Last night, my wife and I were going over our budget plans, deciding how much we were willing to sacrifice to get out of debt faster. I could tell that what I was suggesting about it was putting a lot of stress on her, and I stopped and said, "Where's the book?" referring to The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. She told me and I went to get it. I started to read at the passage that explains what the three uses of money are:
1) To have FUN
2) To INVEST
3) To GIVE
I wanted to read that chapter to her because those three uses are very much in line with how I think. I want wealth, but not because I want to be rich. I want to be able to take care of my family without borrowing other people's money, but after that I want to be able to help the world around me. When I was younger, I wanted to write for a living in the hopes of becoming well known and perhaps wealthy so I could actually help people with my knowledge and wealth. My writing skills were not what they needed to be, so that dream went by the wayside, but I still would like to have the ability to help people and organizations that I believe in or care about. I have seen how much my father has done for others in my life, and his influence has changed lives for the better. He has never had to be ruthless or cruel to build wealth, and he has lived as a humble, honest man of integrity. He has given a great deal to his university, to scholarships, and to people down on their luck. I have always wanted to have the same ability, but I have lacked the means. Dave Ramsey has shown me how I can get there - and what he teaches is very much in line with what I already believed on the matter - and given me hope that the day will come when I can honor my father's legacy of goodness.
It is good to enjoy wealth, to a point. If a person has made millions, or even hundreds of thousands, they should be able to enjoy some luxuries now and then. It is good to invest because it helps others build their ventures and allows the investor to grow wealth along with those ventures. Investing is how money begins to work for someone instead of someone having to work for money. The most enjoyable, enriching, positive experience with money, though, in my experience, comes from giving it away. I have felt the joy of receiving generosity from others - I went to college on scholarships and an assistantship in graduate school - and I have had seen the appreciation in the eyes of recipients of scholarships when I got to hand them checks at awards ceremonies. I have seen the tears when I had the privilege of dropping off food and toys to a family who would not have had Christmas without it. I have felt the blessings of service and of giving throughout my life, and I want to have wealth so I can share it.
I want to have a Total Money Makeover because I know that wealth can be tremendously rewarding when it is handled well, and it can be the key to bringing positive change to a world in such desperate need. I recommend that anyone who has doubts about Dave Ramsey's views read the second to last chapter in the book which describes the three uses of money. If tears don't well up... I won't make a character judgment. Truly, though, I believe in what Dave Ramsey teaches because he is not trying to make corporate moguls who crush people who get in their way. He is trying to help good people become wealthy so they can share their goodness. What a wonderful message of hope, but not empty promises, but real hope that tomorrow can be better for all of us. I can think of no better idea of success.
-- Robert
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Approaching Debt Freedom (sort of)
I love to listen to calls on Dave Ramsey's show on Friday because that is the day when people call to scream "WE'RE DEBT FREE!" I completely empathize with the sentiment of wanting to make that statement. My only problem with making it, though, is that people make it before they truly are. They don't consider having a mortgage as not being debt free. I definitely consider my mortgage when thinking about debt, because it weighs on me more than any other debt I have ever had. Looking at a payment breakdown and seeing well over half the principal and interest going to interest, and then another chunk going to escrow, it feels like the payments will never end. I hate the idea of being a slave to anyone or anything, and debt makes me feel like a slave. So I want to call and screams "WE ONLY OWE ON THE HOUSE!" in a few weeks, but that doesn't sound nearly as powerful. So, my phone call on debt freedom will just have to wait.
How long will it wait? I now have three timelines outlined for our mortgage payoff. We can live reasonably well, pay a lot extra, and be done with it in just about four years. Eight years to pay off a thirty-year mortgage feels pretty good, and not suffering too badly to do it sounds great. But somehow I didn't feel like we were really getting in the mindset of a Total Money Makeover if we had a lot of nonessential spending still built into our budget, so I examined it again. This time, I came up with a timeline of around three years, which requires us to avoid spending money on a home improvement project we had in mind until we're done, and generally cuts out any excess above necessities, a small entertainment budget, and two vacations. Still, I wanted to see if I could come up with a way to break the three-year barrier. So I reduced the spending to essentials, one inexpensive vacation a year (think, visiting relatives), and all our entertainment budget stripped down to only include one major fun thing a month that we have committed to doing, but not much of anything else.
