Personal Stories

personal stories from: Melissa Batai

by Melissa Batai

How a Time Audit Is Helping Me Financially and Emotionally For much of 2023, I found myself frustrated by time limitations. I felt I didn’t have enough time to do the hobbies I ... read the story

by Melissa Batai

How Much We Spend for Holiday Presents I have some friends who adore the holidays. By July, they’re putting up memes on Facebook counting down the days until... read the story

by Melissa Batai

Two Recommendations to Save on Baby Expenses That Are Bad Advice When my husband and I had our first child, we were broke. I had only been at my job for three years, so my income...... read the story

by Melissa Batai

4 Drawbacks of Hiring Someone You Know   When we lived in our previous house, we wanted to add a backsplash in the kitchen. Our neighbor flipped houses fo... read the story

by Melissa Batai

5 Ways to Curb Spending to Fight Inflation My husband and I were able to ride this wild ride of inflation for nearly a year. However, we’re starting to feel the ... read the story

by Melissa Batai

3 Financial Mistakes We Made with Our First Child My husband and I were married for three-and-a-half years before we had our first child. I worked full-time as a teacher ... read the story

by Melissa Batai

How Buying an Art Museum Membership Saved Us Money Last year, I bought an art museum membership for our family. However, rather than spending $75 for the family membership... read the story

by Melissa Batai

How We Save Money by Being Patient We’ve all heard the saying, “Patience is a virtue,” which is true in many areas of life. Over the years, I’ve fo... read the story

by Melissa Batai

How We Avoid Eating Out on a Road Trip This summer has been a busy one for our family. My husband got a job in New York, so we’ve traveled from Arizona to Ne... read the story

by Melissa Batai

Why I Didn’t Pay Down My Student Loans During the Pandemic My husband and I both had student loans—mine for an undergraduate and graduate degree, his for a graduate degree. We p... read the story