<$Tuesday, February 26, 2008$>
Goodness.
| Sorry for the silence, folks. I just needed to take a break from blogging for a while, to rest my brain and catch up on other stuff. Good news abounds. If you look over at the charts on the sidebar, you'll see that my net worth is up and my debt is down. Even better, yesterday I received a job promotion along with a pretty decent raise. It's not huge, but it is enough to make up for the extra withholdings we have this year after enrolling in my health plan's Flex Spending Account and adding Husband to my dental plan. This will significantly increase my overtime pay, too, so if I can rack up some extra work hours, we'll be in a pretty good place. This Friday we're getting our taxes done. Subsequently, next week we'll be finalizing our mortgage application. ...aaaand that just put me off on a whole ADD tangent where I spent the last hour looking at home listings. Every time I check them I land on a house that, based on the photos, I think I kinda love, and that is very affordable. It's an older home, though, built in the 1930s, and it's not in the best part of town (though it's not in the worst, either; and the sad fact is that unless you're talking gated McMansion subdivisions with 24/7 security guards, there is no such thing as a safe neighborhood in Tulsa these days), both of which would be a hard sell for Husband. Sigh. ANyway. Point is, 2008 is beginning to shape up into a pretty good year for us, financially speaking. I'm starting to get excited. Labels: goals, house-hunt, net worth, personal, tax time |
<$Thursday, February 14, 2008$>
Review: Creditloan.com
| I'm generally loathe to recommend borrowing money to anybody. There are of course circumstances where getting a loan is usually a necessary part of the process, such as going to college or buying a house. It can also be a really good idea to refinance and/or consolidate existing debts into a new loan with a lower interest rate. On the other hand, taking out a loan just so you can buy stuff, be it a new TV or a Wii for the kids or to satisfy your iPhone lust, is just a bad idea. Somewhere in the fuzzy middle are emergency and payday loans. I don't advocate them, but I'd be lying if I said I've never had to get them. I now know from experience that it's much, much better to use extra money in prosperous times to build up an emergency savings fund to get you through the lean times, rather than relying on credit cards or fast payday loans to cover emergencies and tight spots. Before you think I'm getting holier-than-thou about this, here's a shameful confession: I once used a payday loan to buy comic books. Yes, really. I was young, I was stupid--REALLY stupid when it came to money, and I had an addiction that I have since curbed. I knew the comic shop would only hold my stash for so long before they put it back up for sale, and that "so long" didn't stretch to my next payday. So, yes. I got a payday loan. I was at least smart enough to pay it back in full the day I got paid, though, so it's not a complete black mark on my financial record. It's more of a dark gray smudge. At any rate, I understand that there are LEGITIMATE reasons that people have for needing loans and not feeling like they have any other recourse. If you feel you're in such a situation, creditloan.com is a pretty good educational resource for information on payday loans, bad credit, debt consolidation and/or counseling, auto loans and more. It has a lot of ads from companies looking to sell you a lot of those things, but if you ignore those and read the articles, there's a lot of good information there, and some good resources to educate yourself. Because the best thing you can do before deciding to borrow money for ANYTHING is to study up and know exactly what you're getting yourself into, so that you can plan a strategy for getting yourself out. Labels: credit cards, debt consolidation, debt reduction, disclosure, loans |
Free Finance Book by Suze Orman
| Oprah's web site is offering a free .pdf download of Suze Orman's new book, Women & Money. It's available to download until tonight at 7:00 Central. Here's a direct link. I've already started reading it, and while it states that it's written specifically for women, I'm sure it contains advice that men can also apply to their finances, or to understanding and helping their partners' struggles with money. And it's free! I love free. |
<$Wednesday, February 13, 2008$>
Discount Diabetic Supplies
