Evolving Personal Finance

Hobbies vs. Values in Targeted Savings

February 8th, 2012 | 11 Comments

Kyle and I had an argument recently about one of those nooks and crannies of our financial life that you could never predict would come up. When we were in premarital counseling, we agreed almost totally on how to (theoretically) manage our finances, but of course when it comes to implementation thing never go as smoothly as planned. You can agree on 95% of topics but still argue over the remaining 5%! A few months ago … Read entire article »

Filed under: marriage, personal, targeted savings, values

My Favorite Podcasts on Money

February 6th, 2012 | 9 Comments

I’m addicted to podcasts. I listen to them when I’m in the car (if I’m not listening to NPR), when I’m running errands, and when I’m doing labwork. Many people listen to music in the lab but a couple years ago I started listening to archived sermons from my church instead of music. Then I added some of my favorite NPR programs (This American Life, The Story). Finally I branched out into non-radio podcasts from … Read entire article »

Filed under: podcasts

Weekly Update 1

February 5th, 2012 | 1 Comment

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?

February 3rd, 2012 | 23 Comments

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 »

Filed under: debt, marriage

What’s the Deal? Are We Poor?

February 1st, 2012 | 9 Comments

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 »

Filed under: income, personal

Adventures in Frugality: Home Haircutting

January 30th, 2012 | 1 Comment

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

January 27th, 2012 | 2 Comments

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?

January 25th, 2012 | 25 Comments

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?

January 23rd, 2012 | 1 Comment

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 »

Filed under: budgeting, giving, goals

Childhood Games Indicating Financial Personality

January 20th, 2012 | 2 Comments

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