I applied to law school. I got in and even received scholarships to a couple of schools, but I decided not go to this year. I spent about $545 on the law school application process (LSAT, CAS, app. fees) and also got a LSAT prep book for about $43 for a total of $588. I … Read more
I’ve now given 51 rides as an Uber driver and about 9 as a Lyft driver. Let’s do an analysis on my Uber earnings to see what you could expect to earn as a driver in the DC metro area (specifically Fairfax, VA, a suburb of DC). Total earnings: $559.04 Earnings from driving: $409.04 Total hours online: 21.6 … Read more
Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of personal finance questions from 20-somethings, so I decided to come up with a list of 10 personal finance tips. Here they are: 1. Get out of debt and stay out. If you’re in your 20s, chances are you have at least one of these forms of debt: car payments, student … Read more
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read this disclosure for more info. I created this page as one of my pages on the menu at the top of my blog, but I figured I might as well make this a blog post too. Enjoy! SAVING MONEY Cash Back for Online Shopping – Ebates – Ebates is one of … Read more
Mrs. Frugalee and I have had “budget meetings” before, but I consider today our first REAL budget meeting. We both sat down to look at how much we actually spent in February (we tracked spending using the Every Dollar app/website) and examined each category together. I call this our first REAL budget meeting because … Read more
We started tracking our spending this month on the Every Dollar app/website. I created a trial budget for February 2016 to compare how much I think we spend in each category vs. how much we actually spend. I was pretty accurate on most of the categories since most of our spending is relatively fixed every month. However, … Read more
I made a small adjustment to my paycheck today and decided to max out my TSP (Thrift Savings Plan, basically the 401(k) for federal employees). The contribution limit is $18,000 in 2016 for those 49 and under. Those 50 and older can put away an additional $6,000. I get paid biweekly (26 times a year), … Read more
(Scroll down to the bottom to see Mortgage Goal Progress) UPDATE: We ended up selling this condo on April 19, 2019. You can read about it in the April 2019 Update here. I set a goal to pay off the mortgage by 2020. Now it’s time to think about what it’s really going to take, and … Read more
For the past three nights, after my son went down to sleep, I went out for a few hours to drive for Uber. Before I started, I figured I would quit after one day after seeing what’s it’s like, but it’s been really fun! Last night, I drove into D.C. for the first time as … Read more
“Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants.” – Epictetus Lately, I’ve been exploring and practicing minimalism, and I realized how much it goes hand in hand with improving personal finances. What is minimalism? Here’s how The Minimalists define it: Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of … Read more