Christa, Day 67: Now That's the Kind of Simple You Can Put in the Bank

Simplify your financial life. Article from a financial planning expert here.

Hmm, looks like we don't have a problem here.

Except, I suppose, for the reality of multiple accounts. When the husband and I married, the bank for some reason would not let us consolidate our accounts, so we have two savings accounts in addition to our one checking account. Which is fine, because being able to do small auto transfers to two accounts has actually let us cut down on fees.

Then we have a higher-yield savings account where we keep our actually savings. A small account with an investment firm. (Very small, but educational.)

And then there are the accounts that are in the husband's name but managed by his family - an IRA, I think. Maybe others. He's not entirely clear on it, which I think is slightly odd since if I had an account in my name I'd want to know exactly what it was so I was aware of it. Especially an IRA, since why not add to that?

Anyway, I just took steps to find out exactly what is going on in that arena so he and I have that information. At which point we can FINALLY make a will. Yay?

Julia's Day 67: In which I trail off

Yeah, not especially financially complicated here, even with the whole currently-carrying-two-mortgages thing.

Christa, Day 66: MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.... MONEY!

For the most part, I love organizational tasks, so it's kind of surprising how much I dislike things like balancing the checkbook or making a budget spreadsheet. Chalk it up to my hatred of money. No, scratch that. I adore money. I just hate the necessity of money and how obsessed everyone is with showing off how much they have of it. The obsession with money leads to people overspending to feel wealthier and so on. Do you know what would make me feel wealthy? Gobs and gobs of money in bank and retirement accounts, my stock portfolio, and so on.

Wait, where was I?

Simplify your budget. Many people skip budgeting (which is very important) because it’s too hard or too complicated. Read more here.

Yeah, budgeting. My husband was nice enough to keep a budget going for some number of months so we could have a better idea of where our money is going. And that was great. Very revealing. The thing is, we're not big spenders. Leo mentions how most people's money downfall is "fun money". Our fun money pretty much equals a couple of sodas and fries at the occasional trip to the zoo, which is essentially free since we're members and go often enough to make it worth it. It's not that we're not fun people - we're just good at making our own fun.

So honestly, I don't feel that inclined to budget. It's actually the one thing we ought to be doing that we're not, according to Dave Ramsey, as we roll our debt snowball. I'm too lazy. And I dislike money, as I said. And the husband is too busy these days to keep on top of the old spreadsheets. I want to try the zero sum budget system recommended in the Total Money Makeover, but for that to happen we both need to sit down together. Which by itself has been difficult to accomplish lately.

Our budget? Currently adds up to one simple directive: Don't spend money on stuff you don't need. The end. Pretty simple, na?

Julia's Day 66: In which I don't really budget

To be fair, it's hard to budget when you're still in the middle of moving. We don't even know what our take-home income will be yet, since taxes/benefits-related expenses are always a bit of a wildcard. Sigh.

If nothing else, I do have an account with Mint.com now.

Christa, Day 65: A Super Mean Mode of Passive Income Generation, Right Before My Eyes

I had so much I wanted to write today about passive income streams and how I want them. How I'm always on the lookout for the perfect passive income opportunity. Obviously, I have not found it yet because I'm still dragging my tush to work three days a week and working from home the other two.

Today's simplification idea:

Strive to automate your income. This isn’t the easiest task, but it can (and has) been done. I’ve been working towards it myself. Article here.

So why am I not laying out all of my ideas for you here? Because one of the links in the article formerly linked above had a malware script built in. No need to click anything to install, it just does it automatically as soon as you visit the link. Luckily, all said malware does is mark all of the files on your computer as hidden so it can show you a super not legit looking pop up that says they'll recover your files for $85. Which they probably do, since those files were never actually gone.

What is slightly funny about all the anxiety the whole thing caused me is that since the whole process is likely automated, from "erasure" to "recovery," someone out there discovered a pretty slick mode of acquiring passive income from unsuspecting people.

Ha?

Julia's Day 65: In which I lament my lack of marketable skills

It's okay, even if a comprehensive book on miscarriage wouldn't sell, I can always fall back on the hope that people will just spontaneously throw money at me for being awesome.

Julia's day 57: In which I lament the untimely death of my couch

Focusing on quality over quantity is funny when it comes to spending. You might spend more initially, but you end up spending less over the long run because you don't have to replace things as often. True story!

Julia's Days 17 and 18: Because yesterday's post apparently never went through

Yo, dawg. I heard you liked blog entries about people's efforts to simplify their lives. So I posted an entry about limiting spending here, and one about freeing up time here, so you can read blog posts you might enjoy.