Articles by Amanda


The funny thing about memories is that you don’t need to spend lots of money or go to lots of far places to make them. In fact, some of the best memories can be made right in your own backyard! The most important thing is to be fully engaged in any activity that you pursue, […]

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5 Practical Wedding Tips from the Tightwad Gazette

Posted by Amanda on July 21, 2014

Amy Dacyczyn allowed her creative juices to flow when it came to frugal living. She began a newsletter, called The Tightwad Gazette, in 1990 and ran it until late December 1996. Her name became synonymous with frugality, cheap living, and being a tightwad, and her books have lived on (and probably will continue to do […]

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How to Rehabilitate a Federal Student Loan

Posted by Amanda on July 17, 2014

In life, there are few do-overs. Most of the time when you mess something up, it is what it is and you have to move on. But sometimes – and these times are wonderful – there is a way to sort of erase the bad that happened because of a mistake you knowingly or unknowingly […]

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You’ve probably heard it said a million times before that your student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. Everyone is basically stuck with them no matter what happens later in your life (which is ample motivation to pay them off as quickly as possible). In fact, I paid off my student loans just five years […]

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9 Frugal Ideas to Keep Kids Busy This Summer

Posted by Amanda on July 7, 2014

Summer is here. Kids are out of school, and you’re bound to hear a few “we’re boreds” (or a few hundred) over the next several months. As a child, I can remember what a thrilling experience it was feeling the temperatures warm up, having exciting end-of-school-year dances and activities to go to, and fantasizing about […]

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Watch Out for These Insurance Scams

Posted by Amanda on July 1, 2014

Insurance is one of those necessary expenses in life. Perhaps we don’t like to see hundreds of dollars every month go towards premiums that we may not have submitted a single claim on (I don’t know about you, but I am grateful to not have submitted a claim on several types of the insurance we […]

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Summer is right around the corner. For our family that means a few lazy afternoons spent on the shores of the Gulf, lots of iced tea to try and counteract the heat here in Houston, and watching tomatoes, basil and other summer specialties ripen in our backyard vegetable garden. Summer also means that the school […]

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I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to save even more on our energy bills. Every year I take an overall audit of our spending (both natural gas and electricity) and try to beat our spending from the year before. This began in 2010 because of my need to know we had not […]

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Is Pet Insurance Worth It?

Posted by Amanda on June 5, 2014

We had a horrible thing happen to us in February of this year. I was sitting in our library, when my cat Lyla wanted to be let outside (evident by her impatient scratching at the front door). She is generally an inside cat, but likes to go outside each day for a few hours. I […]

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7 Passive Income Ideas to Make Extra Money

Posted by Amanda on June 2, 2014

Passive income is a force to be reckoned with. This is because it allows people to literally increase their income with little effort. Notice how I said ‘little effort’ and not ‘no effort’? The thing is, passive income is a bit mis-advertised. Does earning income on the side, without going to an office from 9-5 […]

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