Enduring the Ride

So I've had a lot on my mind lately about the economic and political happenings around us. It's been very interesting regardless of where we stand on the issues individually. There are a lot of things that can cause great pride and happiness and a lot of other things that can cause great fear and concern. Fortunately for some of us, our biggest worries are being attacked by headbands and hair bows.
Some where in that mess of my mind I've been thinking about all the things that I've been able to learn from others that have helped us, whether it's been by examples of what to do, what not to do, what I've read, advice from friends and family, etc. And since these blog thingies are supposed to be a type of public forum, I thought I would share a few that are more related to things that might help us be better off, mostly financially, during some pretty interesting times in our lives.

1 - Have some guilt-free money. When people ask me what part of our budget do I feel has been most beneficial to us they look at me weird because my answer is about how we spend our money rather than save it. Even the tightest budgets shouldn't be completely depressing. Every paycheck Mark and I each get our own little chunk of spending money and we can do ANYTHING we want with it without having to account to the other person for it. This is how Mark bought his Playstation 3 cuz he knew he couldn't sell me on the idea since there are higher priorities. I've watched some of my friends who have combined their finances and there seems to always be one who's uber conservative about spending money and the other has to account for every dime and penny so he/she feels trapped and burdened by it which I think is sad. Mark and I have never had a fight over money in our 2 1/2 years of marriage and I feel this is a big reason why.

2 - Read/learn about at least 3 different approaches to money. One size doesn't fit all so one system doesn't fit all either. There is a lot of info out there about how to tackle personal finance and they all have their own pros and cons. The first budget book I ever read was "All Your Worth" which focuses on dividing things between needs, savings, and wants. I found the book very helpful and I know others who hate it. I started to get involved with a couple blogs and websites about personal finance that provided a lot of different perspectives and advice from "real people". About two years ago a friend hooked me up with Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" on audio which is almost a step-by-step prioritizing system. So our budget approach is kind of a mix of all of these but doesn't exactly follow any of them.

3 - Set SMALL goals. I've had a few friends and relatives who don't set any goals and so they just spend and save with no purpose. Some of them have gotten themselves into some difficult situations and others who have had plenty of money but just haven't made any progress with it. Of course we all want to become philanthropic millionaires and save the world so we need to know how we're going to get there. I really like small goals over the big ones because we get to celebrate more often and who doesn't like to celebrate. So as we're stocking up our food storages we don't have to do it all at once, we do it one step at a time and each step should be recognized as progress.

I could put a few others on here, but I think these are my favorite 3 things that I've learned from outside sources. And since I LOVE hearing new ideas, feel free to post some tips, advice, books, etc. that you feel have been helpful for you. (Leah, I expect something!!!)

Thanks for all the help we've received from each of you who read this!