Frugal Babe

I’m a 29 year old female living in the suburbs of a fairly large city.  My husband and I started our own insurance bokerage several years ago, and in the process, took on about $38,000 in debt.  It was “good debt” used to start a business, but I hated it just the same.  I’ve always been a saver, and had never had any debt until we started our business. 

I worked my way through college, drive a ‘91 Civic, and never carry a balance on my credit card.  Having such a large (in my opinion) debt brought out a new level of frugality in me.  Our debt was at its highest point in the summer of 04, and it’s now about $5000 in the fall of 06.  And we’re still in the first five years of having our business, when experts say it’s unlikely to be profitable.  Not only have we managed to pay our mortgage on time every month, and keep up with our personal and business expenses, but we’ve also paid down $33,000 in debt in just over two years.  And we’ve had lots of fun aswell - a trip to New Zealand, new (to us) mountain bikes, and lots of time to enjoy ourselves.  So I thought I’d share some of the ways we’ve managed our money and hopefully inspire other people who are juggling debt. 

UPDATE, August 2007: We officially paid off the last of our business start-up debt this month.  Only the mortgage left!

Aside from reading everything I can find about personal finance and acting as our family CFO, I love to mountain bike, run, hike, snowboard, snowshoe (pretty much anything active and outdoors will do) and scrapbook.

You can email me at babe at frugalbabe dot com

Thanks for reading, and happy savings!