My boyfriend and I have been together for almost 9 years. We’ve mixed finances for several years now. We are both self-employed and have irregular incomes. However, his is much more reliable than mine is. Thankfully, neither of us have much overhead which helps to simplify our budgets in the areas where they mix with our businesses. Still, we aren’t in a position to be able to budget with savings every single month. Here is the basic framework for how … Read the rest

It’s been a while since I have publicly shared what my goals are for each of my blogs. The last quarter of the year is extremely busy for me at Emily Reviews as a result of my holiday gift guide. I’ve spent a lot of emotional energy the last couple of weeks trying to come up with a plan for keeping up with both blogs during November and December. My goals for both blogs, but especially Frank Loves Beans, don’t … Read the rest

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I had an industrial piercing done on my right ear a little over 10 years ago. I haven’t really thought much about the piercing in several years, but I have recently been considering letting it heal closed. This got me reflecting on why I made the decision to begin with. I thought my experience would be worth sharing here on the blog because it was so different than what I had in … Read the rest

I’ve been doing reviews on my other blog, Emily Reviews for over six years now. I’ve occasionally had friends, family members or acquaintances express how cool they think my blog is, and how they would love to “get free stuff”. Product reviewing is fun for me. It saves me money from having to purchase certain items for my home, or to use as gifts. However, most people don’t really realize how much work goes into running a blog! Writing the … Read the rest

Our labor day weekend was a busy one. I made a really klutzy mistake while trying to pick up a car jack and wound up splitting open my chin and getting 3 stitches. The next morning we woke up to our neighbors knocking on the door. They explained that they decided to rehome their 3-month-old pug puppy. They wanted to know if we were interested in having her because we had gushed over their puppy the day they brought it … Read the rest

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It’s been a few months since I’ve shared new products that I’ve tried and enjoyed. For a while I hadn’t tried anything new so I just didn’t have any recommendations. This post isn’t just things that I’ve tried in August, but instead is my favorite items that I’ve discovered since my last favorites update. Lets get to it!

Ghosts From The Nursery: Tracing The Roots Of Violence by Robin Karr-Morse. I did a … Read the rest

It’s been 7 years since I moved out of my parents’ house. To date I have lived in two apartment complexes and two duplexes. In my experience, both have some pros and cons. Most people I know tend to move into apartment complexes as young adults. I think people tend to forget, or maybe just don’t know, that you can rent duplexes for around the same price in most areas. For me, apartment living felt quite a bit different than … Read the rest

Where should I sell my stuff to make the most money? Well, that depends a lot on what your “stuff” is. I grew up in a frugal household that regularly took advantage of buying items at thrift stores, yard sales and Ebay. When you purchase items second-hand for a while, you learn that prices can vary quite a bit on the same items on different sites. This is great information to have when you’re looking to buy used items, but … Read the rest