Two years and three months came back. I checked my inputs, thinking that couldn't really be true. Still, the chart showed two years and three months. Could we live like no one else for two years with the goal being to live like no one else forever after (across the bottom of every page in Dave Ramsey's book it says "live like no one else, so you can live like no one else"). Somehow, I think I could. I have been a college student living on a tight budget twice. My wife has lived on a tight budget much more than I have. Our kids probably wouldn't notice much if we cut a lot of the excess out of our lifestyle for a couple of years, and it would be good for them to see us do it. Children who see their parents pinch pennies learn to do it themselves in many cases. If we teach them why, they certainly have a chance to understand the value of sacrifice, which is a good lesson for anyone to learn.
Can we do it? Can we really pay off our house that fast? My mind says "Just Do It!" like a Nike Ad. My heart worries for my wife and children and the things they'll give up (my own sacrifices are much easier to me than anything I can ask of them). Still, two years compared to fifteen or twenty feels like a wonderfully short time. Can we do it? Here's hoping.
-- Robert
How long will it wait? I now have three timelines outlined for our mortgage payoff. We can live reasonably well, pay a lot extra, and be done with it in just about four years. Eight years to pay off a thirty-year mortgage feels pretty good, and not suffering too badly to do it sounds great. But somehow I didn't feel like we were really getting in the mindset of a Total Money Makeover if we had a lot of nonessential spending still built into our budget, so I examined it again. This time, I came up with a timeline of around three years, which requires us to avoid spending money on a home improvement project we had in mind until we're done, and generally cuts out any excess above necessities, a small entertainment budget, and two vacations. Still, I wanted to see if I could come up with a way to break the three-year barrier. So I reduced the spending to essentials, one inexpensive vacation a year (think, visiting relatives), and all our entertainment budget stripped down to only include one major fun thing a month that we have committed to doing, but not much of anything else.
Two years and three months came back. I checked my inputs, thinking that couldn't really be true. Still, the chart showed two years and three months. Could we live like no one else for two years with the goal being to live like no one else forever after (across the bottom of every page in Dave Ramsey's book it says "live like no one else, so you can live like no one else"). Somehow, I think I could. I have been a college student living on a tight budget twice. My wife has lived on a tight budget much more than I have. Our kids probably wouldn't notice much if we cut a lot of the excess out of our lifestyle for a couple of years, and it would be good for them to see us do it. Children who see their parents pinch pennies learn to do it themselves in many cases. If we teach them why, they certainly have a chance to understand the value of sacrifice, which is a good lesson for anyone to learn.
Can we do it? Can we really pay off our house that fast? My mind says "Just Do It!" like a Nike Ad. My heart worries for my wife and children and the things they'll give up (my own sacrifices are much easier to me than anything I can ask of them). Still, two years compared to fifteen or twenty feels like a wonderfully short time. Can we do it? Here's hoping.
-- Robert
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wronged, Hump Day Hmm
Today's Hump Day asks us to "...describe an incident where you or someone was wronged, in what would normally be considered outside of the social norms, and how you reacted, how you wish you reacted and what is possibly the best way to inform these idiots that they screwed up if that is even possible."
I certainly have several that immediately come to mind, but I will write about one of the most egregious because it still bothers me. For the record, I cannot prove I am right about this situation, but I have reasonable confidence that what I am writing about here is the truth.
