Yesterday I went grocery shopping with Mr. Money. I am really, really bad about cooking and making meal plans so it’s hard for me to figure out what I need to buy when I go grocery shopping. Of course, I go shop with a list so I don’t go crazy purchasing a ton of items we don’t need. I know I need to work on meal planning but that’s another issue, so I won’t go there today. photo credit: RLHyde Mr. Money was in charge of the grocery list, and when he noticed that I had “garlic (in a jar)” on the list, he questioned me on why I would want to purchase a jar of chopped garlic when I could easily buy the fresh garlic cloves and chop them myself. I completely understand that not only is it cheaper to buy the fresh garlic and chop it myself, but it’s healthier too because it’s not processed. Why would I buy a jar of garlic? There are a couple reasons. First of all, the last time we bought fresh garlic, [...]

I don’t have texting on my cell phone. Neither does Mr. Money. It’s not something that we want to spend money on. I have come up with a solution to my problem.  I learned how to text from a computer to phone.  Of course, this only works when I have access to my email, but it saves me time and money and that makes me happy. How to Text from Email First off, you need to figure out which carrier the text recipient uses.  All wireless carriers use different addresses.  The cell phone companies basically assign an email address to each user’s account using their cell phone number.  As long as you know someone’s cell phone carrier and their phone number, you can text from email. How to text Sprint from Email Sprint’s text message email address is [phonenumber]@messaging.sprintpcs.com How to text Verizon from Email Verizon’s text message email address is [phonenumber]@vtext.com.  With Verizon, users can customize their text email address so they could be bob.smith@vtext.com if they so desire. How to text AT &T from Email AT&T’s text email [...]

Sometimes I sit and think about how much money I’m going to need for the future, and it freaks me out. I think about how much it’s going to cost to have kids, replace one of our vehicles, and even how much money we’ll need for retirement. I feel like I’ll never be able to save enough money!  I can save and save and save, but who knows how much is enough?  What if I don’t plan for ___?  I realized that I can’t prepare for everything, so I really need to calm down and think of constructive ways to ensure we are as financially fit as we can be. photo credit: robmercier 6 Month Emergency Fund I think it’s so important to have some type of emergency fund, even if it’s $100.  That’s still better than nothing.  I’d like to have a years’ worth of expenses saved up, in the event that we decided that we are actually going to move or one of us loses our job. Be able to live on less I think this is one [...]