| In all fairness to my husband, one reason we spend so much on food is because he's diabetic, which requires some specialty shopping, especially given our current "lack of a real kitchen in which to cook real food" situation. This, of course, is not the only area where diabetes is expensive. Monitoring his glucose runs up a pretty good-sized bill, too. The monitors themselves don't tend to cost that much, but the manufacturers make up for that by charging out the wazoo for the testing strips. Take One Touch Ultra Strips, for instance, which retail for $52.99 for a box of 50--more than the meter that uses them. American Diabetes Wholesale has them going for only $34.65, which is a little more like it. All of their diabetes supplies are sold at pretty steep discounts, which has to be great news for the uninsured, especially given how widespread Type II diabetes is becoming in the US. Of course, the best way to save money on this stuff is not to become diabetic in the first place--something I have to watch out for in myself, because my doctor suspects I have a predisposition towards it. One of these days when we get ourselves that real kitchen, I think it will become a lot easier for us both to cook healthy meals and control this stuff through lifestyle and healthy eating choices (and to save money on food, too). But even then, staying on top of Husband's glucose levels will be key. These are supplies we'll most likely need for the rest of our lives. Even with insurance, it's good to find more affordable options. Labels: food problem, healthy living, resources, shopping |
The Food Problem: Keeping track of sales
| It's New Grocery Flier day. I'm not planning on buying any more groceries this week, but my husband has a habit of calling me up at the last minute with a list of things to pick up on the way home, so I want to be armed and ready with a list of what's on sale to steer him towards if he feels we absolutely must have more food in the stockpile before next payday. I've been having good luck with My Grocery Deals. It's similar to The Grocery Game and Coupon Mom, except that unlike the former it's free, and unlike the latter it's a lot more streamlined and easier to navigate (at least for me), and unlike either of the former it actually includes most of the grocery stores in my area. Once I registered and selected the stores where I prefer to shop, it started e-mailing me updates whenever any new sales prices get posted. When I log into the site it lets me organize deals by category, or by store, or I can search for specific products. Also, like both of the others, it includes a printable coupon gallery. It's pretty ADD-friendly, what with the e-mail notices, so that should keep me from forgetting all about sales and coupons. Slowly but surely, I'm getting on top of the food problem. Oh yes, I am. Labels: food problem, resources, spending |
<$Tuesday, February 12, 2008$>
Wikinvest
| Something else I lack confidence in is investing, especially in the stock market. Trying to make heads or tails of it all just makes my head hurt. I can't even figure out whether now is a good time to jump in and get started or not, what with the market fluctuating all over the place. If you're one for braving the market, though, you might want to check out Wikinvest, the investment wiki with plenty of info and research on just about every aspect of the market. The research articles on various companies provided there are pretty informative. Their research on Best Buy, for example, tells me everything I (or, more likely, my financial adviser) would need to know to make a decision about investing with the company, including a breakdown of their sources of revenue. Of course, it's no surprise that their biggest revenue source is consumer electronics at 41%; but I would have expected services such as Geek Squad and home theater installation to generate more than 6% of overall revenue. See? Shows how much I know. This site looks like a pretty good source with which to educate myself about the stock market. I'm way too risk-intolerant to try that kind of investing now, but maybe in time, after the economy, the market and my finances all become more stable, I'll be willing to give it a try. Labels: disclosure, educational, investing, resources |
Making money from hobbies: a little self-promotion, a lot of self-doubt
| I don't have nearly the time I'd like to be able to put into turning my knitting into some kind of job or career. This often bums me out quite a bit, because knitting is about the only thing I have as much passion for as I do for writing. That hasn't kept me from setting up an Etsy shop, though, but mine could be much, much better. I keep hoping that adding more items and improving the shop is something I'll have time for after we move and I get two extra hours back each day from not having to commute. Of course, that's what I always tell myself. I have skills--writing, web design, knitting, gift basket making, and more--that could be profitable for me. But it never happens, because I can't sell myself. More importantly, I can't sell myself to ME. For every one thing I can do that could be making me some extra money, I can always think of a dozen or more reasons why I can't, or shouldn't, even try it. I'm the queen of talking myself out of succeeding. If I don't buy myself, if I think I'm a fraud and don't believe I'm really qualified--regardless of how qualified I actually am--why should anybody else want to buy what I'm selling? I wish I could be more like my sister. She's talented. She takes gorgeous pictures. She runs her own portrait studio and wedding photography business. She also has tons more confidence than I do. I'm going to work on building my confidence in my talents. Hobbies can be a great way to make extra money, and I know I have things--marketable things--that I both enjoy and am good at. All I have to do is figure out how to make myself truly believe that. Labels: extra income, personal, self-promotion |
Better than it would have been a year ago...
