Aah, The Frugalette, my alter ego! Back in 2010 when my husband and I found ourselves in a tremendous amount of debt, 56k to be exact, we realized that we could either continue on our path and ask our family to help us or we could take responsibility and get ourselves out of it. I made the decision to change our life completely, 180 degrees. I made my husband move apartments, twice, to save money. We started using coupons (which I don't use anymore), stopped all unnecessary shopping and cut up every credit card. We did pull ourselves out and in 2012 became completely debt free. We still don't use credit cards and rarely buy brand new clothes for the kids. I'm a consignment shopper! We have since added kid number three and pay cash for everything. I'm a writer by nature and wanted to tell our story to hopefully inspire and encourage other families to get out of debt and live within and many times, under their means. My husband named me The Frugalette and in 2011 it was launched!

It's not worth it. Putting your family finances in strain to impress your friends, neighbors or family members is a temporary, fleeting moment that doesn't last. Live with what you have and you will have more than enough.

I have a year long series on my blog called 52 Ways to Be Happy for FREE. The question I get asked most in interviews is what do you do for fun? How are you so happy? So I show every week that the path to happiness is not paved in gold.

You need one person to support you, not hundreds. My close friends, family, and even my mother don't cover at all. However, I always felt very strongly about covering and my husband is my biggest supporter. His mother and sister don't cover either, so we are an island but a very strong one. If you have one great person to cheer you on, you have more than enough.