Forget weekly or monthly budgeting. This one year budget–yes budgeting for a whole year at once–will change your life. When it comes to budgeting, people tend to think short term–budgeting week by week, paycheck by paycheck, or month by month. This is great for getting a close look at your finances and making sure that […]

I have always embraced the start of a new year as an opportunity to reflect and refocus on my life and goals. The holidays are over and things seem to slow for those few days afterwards as we all take a moment to breathe before the new year comes in and we’re all off and […]

As 2018 is quickly careening to a close, I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on the past year and the changes it has brought to our lives. It’s been a huge year for One Big Happy Life in terms of growth and the amazing opportunities that we’ve been able to take part in. […]

Last week, Joseph and I traveled to Orlando for a four-day conference. Without the kids. It was our first time traveling together without our children in over two years. We love family travel, but as we waited for our flight, we chatted about how excited we were to sleep in late and have leisurely days […]

Oh my gosh summer is over already! It really did pass by in a whirlwind. I think this had been the busiest year of my life. Every month so far this year I keep assuming that things would start to calm down and normalize the next month. That has not held true at all. In […]

This fall my two little ones are hitting major milestones: one is going to preschool and the other is going to college. Though my kids are in two very different life stages, there are two things that they have in common. The first is that neither is cheap. And the second is that they both […]

I usually like to start these monthly onine income reports off on a personal note that talks a bit about the happenings in our lives over the past month. This month it’s a bit harder to do that because, well, we’re sad. July is Joseph and my birthday month and we had a wonderful birthday […]

I was first introduced to my love of photography in 2013 when Joseph bought me a Canon T5i for Christmas. I’d always loved to take photos but didn’t recognize what I was doing as photography. I mean, nothing about disposable cameras screamed photography to me even though technically I did end up with photographs afterwards. […]

Hello summer! It’s the end of the month, which means it’s time for another monthly traffic and income report. I swear it feels like no time at all between these things. Things have gotten a lot busier here at the One Big Happy Life house over the past few weeks. We had visitors in town […]

Fresh off of our recent family beach day, I decided to put together this guide on what to pack for the beach. These beach essentials are must-haves, whether your vacation is just a day trip like ours was or if you are going on an extended beach vacation. Read on to find out our top […]