than wondering where it went. Then not having enough to pay the bills… Stressful! Make sure to continuously check out my Instagram Stories for helpful budgeting tips!
It’s time for another Family Budget update! In these updates is where I share the nitty gritty details of our real life family finances. All the details of what has happened in our bank account over the last few weeks.
I have been doing these budget update videos for over TWO YEARS! It’s crazy to see how far we have come!
When we started we were in over $20,000 in debt and living off one income. We figured out how to start and maintain a budget that was based off our goals. This way KEY in keeping motivated to keep going!
If you don’t know where you want your money to take you, then you most definitely will end up walking in circles. Or in other words, living that paycheck-to-paycheck life. The life that we are all trying to escape!
Intentional goal based family budgeting is a major topic that I cover in depth in my online course, 30 Day Family Finance Rescue! I want you to get excited every time you work on your budget. You’re going to get pumped because you know that your budget is helping you reach your goals!
Enrollment is currently not open yet, Coming January 2019, but you can sign up for my free email newsletter to be the first to find out more info when it’s ready for ya! I’ll leave a link for in the description box.
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A lot of money has been moved around in our August family budget! We spent almost $8,000 from our August family budget. The crazy thing is that it doesn’t stress me out at all!
Starting a family budget doesn’t have to be restrictive! Look at it in a way that you are actually telling your money what to do rather than wondering where it went. Then not having enough to pay the bills… Stressful! 
There are a few things that will be huge game changers when it comes to sticking to your budget once and for all! The very most important is to start using a cash envelope system!
You remember that stuff right? Cash. It’s that stuff you used to use as currency in exchange for goods or services.
Using cash instead of swiping your debit or credit card every time you step into a store is statistically proven to help you spend less money! I’m guessing that might be a problem for ya.
But you don’t want to just go pull a random amount of cash out of your bank account and head straight to the store with no plan. That could result in financial disaster for you!
