Weekly Update 43

December 16th, 2012 | 4 Comments

This was a rather different week work-wise for me because I decided to almost completely suspend my labwork to start preparing for my preliminary exam! I set a fairly modest word count goal for each day and loaded myself up with new papers to read.

In addition to our normal activities this week, I also interviewed a prospective student on behalf of my college and Kyle performed a holiday concert with his community band that was amazing! And did anyone catch the crazy end of the Butler-Indiana game?! I was happy to see Butler win and to see Indiana lose. 😉 Not that I think our team will go undefeated this year, but it’s nice to outlast some other good teams – we’ll see!

Other than that we’re really just looking forward to going to CA next week! I’m still stressing out over gift-giving but less so – Kyle has said a lot of nice things to ease the mental burden I’ve put on myself. Kyle finally decided to give store-bought gifts as well as homemade treats to his extended family. We sat down together on Saturday night and picked out almost all the gifts we needed from Amazon to so we’re nearly done with the process!

Posts I Liked

G.E. Miller from 20 Something Finance discusses the way he has changed gift-giving traditions in his family to be more in line with his values.

Kim from Eyes on the Dollar tells the story of how her family paid off $30,000 in credit card debt and how their life has changed.

Miranda from Work Save Live reminds us that money is a means to other ends.

My Money Design lists his creative ideas to help you stick to your budget.

Ninja from Punch Debt in the Face says you know you’re obsessed with personal finance when…

Janice M from Talking Cents compiles a number of common money mistakes.

Jordann from My Alternate Life shares what she’s learned about successfully running a budget.

Kathleen from Frugal Portland lived on just over half her income and used the rest for savings and paying down debt!

J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy updates us on how much money he and his wife have spent on their 5-month-old so far.

Rich Avery from Christian PF tells us frankly about how much spouses can change over decades of marriage.

Michelle from Making Sense of Cents shared the crazy story of how she bought her first house at age 20.

Kathleen from The College Investor shares the eight financial rules she lives by. I’m pretty dogmatic so I love rules. 🙂

Mentions

Jacob from iHeartBudgets included Current Credit Cards Rewards Strategy in his weekly wrap-up.

Jessica from Mo’ Money Mo’ Houses listed Who Paid for Your Wedding? in her link love.

Carnivals

Current Credit Card Rewards Strategy was featured in the Festival of Frugality #336.

November 2012 Month in Review: Money was featured in the Yakezie Carnival.

All I Want for Christmas Is a Giving Revolution was featured in the Carnival of Money Pros.

Top Comment

It was really difficult to choose a top comment this week! There were many great suggestions on how to invest in your marriage as well as a lot of “I wish we had…”s on buying a first home. And hearing a little about everyone’s weddings was so fun! Ultimately though, I have to give it to nicoleandmaggie‘s comment that emphasized the great tenant of personal finance is that money is a tool that enables you to get what you really want out of life like time with your spouse. “For us, it’s about buying time. Not counseling or date-nights, but outsourcing chores, specifically childcare in our case.”

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