Kitty & Kevin

Christmas is just around the corner, and to celebrate we are sharing a few great gift ideas for people who are trying to pay off debt! Why do these people have a special category? Well, if you have a friend or family member who is really trying to pay down their debt (whether its student loans, credit card, or a mortgage) they often have chosen to go without certain frivolous things...and the holidays can be a great way to gift them something extra special!

Memberships. "Free fun" is great when you are paying off debt. This is my all-time favorite gift idea for someone on a budget. I would say try to stay away from a one-time use items (see below where I discuss this category). Rather, think of a membership that the person (or couple) can use again and again when their budget is tight, and it costs nothing for them to go now that you've already purchased it. A few of our favorites that most towns have: Zoo, Children's Museum, Botanical Gardens Memberships. Movie Pass …

Each month we capture Lorelai with photos in themed outfits...this month was a Pocahontas theme! Our little girl is growing up so fast, but we have absolutely loved watching her grow! 

There are a number of bloggers who share their experience with a No-Spend month...so I can't attribute it to one in particular, but I love the idea that it can help give you that extra push you've been needing to accomplish your financial goals. The general concept....you go an entire month (or if you're doing a week or day or whatever is feasible for you) without spending money.

We've actually never done a No-Spend month before. One year before Kevin and I were married I challenged myself not to purchase any clothing for an entire year...and that was actually a pretty cool challenge. We decided on January as our no-spend month because December was just not going to be a reality with the holidays. I didn't want us to set ourselves up for failure.

What does a No-Spend month look like? It's just that, you don't spend any money apart from the very essentials. The essentials includes your mortgage (or rent), utilities, basic bills (medical etc.) and any other d…

I continue to be impressed with First National Bank and their free checking. In 2017, do you want to know how many times I've been to an actual bank? Twice. Once it was to deposit a large check due to security reasons could not be deposited online. And the second time was to ask for a cashiers check for the purchase of our new home last month. I was taken aback when I arrived and found out that when you bank with First National Bank you receive free cashier's checks! Last year when we purchased our home and we were banking elsewhere, I was charged a fee for this request. Add that to the "win" column for why I love banking with First National Bank.

Let me just say I probably get around 200 checks a year from my photography clients. That would mean every week I would be taking a 10 minute drive to the bank or ATM, 5 minutes at the bank, and 10 minutes back for a total of a wasted 25 minutes a week depositing those checks if it weren't for the amazing check depositin…

If you've been following us, you may have an inkling as to our next financial challenge. We paid off our student loans, had a glorious 16 months or so of being debt-free, then bought our first house (for much less than we could afford...see posts here on that topic). After about 15 months in that house we saved up for a new down payment, we sold our home for a bit of a profit then bought a house that we plan to live in for a long long time. Yes, this house was more expensive than our last and we did not successfully pay off our mortgage on our last before selling it (our original goal). That is the thing about financial goals, it is a great thing to set them and stick to them...but sometimes life changes and your goals have to as well.

Although we could have paid off our mortgage on our last home before selling it (thanks to saving, working multiple jobs, not buying unneeded baby items and buying a house for significantly less than the bank said we could afford). We realized quickl…

Dear Lorelai,

YOU HAVE A TOOTH! It is an itty bitty little white speck on your bottom gums, but you have one! We've been waiting for this for a while now, and are so excited for you. Its a little more exciting for us because some genetics with your dad's family indicated you may be missing teeth. Don't get me wrong, you still could be missing a lot of teeth and that would be just fine...but I'll take the one tooth you have any day!




You scale the stairs like its your job, and we can see so many things "click" with you. Like learning to waive, or knowing when dad says "see ya later" you turn around and waive to him. You also have also learned to accomplish things more than before, such as opening and shutting the play door that we recently got you, or how you now MUST turn on the music to your toys while playing (you go back, hit the button for music, play until it stops then return to hit the button so the music keeps playing while you play). You'…

We were so excited in 2015 when we made the very last payment on our $100,000 of student loan debt. We were completely debt free after 2 years of marriage. We had done something extremely difficult, and accomplished it together as newlywed couple. Even better, we loved that we had gotten our marriage off to a great start.

Then in 2016 we bought our first home. We planned on it being a "5 year home" but let's be honest...nothing goes as planned. We purchased our home prior to Lorelai's arrival, and quickly learned the house was not what we wanted in a family home. We stumbled across a home one day on Zillow this fall that we fell in love with. Later that week, we were under contract to buy a home. Thankfully we had done some beneficial updates to our house (see our posts here) and we flipped it easily. However there was a short week where we held two mortgages at once. My stress level was through the roof, so I advise never doing that...ever...ever...ever unless you ar…