Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
Blog Statistics Update August – September 2013

This month I am wavering between wanting to quit EPF and wanting to commit to it even deeper. I am not really going to stop in the near future, but I noticed that I have been commenting much less on other blogs. At this moment posts just don’t seem as interesting to me as they normally do and I think I should be focusing more on improving my own content and searchability. It’s also a … Read entire article »
Filed under: blogging, month in review
How Much Effort Do You Put into Getting Rewards or Deals?

This week, we bribed our friends with Papa John’s pizza to help us move our furniture and some boxes. Just like the last few times we’ve ordered pizza for a group, we searched for a promo code and found one for 50% off our order. Easy-peasy. Also this week, we bought a wedding gift off a registry. As usual, we searched for promo codes for each retailer the couple registered at to see who would give … Read entire article »
Filed under: spending
Aspiring to Make Money from Our Closet Has Wasted Emotional Energy

There’s nothing like moving to show you how much crap you really own and make you want to become a minimalist! Just working in our closet, I filled 2 giant trash bags, 1 suitcase, and 2 carry-ons with clothes that we rarely or never wear. And I’m not even done with that category of clothing. I’m like, ashamed to even be typing that, even though I’ve already confessed to you that we have too much … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices, psychology
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 8September2013
Kyle and I are starting to FREAK OUT about moving! We are way unprepared and we’ve had a busy weekend! We were so distracted by Campout last week that we didn’t do anything like get boxes until Saturday. And now we have to pack up our whole place… *sticks head in sand* Actually, we did something super productive – we got my car running. It turned out that the battery had gone bad so we just bought a new one and it turns on and drives and everything! Aside from moving-related stuff, I attended an interest meeting this week for the small business incubator at my university. I just wanted to see if they had any resources that would be useful to me regarding making this website into a legit business. I … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Making the Non-Frugal Choice: Renting a Washer and Dryer

Confession time: Kyle and I recently made a decision that is antithetical to our usual frugal lifestyle. We are moving next week to another townhouse that has a washer and dryer hookup and the rental company gives us the option to rent a washer and dryer from them or provide our own (or go without, I guess). For an extra $20/month, we decided to rent the washer and dryer. There is, naturally, a backstory – as … Read entire article »
Who Has Seen You Financially Nude?

I’m in the process of preparing a guest post for a large blog (I’m cold-emailing, so you can hope that it will be accepted!) and as a part of the post I state our net worth. While I do spending updates here every month, per Kyle’s request I am a little cagey about how much we save (we stick with percentages) and we’ve never said exactly how much we have in savings. So it’s a … Read entire article »
Filed under: net worth
How We Watch All the TV We Want for Free (Including Sports)

Three years ago, Kyle and I took a look at our budget and our newly formed targeted savings goals and realized that our cable package was holding us back. We had much more pressing applications for the extra $80 per month we were paying to have access to those channels. The issue was that we – especially Kyle – love television. I know that’s not a popular thing to say, but we do! We were … Read entire article »
Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 1September2013

I’m late on putting up a post this week because Kyle and I spent Friday night through Sunday morning outside with 1500 other people being subjected to noise, crowds, sleep deprivation, and a general lack of control over our lives, all in pursuit of season tickets to our university’s men’s basketball home games. Kind of behind on blogging now! Other than Campout, which always takes more time and energy to prepare for than we think it … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
August 2013 Month in Review: Money

I was going to say we had another successful month of spending well below our budget, but I don’t know if spending very little money necessarily means we are successful. We’ve been underspending all summer – maybe we aren’t having enough fun. Stupid grad school. The Everyday Budget Top-line items INCOME: Our paychecks from our university plus $162.4 from Kyle’s side hustle, divided as usual GIVING: 10%+ of our stipends to our church $50 to the missionary we support 10% of Kyle’s side … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Putting Rent on a Credit Card: An Opportunity to Churn

Our new townhouse allows us to pay rent on a credit card!! None of the places we’ve lived so far has made that option available to us, and at our current place we actually have to mail paper checks, if you can believe it. But after we move in two weeks we’ll have the opportunity to charge an extra $870 per month! Why are we excited about this? Putting rent on a credit card seems like … Read entire article »
Filed under: credit cards, housing