When I was in graduate school, I took a course in Human Resources as part of a sequence of courses required to get a specialization in risk management. Of all the business courses I recall taking, I felt this ranked among the most worthless to me. The professor was terrible, and she never really attempted to teach, but instead had guest lecturers who worked in certain areas of benefits to discuss their line of work. The final project of the class was to create a benefits package for an employee pool with a given quantity of dollars and certain parameters to meet. The project was worth at least 40% of our grade. My team for this assignment included me (who has never had a job in corporate America with benefits), a Navy Officer (who never had any benefits before his time in the service), and an Indian (who came to America to get his education and had no familiarity with benefits here). Despite our lack of familiarity, we were able to create a package that met all the basic requirements of the assignment - within budget, certain minimum coverages, and certain options available - and certainly did not demonstrate we had not made a strong effort to accomplish the assigned task.
We got a 40. For those who have never attended graduate school, most professors do not give grades below C's because an overall grade below a C does not count towards graduation and can sometimes lead to dismissal from the program. To give a 40 on such an assignment suggested we had turned in something made of paper mache and crayon, not a multi-page report complete with charts, budgets, and writing explaining the package. We were all literally shocked. It could have kept the Navy Officer from having his tuition paid that term. It was not a small matter to receive such a grade. We were given the opportunity to review the grade in her office, and there was almost no writing on the report itself. Just a big 40 on the grade page with a few notes. We appealed the grade to the department, and we were denied. The professor who explained it to us told us as delicately as he felt he could not to pursue it further, because no one would overrule this professor. It was the only class she taught, after all, because her primary role was the Dean of Research. She decided who got what funding in the College of Business. No one would overrule her for three graduate students who would be gone in six months regardless. So, we dropped it.
I was talking to another classmate one day about this situation, and he shed some light on why our grade might have been so terrible. One of his jobs was to type up written evaluations given by students just before the end of class. They were typed to protect the anonymity of the student giving the evaluation in the hopes of getting an honest review of the professor's performance and the course's value overall. What this classmate told me, though, was he regularly saw professors come in and demand to see the written evaluation after reading the typed version. The reason, of course, to read the written version was to compare it to hand-writing and decide who wrote it. My evaluation of the course was scathing. I suggested the professor never be allowed near students again, or at least not until she'd had a course or two on proper teaching methods. I also suggested the course be removed from the requirement for the sequence because it had very little to do with the other two courses involved and seemed to have been tacked on primarily for the purposes of giving the Dean of Research a class to teach once a year. I was mostly tactful, but I was not kind in my remarks. Clearly she had read my remarks and chosen to retaliate on my grade.
After learning the true cause of my grade, I decided to do nothing more. I knew no one would care what had happened, and I was not going to risk my reputation and possibly my degree over my evaluation. Instead, I chose to inform every student who called to invite me to give more to my college - which I dearly love - that I would not be giving an extra dime to my school until she retired. I could not, in good conscience, support my school while they kept such an unethical person in such a high ranking position, or on staff at all. I smiled when I read of her retirement this year in the school magazine. I may not give any time soon in large amounts, but at least she is gone from the ranks of teaching, and gone from my school.
How could I have handled it better? I probably should have done what most people do and written a bland review of the class. I would have gotten a B overall instead of a C for the course, and my transcript would have looked better. That certainly was the wiser course of action. The problem is, to answer the last part of the Hump Day Hmm question, is that to take the wiser course would not have helped anyone know how terrible that course was. It did not let anyone know that a person of high rank was obviously doing something highly unethical. If I were a brave soul, I might have gone to the Associate Dean (her immediate boss) or the Dean of the College of Business, or even the University President. But I know the politics of education too well. I know nothing would have come of it. Or if it did, I would more likely be remembered as "that disgruntled MBA student who went to war over a grade" instead of my other legacies. I am glad I took the path I did and just moved past it. I just sometimes wonder who else might have suffered at the hands of such an incompetent professor because I did.
-- Robert
I certainly have several that immediately come to mind, but I will write about one of the most egregious because it still bothers me. For the record, I cannot prove I am right about this situation, but I have reasonable confidence that what I am writing about here is the truth.
