Nurtured & Nested

Yep. You read that title right.  You CAN plan a wedding in Washington D.C. for under $500. Is that a joke? Absolutely not. Does it sound crazy? Absolutely yes.  Let me give you guys a little back story to my wedding. In 2013 I married a friend of mine. I wasn't in love with him and he wasn't in love with me. The entirety of our marriage neither one of us said "I'm in love with you." In fact, we always talked about how we would never say it because it wasn't true. That wedding was, in hindsight, a huge waste of money. We got married in a turn of the century chapel with friends and family and had a lovely reception. Hindsight being 20/20, I saw that we spent the money on a wedding to cover up the mere fact that we didn't really love each other.  Fast forward 5 years and a divorce later...  I started dating the most incredible man I have ever met a few months after getting divorced. Our first date lasted 16 hours because we didn't want ...

Happy Sunday Friends!  Today Stacey and I went "Zillow shopping" for a home. For us (and I'm sure many of you) reaching a big goal is MUCH easier when you have the visual right in front of you. Our "big goal" is to buy land and a home in cash. Yes, you read that correctly...CASH.  So we found a home and property that will serve as a visual reminder as we live on a "bare bones budget" over the next 3 years while we're living in Japan. (Photo: Courtesy of The Langston Group) What is a "bare bones budget"? For us, it is cutting down every line in our budget to the minimum we  can possibly spend to increase our savings towards our much larger goal.  We haven't decided if I'll return to teaching yet,  so I'm calculating the numbers based on our ONE income. Here are our REAL numbers, transparent and broken down. JAPAN BARE BONES BUDGET Est. Monthly Paid: $3,372  Wifi- $95 (Cheapest Plan) Gr...

Happy Thursday Friends! Wow, what a week its been already.  Here in Japan they restricted the movement of the soldiers and families to the base due to COVID-19. Luckily we have awesome medical facilities, a post office, small grocery store, and even smaller home store. To help with our sanity, the husband and I went on  a little shopping trip before everyone was paid to stock up two weeks worth of groceries. We came home and 70% of what we bought went straight into the freezer.  Freezing the majority of our groceries and taking out only what we need every day saves us TONS of money every month and I wanted to share those tips with you all! I know during this pandemic, access to fresh foods might not be as easy,  so having healthy options frozen is SO important!  So without further ado... Here's how we stock our freezer for our small family and how to use it! Freezer Door FRUIT: This is a no-brainer for us here on the ...

Welcome Friends,  I'm so glad you're here! I'm Jenna: military spouse, mama to two girls, and homemaker. The Marine Corps moves us all over the world, but we manage to stay  nurtured and nested by growing our family's roots deep wherever we are planted. I hope you'll follow along as we share about military life, home design, finance,  and all other aspects of this grand adventure we call life!