My Simple Guide To Budgeting For One, Part 2

In Part 1 of My Simple Guide To Budgeting For One, I shared a little bit about my personal finance journey, including how I set goals and how I choose the best resources to manage my money. One of the biggest takeaways: Set reasonable, tangible, exciting, specific, and intentional goals. Tracking In 2014, my budget was...

Work Hard, Save Hard

I’m more than halfway through the busiest month of my year. I plan academic summer programs all year long and all four of them start in July. Most days lately, I wake up as early as I can (it averages at around 6:00a) and get a lot of work done in the morning. I’ve been...

My Simple Guide To Budgeting For One, Part 1

Over the summer of 2014, I stopped living paycheck to paycheck. It sounds like I won the lottery or something. Rather, I won the job lottery. Well, I worked hard through college and graduate school, applied for a well-paying summer job, and got it. I didn't have any previous connections to the organization that hired...

I’ve Got 99 Problems, But Takeout Ain’t One

Big news: I'm on Day 104 of my No Takeout Challenge! Subtract my five "slip-up's" and you have 99 days of my life without takeout! You also have a clever title for this blog post that almost works, so I decided to go ahead and use it. The creative juices aren't always flowing, my friends....

Hi, My Name Is Jane & I Used To Eat Takeout

What started as a fun experiment has turned into an unexpected lifestyle change. And before your bullshit radar goes off, let me just say that I have never experienced this much success with a personal challenge, budget-related or otherwise. For some reason this one just worked! I stopped eating takeout and delivery food on January...

10 Ways To Be Healthier Without Extra Effort

I'm on Day 53 of my personal challenge to completely eliminate takeout and delivery food. I can honestly say that this is the easiest and most natural challenge I've ever engaged in. When I made the decision, I thought it would be impossible considering how often I ate my meals from a to-go box. But...

Here’s What I Learned When I Added Up My Food Costs For 3 Months

Ignorance is bliss. And I've been blissfully and completely ignorant to how much money I spend on food. I track my spending to the penny, so I've always had the information available. I just didn't take the time to add up monthly grocery and dining out expenses. I recently (reluctantly) did the math and what...

6 Ways To Recreate Your Fave Restaurant Meals

With all the amazing restaurants I've been fortunate to dine at, I have a long list of meals that have blown me away. I don't have a physical list, but if someone were to ask me to tell them the best thing I ever ate, I would be able to provide a categorized rundown of all the...

4 Budget-Friendly Habits I’m Testing Out This Month

I've heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit. If I'm understanding that concept properly, that also means it takes 21 days to replace some other habit. Is that still true if I'm breaking habits that I've been maintaining for 28 years? Some of my eating habits are so long-standing and deeply ingrained...

Free Food For A Week!

During the work week, I typically eat healthy breakfasts and lunches. Most of my dinners are leftovers from whatever I've prepared for lunches. Usually that includes crock pot chili made of whatever canned/fresh ingredients I can find. I also make different cold salads, soup (miso is my go-to), and rice dishes. I used to do...