our life – Page 2 – little money bee

budget recap, frugal, goals, military life, our life, relationship

July Recap + August Goals

August 1, 2017 No Comments

For the first time in a long time, it seems like July passed at a normal pace. In fact, it seemed like it was a slower month than usual. Anyways, financially, it wasn’t a horrible month for us. It wasn’t spectacular. We spent a lot of money trying to make this house a home, and we’re not even close to done yet. We just began a deck renovation and we’ve knocked a hole in our dining room ceiling in an attempt to find a leak… and we still can’t find it. We’re learning a lot of skills as new homeowners […]

budget recap, goals, military life, our life, relationship

May+June Recap / July Goals

July 1, 2017 No Comments

Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I am even writing this right now. I woke up at 5:00 AM and decided to reconcile our budget (which I have been halfheartedly following) because it was bothering me so much. Two hours later… I am ready to talk about the last two months. So, holy sh*t! We bought a house! Sorry for the language, but there is literally no other way to express this. There is so much that comes with buying a house. Watching that down payment and closing cost transaction come right out of our account, and feeling like you […]

budget recap, goals, our life, retirement accounts

April Recap / May Goals

May 1, 2017 No Comments

I think every single month, I am tempted to start with mentioning how fast the month went by. I guess that is just part of life at this point. Anyways, here in the Bee house, we’re saying another goodbye after a quick visit from my mama! Thank goodness for cheap airfare from our hometown to our duty station. Luckily, my parents visit every other month or so, which is amazing. When we lived in Hawaii, Eric didn’t go home for 3 years! (I am rather spoiled, and went home about every 6 months, but I know that is definitely not […]

credit, debt, frugal, military life, our budget, our life

how using cash back cards for expenses gave us $300 in 6 months

April 21, 2017 No Comments

extra money monthly with credit card cash back

Well, it seems obvious, but I know so many people who haven’t learned this yet. I add about $50 a month to our budget by using a cash back credit card for our bills and expenses. I still track my budget as normal as if I had paid with a debit card. When the due date comes, I pay the statement balance in full. (I always pay around the due date, never really early, because I’d prefer to leave the cash in my checking account to earn a few extra days of interest.) By paying the statement balance in full, […]

debt, finance quotes, military life, our budget, our life

spending money you don’t have yet (seriously, don’t do it)

April 19, 2017 No Comments

Before I start this post, I know you’re reading the title and saying, “okay, duh,” but I feel like it is so much more than that, and I need to write about it to have somewhere to go back to as a reinforcement next time the temptation comes. In the military life, there is a lot of income that is reasonably expected without a timeline. There are a lot of things you can expect to get reimbursed for, bonuses you may receive, special pays that will kick in at the next duty station, and allowances that may increase due to […]