spending money Archives - Our Bill Pickle

My six most surprising maternity leave expenses

November 11, 2021

Even though I knew maternity leave would be hard on our budget, that has not stopped me from being surprised by some of the maternity leave expenses we incurred.

I knew maternity leave would be hard on our budget, but that has not stopped me from being surprised by some of the maternity leave expenses we incurred.

Almost eight months in, I’m relieved things have started to slow down in terms of our spending and hopeful it will remain that way.

But those first few months?

Yikes, my dudes.

In keeping with my philosophy of keeping it real in this space, here’s a look at some of the expenses that surprised me during my maternity leave so far.

Four steps to assess big purchases (and get what you want)

September 16, 2021

Preparing to make some big purchases? Here are four tips to help you shop confidently and get what you want.

There are two things we’re all about here at Our Bill Pickle: keeping it real and sharing this space with those who can provide perspective on matters outside our expertise.

Today, I’m sharing a special guest post…from my husband, Jeff.

Although Jeff does not have a blog, he does have a lot of knowledge in a unique area: procurement.

He’s been working in the industry since 2016. I’ll be honest: there are definitely elements of his work that go over my head. But there have also been times where his training has helped us a great deal. This is particularly true when it comes to making big purchases.

Today, Jeff is sharing some simple steps that will help you assess big purchases, shop confidently and get what you want.

(Interested in guest posting at Our Bill Pickle? Click here for more details!)

The super simple way I track our spending

February 16, 2021

Our spending tracker is so simple I hesitate to call it a spending tracker. Here's how I'm tracking our spending using Google Sheets.

Our spending tracker is so simple I hesitate to even call it a spending tracker.

There’s nothing fancy about it. In fact, I went out of my way to make sure it was the opposite of fancy.

What can I say? I like my budgeting tools to be functional above all else.

And this spending tracker is definitely functional.

Here’s why I decided to start tracking our spending, what our spending tracker looks like (and why we went with Google Sheets) and how it’s been working for us over the last few months.

How much I spent upgrading my underwear drawer

February 4, 2021

The cost women’s underwear is one of those things I don’t think I’ll ever understand.

There are few things I hate shopping for more than underwear. Styles and sizes are inconsistent from brand to brand and while it is possible to find affordable options, I have never had much luck as far as longevity goes.

Maybe it’s me, but I find the whole experience to be chaotic.

If it were possible to buy one set of underwear and wear them forever, I’d be all about that. Alas, that’s not the way it work, which means, every once in a while, I end up doing what I call an underwear drawer refresh.

I did my most recent on in November 2020. Here’s what that looked like (and how much it cost).

Five ways I would use a stimulus cheque

May 19, 2020

Five ways I would spend a $1,200 stimulus cheque

How would I spent a stimulus cheque?

Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about the American government’s economic stimulus package. Both in the blog world and on social media, I’ve read a lot of different accounts from individuals about how they’ve spent or plan to spend the money.

Reading these accounts made me wonder: what would I do with an extra $1,200?

After spending some time thinking about it, here’s what I can up with.