Evolving Personal Finance

Zillions of Gifts, on a Budget

December 19th, 2012 | 18 Comments

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 »

Filed under: budgeting, giving, spending

Financial Wrongs from the Past

December 17th, 2012 | 19 Comments

I recently found out that my family got kinda screwed over by the financial aid office at my college. I don’t know if my parents were mad about it at the time because they didn’t discuss it with me – when my dad mentioned it to me over this last Thanksgiving he seemed pretty casual so I don’t think they’re still hurt about it. I received one merit scholarship from my college for about 25% of … Read entire article »

Filed under: college

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 … Read entire article »

Filed under: weekly update

Who Paid for Your Wedding?

December 14th, 2012 | 44 Comments

I have a little “just curious” post today on paying for weddings! Kyle and I dated for a long time without many future intentions but implemented our decision to get married relatively quickly (it about nine months from the decision to move toward engagement to the wedding day). Therefore there really wasn’t much time to consider how the wedding would go down before we were thrust into actually planning it – I can’t even remember what … Read entire article »

Filed under: marriage

I Wish We Could Buy a House

December 12th, 2012 | 32 Comments

Not a day goes by that I fail to read a blog post or hear a story that references the incredibly low mortgage interest rates available for people with good credit. I am super jealous of people able to borrow at those rates for a reasonable long-term investment! I admit I’ve even been making occasional visits to zillow.com and trulia.com to check out home prices in San Diego. Why I Want a House (and Mortgage) Incredibly Low … Read entire article »

Filed under: debt, housing

Ways to Monetarily Invest in Your Marriage

December 10th, 2012 | 32 Comments

When I identified my top five values, it wasn’t straightforward to me how I would use money to further my value of marriage. Since Kyle and I don’t have kids yet, I figured every day hanging out at home was like a date, you know? Not really! There are many of non-everyday ways to invest in your marriage that money can make happen. It’s all about putting your money where your values are! Date Night Pretty standard … Read entire article »

Filed under: marriage, values

Weekly Update 42

December 9th, 2012 | 2 Comments

We had another really great week! We’re being very productive at work and had lots of holiday parties and such to attend. We also saw another musical and had chicken and waffles with some friends before the show. And we went to my friend’s holiday handbells concert, which was amazing. Posts I Liked Get Rich Slowly shares an awesome reader story about overcoming toxic financial midsets learned in childhood. Nelson from Yes I Am Cheap writes a great admonishing post on lifestyle inflation. Michael from Money Under 30 diagrams his strategy for living with an irregular income. Mrs. Pop from Planting Our Pennies explains what to include in your net worth statements. Jordann from Making Sense of Cents shares how to avoid lifestyle inflation. Joe Plemon from Christian Personal Finance lists ways to enjoy Christmas and not … Read entire article »

Filed under: weekly update

All I Want for Christmas Is a Giving Revolution

December 7th, 2012 | 15 Comments

I’m a Scrooge. Well, I’m not necessarily cheap (I prefer frugal), but gift-giving and gift-receiving totally stresses me out. The whole process used to be manageable when I was only responsible for giving to my immediate family members, but the list of gift recipients has completely blown up with my marriage to Kyle, as he has a wonderfully close (and large) extended family. Giving presents stresses me out because I’m kind of a perfectionist and I … Read entire article »

Filed under: giving, values

Current Credit Cards Rewards Strategy

December 5th, 2012 | 21 Comments

When I weighted the advantages and disadvantages of adding another credit card, I decided that the chief disadvantage for us is that we might lose track of how to optimally use the cards for maximum rewards. After all, we use Mint to aggregate all our accounts so we don’t ever lose track of which card needs to be paid off and whatnot. I decided to comb through our current credit cards to make sure we are … Read entire article »

Filed under: credit cards

November 2012 Month in Review: Money

December 3rd, 2012 | 15 Comments

We did a terrible job staying under budget this month – check the bottom to see if it was a pass or fail (it was close!). Our lack of control in the grocery store was to blame again. Our targeted savings accounts saved our behinds, too, as our car failed its yearly safety inspection and we had to make some unexpected repairs, but our Cars account was up to the task. Kyle is, I swear, … Read entire article »

Filed under: month in review