Kitty & Kevin

Are you getting a tax refund? Perhaps you recently received your bonus at work? Or with the new tax laws you may notice that your paycheck is a little bit higher than it was before?

The absolute best thing you can do for yourself is tax any one of those scenarios and put that "extra" money towards your debt.

We had a little bit of each of these happen to us during the month of March. We received a tax refund, bonus and are noticing the slight upturn in take-home pay as a result of the new tax laws.

First, if you don't have an emergency fund or haven't fully funded your current fund. I challenge you to start one this month. Take the money we talk about below, and put it into a new or existing emergency fund. It should be a separate checking account, because you want to keep it apart from your normal spending and only used in emergencies.

Set a goal for that fund. Once you hit that goal, let's say $1,000...anything over that amount that is deposited in there each m…

Staying in a hotel room with an infant can be a challenge, but we've learned staying with a toddler can bring on an entirely new set of challenges! Here are a few tips to make your stay more enjoyable.

Amenities. Consider booking a hotel with a fridge, for storage of some toddler basics like milk, yogurt and some basic perishables that they enjoy eating. If you can book a room within your budget with a pool or extra bathroom/suite to give the little one a little space of their own, I highly suggest it. However, that isn't something we usually book (we rough it). If your toddler still sleeps in a crib call ahead to see if they have cribs to use on your stay.

Stop by the Grocery Store first thing. Whether you have a fridge or not, a quick trip to the store can help diffuse some of the toddler chaos. Buy whatever necessities you need for food: Milk, yogurt, fruit, we find that tortillas and cheese make for easy hotel meals (quesadillas) if you have a microwave and any other snack f…

We are excited to have reached our goal of obtaining Southwest Companion pass for the rest of this year and 2019. What does this mean for us?

It means that every time I fly on Southwest, Kevin will get to fly free with me (and Lorelai until she is 2). So for the next 9 months we will be getting a Buy One Get 2 Free on Southwest. Granted, we were already flying free with Lorelai (as she is under 2) but the fact that Kevin will also get to fly free with me is amazing. And until Dec 31, 2019 Kevin will still be flying free with me.


So how do you get Companion Pass? You can either take 200 flights in a calendar year (who does that?!) or get 110,000 Southwest points. Since 99% of you aren't going to be taking 100 flights, I'm focusing on how to get those coveted 110,000 points.

The Southwest credit card. The Southwest credit card usually offers a 50,000 point signup bonus, however, a few times a year they bump it up to 60,000 or more. Wait until the signup bonus is at least 60,000 be…

Is there any kid out there that loves veggies? As Lorelai grows, we can pinpoint exactly what traits came from her mother vs. her father:

Taste in Foods: Mother. She only eats carbs or things that are sweet. Sleep Habits: Father. She easily sleeps 12-13....sometimes 14 hours a night in addition to her 2-3 hour nap.  Dance Moves: Mother. She can't dance and neither can her mother.  Looks: Father. She is the spitting image of her dad.  Stubbornness: Depends on who you ask. I claim she gets it from her Father, while her Father firmly believes it was from me. That probably just shows she had no choice but to be a stubborn child. 
The veggie hating comes from her father, but the need for all foods to be sweet comes from me. As a growing girl, she needs her veggies and we sneak them in daily with a smoothie.


Here is how we make her veggie filled smoothies. I eat them as well regularly...and can honestly say you can't taste the greens! 
Veggie Puree
I've found the easiest way to make s…

We love living in the Omaha area, and are always looking for ways to stay entertained on a budget! Here are a few of our go-to ways for keeping entertained in Omaha while keeping our pocket book in mind.

Watch for free days at the local museums: Durham, Lauritzen Gardens, SAC Air have free days a couple times a year. It is a great excuse for some free fun! Or try Railroad days which is $15 for the family for any of the museums.

Joslyn Art Museum has been free for the permanent exhibits for the last few years. I'm not sure how long they will be doing this, but in the past even when it did cost money, admission was free before 10 a.m on Saturday mornings.

Follow the Omaha-focused blogs on facebook or by email. Here are two of my favorites. Family Fun in Omaha and Oh My! Omaha. They are always in the know about great events, discount days and other fantastic weekly updates on Omaha.

If you buy tickets to shows at the Holland, Orpheum or any others through ticketomaha.com, pop by the b…

We made it a point to travel some (no where near as much as we expected, or traveled before becoming parents) with Lorelai last year as an infant....and now we are preparing for our Spring travel plans with a true "toddler". This has brought on a new set of challenges. We have our first trip next week with our 14 (almost 15) month old toddler. Here are a few ways we are preparing for our upcoming flight/trip.


The Convertible Carseat. First, we swore by the carseat caddy during the first year. Amazing, loved it....best thing we had for traveling with an infant. Here is why, the caddy is designed for a lightweight stroller for the infant carseat. It doesn't function as a stroller without the carseat though. So now that Lorelai is out of the infant carseat, we needed to bring her big, hefty, impractical car seat with us. That meant checking the carseat with our luggage and lugging it around with us. We read reviews, blog posts and googled a lot. Here is what we decided. We p…

February was our FIRST ever budget....and it is only fitting that February celebrates the conclusion of our 5th year as a married couple.

We blew the budget.

Actually, we did okay on the overall spending, but we were not as good at the categories and guessing each one.

We did learn that the beauty of the electronic budget, is you can adjust as needed as you blow on category you take from another. We used "Ever Dollar' as a way to do a free online budget, which synced with our homes.

Like how I forgot I would have a hair appointment, we bought 2 sets of show tickets...spent more on groceries than we realized...and went out to eat more than expected.

But we adjusted.

Like the $40-$45 of clothing budget I allotted for each person in our family. Kevin chose to go out to eat more with Lorelai (coffee shops mostly...one of their favorite things to do together) so that took up more of his clothing budget. I chose to buy a few more home things, which I took from my clothing budget.

O…