Our Story

Our story begins well before we began using budget software. I was a teacher. My husband works in a lab. Our finances were tight but we were surviving. We had no idea when we began having children just how expensive childcare would be. When we had our second child we realized that childcare for two would cost more than I was bringing home, so I left teaching. But one income for a family of four is difficult to say the least. I earned money on the side in as many ways as I could find while still caring for babies full time. We barely squeaked by, and many months we didn't. My husband decided to finally get help for his depression and anxiety and we began putting therapy on credit cards. We also realized that being the main breadwinner made managing our finances a stressful experience for my husband so we shifted so that financial management was largely my job.

I found and fell in love with You Need A Budget (YNAB). It worked very similarly to how I'd been trying to track things in a notebook. It allowed for my side hustle income to be used towards bills and savings and other goals instead of just kind of getting spent because it was all one pool of money before. When we started YNAB we had $40 in the bank and $10,000 of credit card and vehicle debt (not to mention student loans and mortgage). Within 2 years we had the credit cards and vehicles paid off but had taken on another car loan in that time frame. We had also been able to build up savings and accomplish things that have value, even if not financial; like our third child. It felt so good to pay for his birth in full and not worry about medical debt.

Over the years of staying home because we couldn't afford for me to work we learned more about our children and their needs and personalities. We decided that homeschooling is a great fit for our family and instead of budgeting just to get by during the season of life with large paid childcare requirements, now we're in it for the long haul. We've been able to maximize our finances and thrive on a single modest full time income for a family of five. We feel confident that we can get what we want out of life in the long term and maintain good work life balance. Most importantly, now that I have many years of practice with this tool, I am able to manage our finances with minimal effort and mental load. I can focus my energies on the children's education, my hobbies, vacation plans and more while allowing finances to support those endeavors, not interfere with them.