We talk about how to look at expenses in order to figure out where your money is going. Show Notes The first step in a budget is to discover where you are spending your money. Most people already know what the make, but expenses can be difficult to track down. Don’t enter a budget with the mindset of “cutting back…
Podcast
Episode 24: Budget by Numbers
We take a look at traditional budgeting recommendations and see how they hold up to our budget. Show Notes 50/30/20 50% of income on essentials 30% of income on wants 20% of income on savings How this works for us: 39% of income on essentials 13% of income on wants 47% of income on savings Housing 30% of gross (before…
Podcast
Episode 23: Tax Season and the Stock Market
Tax returns and the stock market. Time to get fun! Show Notes We already have our tax returns back. A total of ~$6,600. Here’s the breakdown: State: $1,750 Federal: $4,850 (~$4,900 is a federal credit from our solar panels from last year) Breaking even on your taxes is the goal. A refund means that you gave the government an interest…
Podcast
Episode 22: How to Budget for Inconsistent Income
We answer listener questions on budgeting for an inconsistent income and what to do with a large inheritance. Show Notes Our first question comes from listener Ashley My husband and I got married last year and just recently started getting more involved in our finances as a married couple (setting our goals, deciding where our money should go etc.) I am…
Podcast
Episode 21: Your Budget Questions Answered
In this episode, we answer a couple of listener questions on how we setup and use our budget. Show Notes Our first listener email comes from Virginia. She asks, One question I have is how many bank accounts (checking or savings) do you need to have? You need to have a savings account and a checking account. The checking account…
Podcast
Episode 20: New Year, New Job, New Budget
With a new year upon us, Danielle has a new job and a new salary. In this episode we discuss our process for updating our budget to reflect our new income. Show Notes Increase of about $750 a month New job has a 2% 401K match Old job had a 6% 401K match The Plan Open a Roth IRA and…
Podcast
Episode 19: A frank spending discussion and holidays
This week we talk about how we agree on large spending decisions and touch on holiday spending. Show Notes iPad Pro Danielle’s DeviantArt page Pinterest
Budgeting
Episode 18: How We Use Credit Cards
A discussion on how we use credit cards and how we budget with them. Show Notes Email from listener: My husband and I are working to get on a new budget as our last budget was not working. We recently paid off credit card debt from the help of family as it was sinking us. While our income was good,…
Podcast
Episode 17: Question for When You Are Getting Started
Nate and Danielle answer questions from listener Erin about her upcoming marriage and what it means for student loan debt, renting vs. buying, budgeting, and more Show Notes First question, if I have debt from school and he (my future husband) doesn’t should we combine accounts? We both believe in the “whats mine is yours” marriage. We believe that you…
Podcast
Episode 16: Setting Budget Categories
In this episode we answer a question from a listener about budget categories. We offer our suggestions on how we would treat the situation if we were in it. Show Notes Excerpt from listener email: We’ve been tracking our expenditures and budgeting for about 6 months now, so we’ve been able to create categories for most fixed and variable expenses.…