Weekly Update 16

We had an unusually busy week for after-work events!  And almost all of them were church/fellowship related.

67 cans of black beans

Monday: We helped prepare a dinner for 200 people at a local homeless shelter with a group from our church.  Chiefly, I opened about 22 cans of black beans (and helped heat 67) an opened and organized Oreos.

Tuesday: We attended a lovely event honoring the preparing for marriage ministry at our church.  We went through the program two years ago in advance of our wedding and it was great to see some of the couples who had taught and led the program as well as meet some new people passionate about marriage.

Wednesday: We attended our weekly small group meeting as usual.

Thursday: Kyle had his band practice as usual.  I was considering going to a Young Professionals event on love, sex, and dating but I decided I wasn’t really the intended audience (and I didn’t have a ride).

Friday: We had a lovely time at a fellowship event for the graduate Christian group at our university.  We grilled out and had a bonfire and we spent the whole time chatting with people – we even made a few new friends!

Saturday:  We saw The Hunger Games in the late evening after sleeping in and going to work.  Kyle has read all the books and is really excited about the series so we had a nice time afterwards with him telling me all the differences between the movie and the book.  (Usually that is the reverse because I read more than Kyle.)  I can’t even remember the last time I saw a movie in a theater – it was probably 1 or 1.5 years ago!

Posts I Liked 

Melissa from Bible Money Matters asked if we can actually afford our lifestyle, even if we are able to save and pay cash for everything.  Her description really hit home with me – underfunded EF, no medium-term savings – and I think we really can’t afford our lifestyle.

Jeremy from Modest Money explained why it seems like The Joneses are ubiquitous these days and why it’s important to deal with your feelings toward them.

Kyle from Young Professional Finances shared a tough situation she’s been dealing with at work – the expectations of her workplace don’t match the culture of her profession.

G.E. from 20 Something Finance gave some details on what discounted dental services may be offered at dental schools – one of the options I listed in my post on how to get dental care without insurance.

Ninja from Punch Debt in the Face posted a little rant about how silly it is to compare real estate prices in desirable and undesirable markets.  I totally agree.  When we move to a high-priced market (San Diego!) we are not going to compare it to NC prices!  That seems self-defeating anyway as you’ll just be depressed.

Sandy from Yes, I Am Cheap asks if anyone will take the food stamp challenge – spending $132.98 per month per person on food.  Not for us – I don’t think that’s a good way to decide how much to spend on groceries if you don’t have to!

Jason from Work Save Live wrote a comprehensive guide on how to select mutual funds for retirement including whiteboard diagrams!

Mentions

Edward Antrobus included How Do You Decide How Much to Spend on Groceries in the places he’s been.

SB at Finance Product Reviews included Joint and Separate Money Series: Changes During the First Year of Marriage in his weekly roundup.

Jessica at Life in Transition included Joint and Separate Money Series: Changes During the First Year of Marriage in her week-in-review.

Average Joe at The Free Financial Advisor included Joint and Separate Money Series: Individualized Marriage and Money Management in his blog posts of the week awards.

Jason at Work Save Live included Taxes You Should Be Paying in his weekly reading.

Carnivals

How Do You Decide How Much to Spend on Groceries was featured in the Financial Simplicity Carnival and the Festival of Frugality #337.

Joint and Separate Money Series: Changes During the First Year of Marriage was featured in the Financial Carnival for Young Adults – 12th Edition.

Joint and Separate Money Series: Individualized Marriage and Money Management was featured in the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #33.

Top Comment

Emily too articulated what I was trying to say in my concluding remarks on Joint and Separate Money Series: Individualized Marriage and Money Management better that I could: “…  This just makes me more curious about a more qualitative study exploring the relationship between the two, since they assume practices (division of household labor, distribution of incomes) to be bundled with attitudes (marriage as interdependent, divorce as ok or not, etc.), but I’m sure it’s much more complex than that.”

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