When I was in graduate school, I took a course in Human Resources as part of a sequence of courses required to get a specialization in risk management. Of all the business courses I recall taking, I felt this ranked among the most worthless to me. The professor was terrible, and she never really attempted to teach, but instead had guest lecturers who worked in certain areas of benefits to discuss their line of work. The final project of the class was to create a benefits package for an employee pool with a given quantity of dollars and certain parameters to meet. The project was worth at least 40% of our grade. My team for this assignment included me (who has never had a job in corporate America with benefits), a Navy Officer (who never had any benefits before his time in the service), and an Indian (who came to America to get his education and had no familiarity with benefits here). Despite our lack of familiarity, we were able to create a package that met all the basic requirements of the assignment - within budget, certain minimum coverages, and certain options available - and certainly did not demonstrate we had not made a strong effort to accomplish the assigned task.
We got a 40. For those who have never attended graduate school, most professors do not give grades below C's because an overall grade below a C does not count towards graduation and can sometimes lead to dismissal from the program. To give a 40 on such an assignment suggested we had turned in something made of paper mache and crayon, not a multi-page report complete with charts, budgets, and writing explaining the package. We were all literally shocked. It could have kept the Navy Officer from having his tuition paid that term. It was not a small matter to receive such a grade. We were given the opportunity to review the grade in her office, and there was almost no writing on the report itself. Just a big 40 on the grade page with a few notes. We appealed the grade to the department, and we were denied. The professor who explained it to us told us as delicately as he felt he could not to pursue it further, because no one would overrule this professor. It was the only class she taught, after all, because her primary role was the Dean of Research. She decided who got what funding in the College of Business. No one would overrule her for three graduate students who would be gone in six months regardless. So, we dropped it.
I was talking to another classmate one day about this situation, and he shed some light on why our grade might have been so terrible. One of his jobs was to type up written evaluations given by students just before the end of class. They were typed to protect the anonymity of the student giving the evaluation in the hopes of getting an honest review of the professor's performance and the course's value overall. What this classmate told me, though, was he regularly saw professors come in and demand to see the written evaluation after reading the typed version. The reason, of course, to read the written version was to compare it to hand-writing and decide who wrote it. My evaluation of the course was scathing. I suggested the professor never be allowed near students again, or at least not until she'd had a course or two on proper teaching methods. I also suggested the course be removed from the requirement for the sequence because it had very little to do with the other two courses involved and seemed to have been tacked on primarily for the purposes of giving the Dean of Research a class to teach once a year. I was mostly tactful, but I was not kind in my remarks. Clearly she had read my remarks and chosen to retaliate on my grade.
After learning the true cause of my grade, I decided to do nothing more. I knew no one would care what had happened, and I was not going to risk my reputation and possibly my degree over my evaluation. Instead, I chose to inform every student who called to invite me to give more to my college - which I dearly love - that I would not be giving an extra dime to my school until she retired. I could not, in good conscience, support my school while they kept such an unethical person in such a high ranking position, or on staff at all. I smiled when I read of her retirement this year in the school magazine. I may not give any time soon in large amounts, but at least she is gone from the ranks of teaching, and gone from my school.
How could I have handled it better? I probably should have done what most people do and written a bland review of the class. I would have gotten a B overall instead of a C for the course, and my transcript would have looked better. That certainly was the wiser course of action. The problem is, to answer the last part of the Hump Day Hmm question, is that to take the wiser course would not have helped anyone know how terrible that course was. It did not let anyone know that a person of high rank was obviously doing something highly unethical. If I were a brave soul, I might have gone to the Associate Dean (her immediate boss) or the Dean of the College of Business, or even the University President. But I know the politics of education too well. I know nothing would have come of it. Or if it did, I would more likely be remembered as "that disgruntled MBA student who went to war over a grade" instead of my other legacies. I am glad I took the path I did and just moved past it. I just sometimes wonder who else might have suffered at the hands of such an incompetent professor because I did.
