Evolving Personal Finance » spending
Frugal Friends Go Skiing
This past weekend I found out just how naturally frugal some of my church friends are! A few weeks ago one of the women in our small group suggested a day trip to a ski resort in West Virginia. The decision-making cascade our group made from that invitation was exactly in line with what Kyle and I would have wanted to keep costs down! Lodging: Even though we had to drive from NC well into WV, … Read entire article »
Zillions of Gifts, on a Budget
Kyle and I finished our Christmas shopping this past weekend! Well, we essentially started and finished it this weekend so it went pretty fast. Giving gifts to only long-distance recipients is a double-edged sword – we have to shop online and early so that there is time for shipping, which goes against our procrastinating nature, but that means the shopping is done well in advance of Christmas and that reduces the stress! (“Well in advance” … Read entire article »
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 »
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 »
Average Clothes Spending and Pattern
Two weeks ago Marketplace did a short segment on clothes-buying habits and amounts from Elizabeth Cline’s book, Overdressed. I was surprised by what they reported so I’ll share their numbers and observations here along with how they compare to our buying patterns, as determined from Mint. Average Spending Level Americans spend an average of $1,100 per person on clothes each year. We spent way, way less than that on clothes and shoes in the last year – … Read entire article »
Sometimes I Don’t Eat. Is that Rude?
On Sunday, Kyle and I were invited to go out to dinner with about a dozen other people to celebrate a friend’s birthday on Monday. Kyle had a volleyball game scheduled near the start of the dinner so we RSVP’d that we would be coming late. Kyle stayed at school to be there for the game and I went home to have dinner. Because of a torrential rainstorm, his game was canceled, so we were … Read entire article »
Decisions We Are Wrestling With
Over the past few weeks we have had a few financial opportunities and decisions crop up and we’re taking our time trying to decide what to do in each situation. I’d like to take this post to share with you what’s been going on with us. Wedding We were invited to a wedding in Chicago (black tie!) at the end of June and we’ve been going back and forth about whether to attend. The wedding itself should … Read entire article »
The Fact and Fiction Behind “Two Can Live as Cheaply as One”
Everyone’s heard the phrase “two can live as cheaply as one.” In one sense it’s absolutely true: when you live in a home by yourself and someone moves in with you – a roommate or spouse who pays his own way – your per capita expenses will go down. You have someone to split the rent and utilities with. But the way the phrase is usually applied is to married couples – as if just … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, choices, frugality, goals, lifestyle creep, marriage, spending
The Slippery Slope of Separate Money
One of the basic rules of marriage that we were introduced to in premarital counseling: Don’t keep track. Life is not 50:50, nor should it be. While both spouses should contribute to a marriage and household, it’s both fruitless and fodder for fights to try to make everything fair and even. At the moment, we keep our finances completely joint. We still have some leftover separate accounts, but all of our functioning money is joint. And … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, marriage, personal, spending, targeted savings
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
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