Evolving Personal Finance » Archive
Weekly Update 1
I’ve decided to add a weekend feature summing up what’s been going on in our lives in the past couple weeks as well as linking to some other blogs that have published great articles recently. Our Last Two Weeks I was totally consumed preparing for a second-round internship interview I had last Thursday. I traveled to Atlanta for the day and had a great time at the interview, but unfortunately I wasn’t asked back for the third round. It sucks to work so hard for something and not get it, but I got to meet a lot of great people, both the employees and other interviewees. (Also, no chance for a big income boost this summer.) I basically did no work and less blogging-stuff than I usually do, aside from a pre-prelim … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Delay Marriage Until You’re Debt-Free?
A few weeks ago I was listening to a podcast (I LOVE podcasts. If you know of some good ones, please add them to the comments.) featuring an interview with Andy Stanley. For those of you unfamiliar with Stanley, he is a well-known pastor/preacher and author. The interview discussed Stanley’s recent sermon series titled “The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating” and at the very end the host asked Stanley for non-negotiables concerning readiness … Read entire article »
What’s the Deal? Are We Poor?
I’ve read a couple posts on personal finance blogs in the last week in which hordes of commenters shared their yearly incomes. (I did too – I have no issue with this. I have read others doing this in the past, but these were close to one another in time.) I was surprised that our combined income was among the lowest of any posted – probably in the bottom 2% of commenters. Our income is … Read entire article »
Adventures in Frugality: Home Haircutting
Last week, Kyle came home with a set of hair clippers from Costco. We had been talking about me cutting his hair at home for a little while and he finally took the plunge. The haircuts he asks for from the professionals are just straight from the clippers, #2 on the sides and #6 on top, so it didn’t seem like it would be too difficult for me to do as well. I studied the haircutting … Read entire article »
Filed under: frugality
Fantasy Summer Money
I’m in the process of interviewing for a summer internship in the “business world.” While I don’t want to get ahead of myself (there’s only a small possibility that I’ll even get the internship), I have given some thought to how an internship like this might change our financial situation. It would be the first of our anticipated transitions! The position pays about 4.5 to 5 times what I make now, so I’ve tried to … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, personal, transitions
What’s a CSA?
I have mentioned our CSA on here a couple times and I am a big proponent of CSAs. I absolutely love ours – the food is better-tasting than what we can get in the grocery store and it has exposed us to many new foods (Swiss chard, collard greens). Many people ask me what a CSA is so I thought I’d write a little primer. What is a CSA? A CSA (or Community Supported Agriculture) is basically … Read entire article »
Filed under: food
Where Should We Give?
In March 2009, I pledged a certain amount of money to our church for an expansion campaign. It included an up-front donation and monthly installments over a three-year period. Next month is the last I’ll make that monthly installment and (after re-adjusting my tithe) we are going to have $58 a month freed up in our budget. Since we are accustomed to giving away that amount of money, we are not just going to completely keep … Read entire article »
Childhood Games Indicating Financial Personality
Kyle has been lobbying for us to get a chess set for several months now so we can play together, and last Friday I finally agreed and we picked one up. We played four games over the next two days and he beat me soundly in every one. I am a bad loser so I was kind of sulking after, and I asked him if he would let our (future) kids win in chess. Then … Read entire article »
Filed under: emergency fund, personal, savings
Our Luxuries
I recently started a gratitude/praise journal and it is slowly helping me become more aware of all the “little” things in my life that are truly wonderful that I tend to overlook. I thought I would list out here the luxuries or indulgences my husband and I enjoy, even on our tight budget. You’ll probably notice a lot of overlap with our targeted savings accounts here – they tend not to be spontaneous but they are definitely … Read entire article »
Emergency Budget Exercise
How would you survive if you lost your primary source of income? The US is (arguably) just starting to rebound from a really tough economy and job market in which we’ve seen more long-term unemployed people than ever before. In addition to the job market, an accident or illness could befall your family rending you unable to work. These are depressing situations to consider, but better to consider them before they happen than to be … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, emergency fund, personal
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