-- Robert
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Success Techniques
Because the general theme of this blog is to discuss personal success (Making That Money) in any of those environs, I would like to discuss what made the women or men I know successful in my opinion. I have seen people succeed in several ways that are most easily broken into stereotypes, though certainly the most successful knew when to use each of these styles at different times.
The first technique I have seen people use is to focus on being the most knowledgeable or well read on the subject being discussed, or at least be the most versed in written material on it. An example in a classroom would be a student who read all the required material, sometimes the supporting material, and took extensive notes before a class ever held a discussion on it. I went to school with several young people who made sure they would not be blind-sided by not reading the materials. In a working environment, these people will have read all the memos sent, literature provided, and often whatever else they might be able to find on a given subject before a board meeting. I always admired the work ethic involved in maintaining such a high level of knowledge based on written materials, probably because I was never one to read like that myself. The major downfall I saw to success with this technique, though, came when further critical thinking was required to demonstrate understanding, and many times the "well-read" student could not extend the knowledge in the book to consider new scenarios. Knowing is often better than not knowing, but being able to use knowledge is definitely important to finding success.
The second technique I have seen people use to find success is to build the best relationship with the person in charge (or in relationships, simply to find the most advantageous friends to achieve popularity). Some would call this technique the "teacher's pet" routine. By being the most favored student (or employee), choice assignments are often easier to come by and elevated status follows. An example would be a student who, because of a teacher's fondness, got picked to attend certain camps or meetings, or who received higher grades on assignments. In a work setting, being the boss's favorite could mean promotion opportunities, lighter workloads, receiving credit for the work of others, and many other advantages. I have seen many men and women utilize a teacher's pet technique to go far in life. The downside of this technique is that it turns off many teachers, bosses, or individuals (those who are popular often avoid opportunists) who do not like sycophants. Being the favorite of one person can be disastrous when dealing with others as well, because it creates resentment on the part of those who are not favored and because it can tie the pet to that teacher, boss, or friend. In professional sports, many coaching staffs rise and fall together, meaning the assistants are fired with the head coach.
The next technique I have seen work is most easily called the "dumb blond" routine, though it can be employed by people of any hair color. Sometimes it is easier to exude sexiness along with stupidity in the hopes that someone else will do the actual work on a project or assignment. I remember one young girl who got into Duke University pre-med with a 1400 plus SAT who regularly would pretend not to understand an assignment in the hopes (often successfully) of getting one of the smarter kids (often ones labelled as nerds) to do it because they just appreciated the attention. I have seen athletes use their status as big men on campus to get other people to do their assignments in exchange for the benefits of their friendship. In a work environment, a male co-worker of mine regularly played to my ego by suggesting "Well, you're so much better at this and do it so much faster, so will you do it?" I think he had used that to find success in the past, but it did not work so well in this case, because a month later I had his job. The danger of the dumb blond routine is two-fold: people actually believe the image over time and cease to rely on the person's knowledge, and (as mentioned) it can lead to dismissal when it becomes obvious the person does not pull their weight.
One obvious technique I have seen for achieving success is expertise. When a person truly achieves an expert knowledge of a subject, success very often follows. One motivational speaker explained to a club I attended, "Sinatra never set up his own piano." His point was that Sinatra became an expert in the field of entertainment, and he let other people who specialized in other areas support his success. By focusing on his own talents, he became a great success in his field. Professional athletes demonstrate quite often that dedication can pay huge dividends. Other stories, such as Bill Gates and Michael Dell in the computer field, show how passion for a subject can bring success. The danger of the "expert" technique is that it often leaves out development in many other areas. Family is left behind, social skills may be less developed, or knowledge in general may suffer as one subject is mastered. Nevertheless, without experts, we would have far less innovation in the world.
