This Halloween marks the fourth week of my marriage to my beautiful bride (that’s a photo of me at the wedding when she gave me my precious ring — somehow I lost my tux before the ceremony). What have I learned in my first four weeks? 1) I’m always wrong. Period. And 2) A new life together takes a lot of work.
First up on the to-do list: new shared bank accounts and closing the old personal ones. We got that done this weekend and it was surprisingly easy (I’m of the belief that the List should rate banks, as I’d rate my new financial institution highly, but that’s for another post). Next up: filling out reports for all the service companies we hired for our wedding ceremony. I’ll be rating and reviewing the reception hall, the florist, the photographer and the DJ. I should have done this weeks ago, but hey, I just got married — I do what I want (if it’s OK with the wife).
What else? For the long term, we need to find a home to purchase in the next two years; figure out a shared financial investment strategy (with the economy, I’m thinking of buying stock in the manufacturers of Ramen and refrigerator boxes); determine how to reduce our now shared debt; and decide on whose medical insurance we’ll use. I’ve got the feeling my Angie’s List membership will definitely come in handy in the future.
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
I’ve always been good at math. And, contrary to popular belief that journalism is a refuge for the mathematically challenged, I’ve actually always liked learning everything from the basics of decimals to the more complicated formulas of calculus derivatives.
My husband? Not so much.
So in our home, I’m the controller of the checkbook. Before my husband and I got married a few months ago, we had already decided that I’d record all expenses and that we’d both make joint decisions about purchases. The thing is, we never really narrowed down how much we’d actually be willing to spend, or what we’d agree to buy, or how often we’d dip into our wallets.
So then the idea we often talked about but never got around to seriously developing — the word everyone dreads but everyone knows they need to survive in this world — it became a reality for us a little more than a month ago.
A BUDGET. That’s right. We’re finally on a budget.
I can’t say it’s been smooth sailing just yet. Fortunately, we’re using a Microsoft Excel sheet to keep track of our monthly expenses in a variety of categories, including rent, renter’s insurance, utilities, cable and Internet, gas, groceries and tithes. And I’m proud to say that we’re scraping up the extra money we have every month to go toward savings for retirement (God knows we’ll need that!), emergencies and even vacations. But we’ve hit a few bumps along the way, which have only shown us that we can never really plan a month’s worth of spending exactly.
Take, for instance, the weekend we had to spend about $200 on my husband’s black suit for a church choir program. Or the time my husband decided to buy a backup hard drive after getting repeated error messages on his computer for the past year. Or the time we had to shell out a few hundred dollars to get my husband’s front car bumper fixed and get my own car’s worn serpentine belt replaced. Hey, that’s no chump change for us.
But while shuffling between being “dead in the red” and then “back in the black,” we’ve felt the self-actualizing victories of successfully pinching every penny to stay within budget, or having a triumphant week where we actually didn’t go over our food/entertainment budget (thank you Jimmy John’s!)
At least now we know where our money is going and how much more we’ll need to save to meet our larger goals for a house/family in the next few years. Who knows, maybe we’ll even start our own business? (My husband can cook some pretty good Chicken Francese!) As our finances continue to get more complex, maybe a financial planner on Angie’s List could actually help us, too. The good thing about my current math work is I don’t have to worry about taking a test in 60 minutes. I just have to make sure we don’t go bankrupt.
YaShekia is an associate editor for
Angie’s List magazine. Her favorite movie is The Temptations, and she loves riding roller coasters, singing and dancing.
I use my Angie’s List membership to find great service companies. That’s a no-brainer. I also use it to see how much my home-improvement dreams will cost.
For example, we need a fence to keep our puppy Boo Radley in and nosy neighbors out. Approximate cost? If we go with chainlink (which we won’t), it could start around $1,000. Fancy ornamental steel fencing? Roughly, a whopping $5,000. (Not going with that either.) A wooden privacy fence can cost around $2,400. (That’s more like it.)
Those are figures from one local company on the List who built fences for members. Continue reading ‘Cold, hard facts from the List about fencing’
Mandy Miller is senior online editor for Angie's List publication department. When she's not focusing on the
magazine's website and other online offerings, she's tackling a mounting list of home improvements she thinks she can do herself. Plus, she really likes to ride her bike, play with her puppy, Boo Radley, and take naps.
If money management is a sport in which we’re all players, then I’m like some limp-wristed bench warmer in an oversized Michael Jordan jersey continually lobbing free throws at the wrong end of the court. I’ve never been good at keeping my finances straight; it’s been a long history of overdraft charges and living paycheck-to-paycheck ever since I’ve been old enough to hold a job. And while eleven years is enough time for most people to get a handle on the simple idea of debits and credits, my learning curve seems to be bending in the wrong direction. Continue reading ‘Money Talks…’
Lindsay is the publication assistant for
Angie's List magazine. She has a dog, Clio, whom she found on the street, pregnant, in front of the Blue House. Lindsay loves eating anything homemade, especially salads, and her favorite movie is The Constant Gardener. Coincidence? Her favorite place is the South of France.
One day, I’m going to retire. This day is by no means in the foreseeable future, but it’s out there. Taunting me. It knows I’ll be well into my golden years by the time I can afford to leave the workforce. It knows I’ll probably have more medications and doctor’s appointments by the time I punch my last timecard. However, the one thing my retirement day does not know for sure is how much money is going to be socked away in the National Bank of Staci.
Financial planning is not my strong suit. Continue reading ‘Richie Rich? Um, maybe not quite yet.’
Staci is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. Her favorite foods are sushi and chocolate (but not together). Staci enjoys mowing the lawn, and she can also make a mean s'more.
Spending five hours at the mall isn’t how I’d spend the typical Saturday, but this past weekend I was on a mission: Buy summer clothes for my upcoming trip to Mexico.
After two stores, I was doing quite well. I found a dress for my friend’s destination wedding at a reasonable price. Before I handed my debit card to the lady, she asked: “Would you like to save an additional 20 percent?” “No thanks,” I responded. I knew she would be onto the next spiel: “All you have to do is open a credit card with us today.” Continue reading ‘Credit card pushers’
Kristy is deputy managing editor at
Angie's List magazine. She has two rottweilers, Bud and Moto, and enjoys playing mom to her rott-en, lovable pups. Taking the plunge into homeownership last year was a huge wake up call for Kristy. Thankfully, she says, she not only has a handy fiancé, but a handy tool called Angie’s List as well.
So I’ve been in my new place a month now, just a couple of blocks away from the Blue House. In keeping with such descriptive names as the Yellow House and, of course, the Blue House, my home is known as the Pink House, despite my best efforts to get such terms as Poguetopia or Pogue’s Secret Villain Headquarters into the regular discourse.
The nearness to work is by far the coolest thing about Pogue HQthe Pink House. The sheer change in gasoline costs alone, from my previous 25-mile-each-way drive, makes a significant difference. And with the current pump crunch and gas prices sailing past $4 in some places, every gallon counts. Continue reading ‘Fuel economy’
Paul is senior staff writer at
Angie's List magazine.
His favorite album is Blondie's "Parallel Lines," he's more obsessed with
Doctor Who than any American has a right to be, and his desk at Angie's List is guarded by (toy) robots.
