Evolving Personal Finance » luxuries
What’s So Great About High Cost-of-Living Areas?
When I stepped out into the southern California sunshine on the first morning of our recent trip, I exclaimed to Kyle, “How are we not living here?!” I repeated this phrase multiple times throughout our long weekend in Los Angeles. All I wanted to do was spend time outside, which thankfully we were able to do for much of Friday and Saturday. The weather was beyond gorgeous, particularly warm and sunny for February, and a … Read entire article »
Our Best (Pain-Free) Money-Saving Moves
In this post I will detail how much money we have saved (that is, not-spent) by making simple, painless changes in our life. We really haven’t given up anything by making these choices, although sometimes the workarounds can get a bit creative! I’ve ranked our choices from most money saved per year to least. Moving Closer to Work While Reducing Our Rent Two years ago, Kyle and I were living in a luxury apartment and we really … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices, credit cards, frugality, housing, luxuries, spending
How to Cancel Your Cable When You’re Addicted to a Show
I have observed two kinds of cable subscribers. Some cable subscribers love TV and watch many channels many hours of the day and feel they are getting great value out of their packages. Other cable subscribers hate their high bills and don’t think that they are getting a good value on the programming they consume, but they refuse to cut the cord because they are addicted to one or more individual shows. It may be … Read entire article »
The Best Things in Life Are Free
These are all things and experiences that I love that are free (or at least can be free)! sunshine reading (books from the library) the Sarah P. Duke Gardens exercise orgasms friendship church/small group cuddling conversation stargazing the Smithsonian Gmail the Bible sleep podcasts Not surprisingly, many of these line up with my top five values. I feel wealthy when I enjoy these things and I didn’t spend a dime doing it! What are some of best things in your life that are free? photo by Amy Goodrich Photography … Read entire article »
Filed under: luxuries
Debate over Outsourcing Cleaning
Recently we met up with some people we know from church; one couple had participated in a panel at one of our church’s premarital counseling retreat weekends (which we also did on our one-year wedding anniversary). We started talking about expectations we all had when we were engaged and how smooth or rocky the first couple years of marriage were. The two of us more recently married and currently childless couples basically said that household chores … Read entire article »
Filed under: luxuries
Strategies for Paying for Vacations
Kyle and I committed to attend the black tie wedding in Chicago that I’ve mentioned a few times. In addition to attending the wedding itself, we are going to make it a long weekend to see some of our good friends who live there as well as sight-see as we have never been to Chicago before. We are excited to make some amazing memories! Financially, though, the trip is going to be a stretch. We haven’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: found money, luxuries, travel
My Dream in 23 Years – What’s Yours?
One of the important components of the All Your Worth Balanced Money Formula is the Dream Fund. Of the 20% of take-home pay that is supposed to go toward savings, 25% of it is for your dreams – aside from retirement and all of that. When I was a kid I thought I would want to own a beach house. Maybe some other people want a plane, an around-the-world cruise, or to pay for their … Read entire article »
Five Money-Saving Moves from Our Wedding
As wedding season 2012 has been heating up, I’ve seen more and more PF-blogger-brides (yet to see a groom) discuss their wedding budgets or various aspects of planning. It’s caused me to reflect on our wedding from 2010, which was not at all an inexpensive undertaking. To this day I don’t know how much money was spent on our wedding because some costs have not been disclosed to us by our parents and some small … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, choices, featured, luxuries, marriage, spending, values
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 »
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