Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
Needs Becoming Wants: My Weekend Without
This weekend Kyle attended his departmental retreat a few hours away from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. He took our car and my cell phone with him so this whole weekend I have been without fairly basic “needs.” Kyle tried to find a ride to his retreat, but since he was actually attending two retreats in the same city he needed to be able to get back and forth and the other people attending both weren’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: lifestyle creep
Weekly Update 36
I’ve had a really great week, actually! I worked late on Monday and Thursday as has become my routine and accomplished a lot at work this week. I also worked a full day on Saturday, which was probably my best day ever for generating my product. Kyle and I went to the theater on Tuesday evening. The show was actually delayed an hour, which has never happened before, so we walked around nearby and had a great conversation in the intervening time. We received reminder calls on Tuesday that we had a dentist appointment on Thursday. We didn’t even remember that we had made an appointment six months out as we had just planned to go back after one year. So we spent some money out of our Medical account that we … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
The Nosebleeds Are Good Enough for Me
This week Kyle and I saw “War Horse” at our local theater, which was the kick-off show for the Broadway musicals series to which we have season tickets. We LOVE our local theater. This is only its fourth year in existence so it feels super-new and the staff are really nice and it’s in a slightly-more-upscale area of downtown so there are restaurants and pleasant areas to walk nearby. Best of all, it’s fairly inexpensive! We … Read entire article »
When Top-Down and Bottom-Up Budgeting Clash
In my observation, there are two totally reasonable approaches to budgeting: top-down: decide where your money should go de novo without reference to your current spending i.e. percentage-based budgeting like the Balanced Money Formula (BMF) bottom-up: observe where your money goes and create a budget reflecting that, perhaps with small tweaks The bottom-up approach is the most straightforward for most people because, you know, they already have financial lives. They rent or have a mortgage, they eat, they pay … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, transitions
September 2012 Month in Review: Money
This was our first full month in our new townhouse! We, um, still aren’t unpacked fully. Apparently we have a lot more stuff than we actually need or use! We are making slow process. The furniture is all set up where we want it except that we need to buy a second bookcase. Our kitchen, bathrooms, and closets are fully functional. We just have a bunch of other stuff in the living area and bedroom … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Weekly Update 35
We are falling into a normal routine for this school year and our new place. We finally got our TV/entertainment area set up in the townhouse so that is an accomplishment. I’m now spending Monday and Thursday evenings at work while Kyle is at some activities, which gives me time to hit the gym and put in a few extra hours in the lab. On Friday we had plans to see an outdoor movie but it’s was rained out. Last night I went out with some of my girlfriends who I haven’t seen much recently and it was great to spend some time with them. Leading up to the end of this month I was trying to figure out why out checking account balance had dwindled so far. We should have … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Job-Seeking Expenses
Kyle and I attended a seminar last week where a panel of postdocs/new faculty members gave advice on finding a postdoc position. When they were talking about interviewing, one of them mentioned that the potential advisors he interviewed with tended to pay for either the flight or hotel expenses but not both. The others on the panel concurred that only about half of their travel expenses were paid on average. That was shocking to me! When … Read entire article »
What Do You Want Your Life to Be Like in Five Years?
Today I want to hear from you about your dreams and ambitions! Tell me how you envision yourself living five years from now. What do you want to accomplish in that time? What transitions will you go through? In five years Kyle and I will be thirty-two! I see us on a beach near San Diego playing with our 1-2 small children. We both have PhDs; Kyle has finished one postdoc and has a research position … Read entire article »
Filed under: transitions, values
What Happens to Your Taxes If We Go Over the Fiscal Cliff?
I listed to Marketplace every day and have hear many pieces on the fiscal cliff aka taxmageddon. Basically, there are a bunch of federal tax cuts and spending increases that are set to expire at the end of 2012 if Congress doesn’t take any action. Since the legislature is apparently completely paralyzed during our ever-lengthening election season, we won’t know if the fiscal cliff will be partially or completely prevented probably until the lame duck … Read entire article »
Filed under: taxes
Weekly Update 34
I tried out a new work schedule this week; I’m staying at work the two evenings per week that Kyle has activities that I don’t share. Not that surprisingly, I got a lot more done and I felt great about it! Working longer days increases productivity better than linearly. Also, a bunch of awesome things happened at work: I attempted an experiment that worked on the first try! I wrote a portion of a grant proposal and my advisor said he liked the figure I made. My coworker sent me a paper about a method I can use for an idea my advisor wants me to explore and I’m really excited to try it out. I started to transition to the Primal lifestyle a few weeks ago and it’s going fantastic. I’ve changed the … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
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