I started writing this post as it related to women, hoping to bring in the different ways males find success, and I found the different roles of success broke down into similar stereotypes. What worked for one gender often worked for the other. The differences between the genders probably came in the perception of their success. Women who succeed using the same technique as men might not receive the same praise as men. I also realize that not all forms of success are broken into these stereotypes. I could list a dozen more and still have only scratched the surface. That's the great thing about success: there are many paths to finding it, if the passion and desire exist to do so. Certainly some receive more opportunities at success because of good fortune (or literal fortune in terms of wealth), but with those chances can often come just as many downfalls if the desire is lacking.
Desire is absolutely the key element I find in all techniques people use to achieve success. Even someone who finds success by winning the lottery (though whether that constitutes success is an entirely different discussion) had to have the desire to win demonstrated by buying a ticket. Without trivializing desire too much, though, I truly do think that is what so many in today's world feel has been beaten out of them. People content themselves, or worse relegate themselves, to careers they do not love just to pay the bills, and over time stress builds in their lives as they find less and less reason to get out of bed in the morning. Why else do we need so many types of alarm clocks and stimulants to awaken ourselves each day? Here's to a world where the joy of living is stimulant enough to jump out of bed each day, kiss your spouse and children, and go forth into the world to a true calling, not just a J O B.
-- Robert
The first technique I have seen people use is to focus on being the most knowledgeable or well read on the subject being discussed, or at least be the most versed in written material on it. An example in a classroom would be a student who read all the required material, sometimes the supporting material, and took extensive notes before a class ever held a discussion on it. I went to school with several young people who made sure they would not be blind-sided by not reading the materials. In a working environment, these people will have read all the memos sent, literature provided, and often whatever else they might be able to find on a given subject before a board meeting. I always admired the work ethic involved in maintaining such a high level of knowledge based on written materials, probably because I was never one to read like that myself. The major downfall I saw to success with this technique, though, came when further critical thinking was required to demonstrate understanding, and many times the "well-read" student could not extend the knowledge in the book to consider new scenarios. Knowing is often better than not knowing, but being able to use knowledge is definitely important to finding success.
The second technique I have seen people use to find success is to build the best relationship with the person in charge (or in relationships, simply to find the most advantageous friends to achieve popularity). Some would call this technique the "teacher's pet" routine. By being the most favored student (or employee), choice assignments are often easier to come by and elevated status follows. An example would be a student who, because of a teacher's fondness, got picked to attend certain camps or meetings, or who received higher grades on assignments. In a work setting, being the boss's favorite could mean promotion opportunities, lighter workloads, receiving credit for the work of others, and many other advantages. I have seen many men and women utilize a teacher's pet technique to go far in life. The downside of this technique is that it turns off many teachers, bosses, or individuals (those who are popular often avoid opportunists) who do not like sycophants. Being the favorite of one person can be disastrous when dealing with others as well, because it creates resentment on the part of those who are not favored and because it can tie the pet to that teacher, boss, or friend. In professional sports, many coaching staffs rise and fall together, meaning the assistants are fired with the head coach.
The next technique I have seen work is most easily called the "dumb blond" routine, though it can be employed by people of any hair color. Sometimes it is easier to exude sexiness along with stupidity in the hopes that someone else will do the actual work on a project or assignment. I remember one young girl who got into Duke University pre-med with a 1400 plus SAT who regularly would pretend not to understand an assignment in the hopes (often successfully) of getting one of the smarter kids (often ones labelled as nerds) to do it because they just appreciated the attention. I have seen athletes use their status as big men on campus to get other people to do their assignments in exchange for the benefits of their friendship. In a work environment, a male co-worker of mine regularly played to my ego by suggesting "Well, you're so much better at this and do it so much faster, so will you do it?" I think he had used that to find success in the past, but it did not work so well in this case, because a month later I had his job. The danger of the dumb blond routine is two-fold: people actually believe the image over time and cease to rely on the person's knowledge, and (as mentioned) it can lead to dismissal when it becomes obvious the person does not pull their weight.
