by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 17, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
My Hubby got the call we’ve been anticipating for months late last week. After that, our weekend became a whirlwind of activity as I tried to get all the kids ready to sleepover at their grandparents’ house. They’d leave for school from there, so that added another layer of preparation to my work.
Meanwhile, Hubby and I drove two states away to attend a funeral. We packed a lot of emotions into that overnight trip.
We also tried to keep the trip on the frugal side.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 15, 2017 | Debt
When you need to know how to get out of debt fast, you’ll need to do some crazy things! Here’s some ideas to get you started.
Being in debt is the worst! Back when we began our journey to get out of credit card debt, I couldn’t have imagined what it would look like. We’ve paid off half of our credit card debt now, and we’re knocking out the rest.
These days, we don’t like to spend much unless we decide that something is worth our money. That’s given way to some crazy ideas to get out of debt.
Now the word “crazy” is rather subjective. Some of you will read this list and say, “Nope. Too crazy for me. I’d never do these things.”
Others will read it and say, “Psssh. She didn’t once mention rinsing out generic Ziploc bags and reusing them. This list is dumb.”
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 13, 2017 | Large Family Life
My sophomore year, I walked into my English class, plopped my books on a desk, and took a seat. I was feeling more confident than I had as a scared freshman, so my first day of school was already off to a better start.
I was wearing my “no strike” t-shirt to display my annoyance at the Major League Baseball strike happening at the time. When I looked over, I noticed the guy sitting next to me wearing a similar shirt. Obviously, I had to strike up a conversation.
I thought he was a cool guy. Clearly he had good taste if he loved the best sport ever created as much as I did. He liked the fact that I could quote baseball stats like any guy in the class.
Little did I know, that friendship would later develop into a relationship. That would eventually lead to a marriage and five kids. And it began our big family story.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 10, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
Several mornings ago, I pried my eyes open and discovered that a hard storm was hitting our home. I’d been up all night watching the radar, and nothing had come our way. Until now.
I walked out to our dining room and looked out the window. I couldn’t see anything. We were being hit hard by straight line winds.
I casually told my son that maybe we should head to the basement. I quickly woke the other kids and shuffled them downstairs. By the time we got to the bottom of the steps, the winds had died down.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 8, 2017 | Goals
Guys. I am so excited about this post that I couldn’t wait to get it written!! February was very good to us and we made BIG strides on our debt repayment.
When I juggled our various bank accounts and looked at what we were going to be able to do, I couldn’t wait to call the Hubby and share my excitement with him. It feels like we’ve had a boxing match with one particular credit card for over a year now. It’s tiring! I’m ready to win this battle.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 7, 2017 | Saving Money
Whether it’s cold and rainy outside or you’re just tired of listening to everyone complain, a family game night is the perfect cure for boredom. Even if you choose a new game to add to your collection, the cost of playing a game is far more affordable than taking everyone out to buy entertainment.
To make it easier, I pulled together a list of our family’s favorite games. So be sure to pop over to A Budget Friendly Life and read all about it today!
I’d love to know your favorite board game!
by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 6, 2017 | Large Family Life
As a Mom of 5 kids, I know how to pinch a penny. We have a smaller home (with just one bathroom), which in some ways is really nice. Less to clean and keep up with. And best of all, we don’t find ourselves house poor. (Who wants to send all their hard earned money to the mortgage company?)
All of that might be true, but you can bet that I still dream about what it would be like to have a spacious large family home. And Mama, you sometimes dream about those things, too!
Today let’s explore what some large family homes and put some new ideas into our dream files. And who knows? Some of these pictures might even inspire ideas that you can use today.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 3, 2017 | Ways We Saved This Week
I love to read money saving tips. Don’t you? But I have to tell you, I sometimes get frustrated when the tips are all about how someone saved x amount of dollars when they bought something new.
I do think those tips can be really helpful. (I’ve got a few tips like this in this very post!) But the very best money saving tips are those that help you avoid spending in the first place.
Do you agree? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
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by Jamie Jeffers | Mar 1, 2017 | Saving Money
If the last 52 week money challenge you tried was too rigid to follow, you’ll love this bingo style money saving chart. It makes saving $1000 easy!
The 52 week money challenge is a popular way to save.
But most of those money saving charts you’ll see are pretty rigid. They don’t allow for bad days.
And who doesn’t have bad days???
Well don’t worry. There’s a better way.
Our family spent more than two years paying off debt.
But one of the biggest things we learned along the way was that if you don’t keep an emergency fund on hand (even if you can only come up with $1,000 to put into it), you’re going to miss out on the most important part of the experience.
That’s because the time to learn to use your own cash instead of credit cards is actually while you’re still paying off debt!
(Or better yet, before you ever accumulate any debt!!)
That doesn’t mean that saving money has to feel like a chore. Or even worse, saving money shouldn’t feel like an impossible task!
Use this fun chart to make saving more realistic for you.
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by Jamie Jeffers | Feb 27, 2017 | Large Family Life
Ever wondered what the large family definition is? Get stats on American families these days and how many kids you need to reach large family status.
What’s the magic number of kids a family needs to meet the large family definition?
Is it when people make comments about you having your hands full? (Or remarks too rude to put into print?)
Or when your grocery bill doubles? Maybe it’s the point where you have to buy a bigger car?
Could it be when networks contact you with a pitch for a reality tv show?
If you have big family goals, you might wonder what makes a family “big”.
There’s no definitive answer to what number of children makes a family reach “large family status”. But that doesn’t stop people from making an educated guess.
Let’s look at some stats, some facts, and some real world experiences of large families.
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I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
