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Hosted by Mae Holloway — real families, real numbers, real change.

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How We Paid Off $61k in 3 Years
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Real Stories, Real Numbers

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Hands chopping fresh herbs on a wooden cutting board for a budget meal

Tuesday's $6 dinner — garlic, lentils, whatever's left.

Debt FreedomEp. 142

How We Paid Off $61k in 3 Years on Two Teacher Salaries

Rachel started tracking every dollar in a spiral notebook. Tom thought she was obsessing. Three years later, they burned the mortgage statement in the backyard.

38 min
with Rachel & Tom Okafor
Kitchen Savings

"Freeze your herbs in olive oil in an ice cube tray. Nothing goes to waste."

"I found Thrift during my daughter's 3am feeding. By episode 5 I had a cash envelope system running. We saved $4,200 our first year."

Saved $4,200 in year one
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Priya Nambiar
New mom, Austin TX
"We fed four on forty dollars a week for six months. Not miserable — actually kind of joyful."
Denise Hargrove
Episode 118 · Grocery Budget
Episode
Ep. 118
Handwritten budget spreadsheet on graph paper with a pencil beside it

The original budget. Still use the same notebook.

Grocery HacksEp. 138

The $40 Grocery Week That Became a Lifestyle

Denise didn't mean to make it a challenge. She just needed to make rent. Now she teaches the method to her church group every January.

44 min
with Denise Hargrove
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Simple Truth

"Buy the store brand everything. Then buy it in bulk. Then stop thinking about it."

"Mae doesn't talk down to you. She talks WITH you. First podcast that made me feel like my situation wasn't hopeless."

Paid off $8k in student loans
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James Whitfield
High school teacher, rural Kentucky
142
Episodes Published
New episode every Sunday morning
Warm mug of coffee beside a notebook open to a handwritten budget page

Sunday ritual. Coffee, notebook, episode.

Mortgage FreedomEp. 135

Paying Off the Mortgage 11 Years Early

They made one extra payment a year. That's it. Marcus explains the math in the first five minutes, and it will make you want to call your bank immediately.

51 min
with Marcus & Anita Flores
"I stopped calling it a budget. I started calling it a spending plan. Changed everything about how I felt on payday."
Mae Holloway
Host · Thrift Podcast
Episode
Ep. 130
Daily Habit

"One no-spend day per week. Pick the same day every week so it becomes invisible."

"Downloaded the Starter Budget PDF on a Tuesday. Had a real picture of our finances by Thursday. Finally stopped arguing about money with my husband."

Ended the money arguments
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Sofia Reyes
Nurse, Chicago IL
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Download the Starter Budget

A free printable PDF — the same one Mae uses with every new guest. One page, no fluff.

Fresh homemade bread loaf cooling on a wire rack on a wooden kitchen counter

Bread costs $0.60 to make. Costs $4 to buy. We make bread.

Student LoansEp. 129

The Graduate Who Refused to Be Broke

$43,000 in loans, $34,000 salary, one-bedroom apartment. Kwame built a system in a Google Sheet and paid it off in four years. He shares the whole sheet.

35 min
with Kwame Asante
18k+
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Families, teachers, graduates

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