One obvious technique I have seen for achieving success is expertise. When a person truly achieves an expert knowledge of a subject, success very often follows. One motivational speaker explained to a club I attended, "Sinatra never set up his own piano." His point was that Sinatra became an expert in the field of entertainment, and he let other people who specialized in other areas support his success. By focusing on his own talents, he became a great success in his field. Professional athletes demonstrate quite often that dedication can pay huge dividends. Other stories, such as Bill Gates and Michael Dell in the computer field, show how passion for a subject can bring success. The danger of the "expert" technique is that it often leaves out development in many other areas. Family is left behind, social skills may be less developed, or knowledge in general may suffer as one subject is mastered. Nevertheless, without experts, we would have far less innovation in the world.
I started writing this post as it related to women, hoping to bring in the different ways males find success, and I found the different roles of success broke down into similar stereotypes. What worked for one gender often worked for the other. The differences between the genders probably came in the perception of their success. Women who succeed using the same technique as men might not receive the same praise as men. I also realize that not all forms of success are broken into these stereotypes. I could list a dozen more and still have only scratched the surface. That's the great thing about success: there are many paths to finding it, if the passion and desire exist to do so. Certainly some receive more opportunities at success because of good fortune (or literal fortune in terms of wealth), but with those chances can often come just as many downfalls if the desire is lacking.
Desire is absolutely the key element I find in all techniques people use to achieve success. Even someone who finds success by winning the lottery (though whether that constitutes success is an entirely different discussion) had to have the desire to win demonstrated by buying a ticket. Without trivializing desire too much, though, I truly do think that is what so many in today's world feel has been beaten out of them. People content themselves, or worse relegate themselves, to careers they do not love just to pay the bills, and over time stress builds in their lives as they find less and less reason to get out of bed in the morning. Why else do we need so many types of alarm clocks and stimulants to awaken ourselves each day? Here's to a world where the joy of living is stimulant enough to jump out of bed each day, kiss your spouse and children, and go forth into the world to a true calling, not just a J O B.
-- Robert
Repost
Yes, I realize I posted today's post before, but it got no replies, so I felt like reusing it. Feel free to ignore it the second time.
-- Robert
-- Robert
Monday, March 10, 2008
Reasonable or Rationalized
When doing a budget, I find myself constantly pondering this question: is my plan truly reasonable, or am I rationalizing what I want? Am I making reasonable plans for expenditure, saving, and investing that will be what is best, or am I rationalizing how important it is to have certain creature comforts in my budget to actually tolerate living by it? Round and round it goes, what I decide, only I know. Well, my wife and I know, and we decide together. I am sure we have a heavy dose of both reasonable and rationalized.
So today, if anyone is willing (and I am fine with anonymous responses if it promotes honesty without concern of anyone knowing), I would love to know typical spending on food, clothing, and anything else tracked in a family budget (preferably with an explanation of family size and income). I have ideas on what we spend, but I would love to compare it to other people's budgets to establish better guidelines for my own budgets. This post is probably the most vague I have done, so I want to clarify: I am asking anyone willing to share their budgets to do so in the comments section. Any budgeting advice is obviously welcome, too. Anyone else looking for help can find it here, too, if enough people share.
-- Robert
So today, if anyone is willing (and I am fine with anonymous responses if it promotes honesty without concern of anyone knowing), I would love to know typical spending on food, clothing, and anything else tracked in a family budget (preferably with an explanation of family size and income). I have ideas on what we spend, but I would love to compare it to other people's budgets to establish better guidelines for my own budgets. This post is probably the most vague I have done, so I want to clarify: I am asking anyone willing to share their budgets to do so in the comments section. Any budgeting advice is obviously welcome, too. Anyone else looking for help can find it here, too, if enough people share.
-- Robert
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Ran Out of Steam
Today was a true day of rest for me. After a busy day shopping for appliances, going to a museum and a playground, and generally trekking all over a nearby city, I was tired. I had a lot of fun with my kids, who were wonderful all day. I was glad to have a day mostly dedicated to spending time with them. I will try to come up with more to say for tomorrow, but for today I am all out of ideas.
-- Robert
-- Robert
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