Budgets help direct our spending, but by nature they constrain us. While that doesn’t sound very fun, these restrictions are for a good cause. By voluntarily limiting short-term spending, we can stay out of financial trouble and work toward achieving longer-term financial goals. Though it sounds contradictory, we achieve financial…
Back in May 2012, I quit my first ‘real’ job, and I started working at my current company on the last day of July. During those two summer months at home, we were blessed with the delivery of our first child. Once I returned to work, I was greeted with…
A couple of times a year, we’ll get to a point where it seems multiple irregular expenses hit all at once. Ouch. Even if we’ve budgeted for these expenses, shelling out that much dough in a short timeframe can be a little unnerving. Other times, we’ll go through a quarter…
Few events in life will have farther reaching financial implications than if/when you change employers. Things like healthcare costs and retirement contributions are but a few items that should be carefully considered before making such a move. Hopefully the jump to greener pastures also includes a raise! I switched jobs…
I recently trained for and ran my first half marathon. As most hard things are, it was awesome and awful at the same time. While I was training, I swore to Johnny that getting through the 8, 9, and 10-mile runs had everything to do with employing psychological warfare on…
Last week, we wrote a novel about our recent car buying experience. For those keeping track at home, we’ve now bought three used cars in our marriage. So we’re pretty much experts on the subject. (This is where a sarcasm font would come in handy.) And while our cars haven’t…
Nothing rocked our world more than when Johnny and I became parents. To say we were consumed (both times) is an understatement. Consumed with blissful love, yes. Lots and lots of that. But we were also consumed in pretty much every other way — time, attention, sleep (or deprivation of),…
Over the last two and a half years (!) of putting fingers to keyboard on this here blog, we’ve shared a steady supply of our successes and failures. And over time, we’ve noticed recurring themes and fundamental beliefs that continue to pop up and appear to drive to the core…
We originally wrote this article for DailyFinance, but it’s a timely topic for us since Johnny will be turning the big 3-0 in just a month. We’d love to hear any thoughts/tips you’d add to our list. Over the last decade, 30 has officially pronounced itself the new 20. The…
For over a week, we’d been receiving reminders that our building’s water would be turned off for a day. I didn’t enter it in my calendar because I kept telling myself that there was no way I’d forget something this big. Even the day before it happened, I reminded myself…