| 60% Blog Quizzes at StructuredSettlement-Quotes.com It's not where I want to be, but it's better than it used to be. After the quiz I got a list of standard financial advice like paying off debt and setting major financial goals--which, working on it! Maybe if it's still around next year I'll go back and take the quiz again to see if my score improves. Meanwhile, I need to tear myself away from all of the other quizzes and get back to work. Labels: fun |
<$Monday, February 11, 2008$>
Weekend report
| Well, we got through the weekend without spending any money. Which isn't that much of an accomplishment, seeing as how we didn't go anywhere; but also seeing as we started out anticipating a pizza night and then decided against it, we still get to pat ourselves on the back. Tonight I've got to stop and pick a few things up for Husband, which is usual, but he kept his list really short, so he gets commended for that, too. And I'm going to eat a snack before I stop so I won't be tempted to deviate from the list. I did spend some money at woot! today (a site I normally do my best to avoid), but considering we've been wanting mp3 players forever and these were pretty decent ones going for under $10, I thought it was a justifiable splurge. I got one for each of us. Hopefully they'll arrive in time to load his up with love songs and give it to him for Valentine's day. Oh, and we also spent $90 at the vet Friday, getting Fizzgigg's thyroid tested, but that came out of the emergency fund. Hopefully, whatever's wrong with him won't be too costly to treat (we're still waiting for the test results), but whatever it is, we'll pay it. We just want our little guy well. :( |
<$Friday, February 8, 2008$>
New Feature: High Five Fridays
 For my Fridays on, I'm jumping on a new meme bandwagon and joining the gang at High Five Fridays in giving virtual high fives and shouts out to blogs and posts that have caught my attention throughout the week. My first high five goes out to Mrs. Micah for her post on Overcoming Imposter Syndrome, because man, do I ever need that advice. "Imposter Syndrome" is exactly what I run into whenever I think about starting a new venture; no matter how qualified I might actually be, I never believe I'm qualified enough, and that usually ends in convincing myself not to bother trying. That is NOT a recipe for success. Next goes to Douglas Cootey of The Splintered Mind, for introducing me to the TaDa List. So far, I'm liking this better than any other online to do list I've tried. I might actually manage to keep using this one. Thanks, Doug! Next up: Big Fat Deal, introduced to me last week via Poundy. I've struggled with my weight all my grown life, and my body image is something I'm just now coming to terms with. The attitude represented by this blog is both inspiring and refreshing. And the ladies who blog here are hella funny, too. Pioneer Woman Cooks gets a high five for all of the food lust she's inspired. Pure food porn, y'all. Guh. Not to mention a beautifully designed blog. And finally, high five to The Digerati Life for a good post on 12 effective ways to afford big ticket items. There are more good ideas in the comments, rent-to-own industry trolls notwithstanding. Find out how to give your High-Five Fridays here! The purpose of this meme is to give high-fives to 5 people, posts, blogs and/or websites you've admired during the week. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 5 high-fives on Friday. Trackbacks, pings, linky widgets, comment links accepted! Visiting fellow High-Fivers is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your High-Fives in others comments (please note if NWS). Find more High-Five Friday folks here! Labels: High Five Friday, link roundup |
Speaking of mortgages...
| *Sponsored Post* Ameritek has a good mortgage calculator that I've been playing with for the last bunch of minutes. It's a good way to see what we can expect our monthly payments will be based on various loan amounts, tax and interest rates, which is giving me a really good idea of how much house we can realistically and responsibly afford. Thankfully, we live in an area where the housing market hasn't been affected that much, and housing prices were already pretty low to begin with. So we shouldn't have too much trouble finding a nice starter home for relatively little. I can't imagine having to buy a house in California, where houses cost about 6 times what they run here. I've known people who moved here from California who were able to sell the modest home they lived in there and afford to build McMansions on substantial amounts of acreage here with their profits. Of course, if they'd stayed put they probably could have qualified for pretty decent rates on california reverse mortgages. Ameritek specializes in ca reverse mortgages, and they also handle reverse mortgages in Oregon, Washington and Colorado--all states with high property values. We actually do hope to live in California some day. My husband spent his formative years in Long Beach and the OC, and he would love nothing more than to move back there eventually. But that possibility is still a long way off. We need to focus on what we're able to do in the here and now. Labels: disclosure, loans |
Payday Report - First half of February '08
| I got paid this Wednesday, thank goodness. It was a longer-than-usual time between this payday and the last, and we failed at stretching the last paycheck over the whole 20 days. But the good news is that this paycheck covered a longer pay period, and one that included overtime at that, so it's one of the better ones I've gotten since I worked here. As I mentioned below, we're still working on the Food Problem. This is a constant work in progress, but I'm pretty proud of how well I did matching coupons to sale fliers and buying mostly items that were on special. Like I said earlier, we didn't spend less on this go 'round, but we did buy more for the same amount of money, and hopefully it will last longer than usual, thereby saving us money in the long run. I also shook things up a little by trying some new things and going back to some old methods when it comes to keeping track of the budget. After I finally managed to build a budget spreadsheet that actually works for me, I stopped using my desk calendar to keep track of my bills. I think that's a large part--actually, probably THE reason--I missed that Paypal payment last month. So I've reinstated the calendar. The budget spreadsheet's great for doing the math and allocating funds, but it's lousy for keeping track of due dates and whether or not I actually paid a bill. I also went back to lumping all of our grocery categories together under a single fund. Separating them all out turned out to be too much of a pain in the butt for my ADDness to be bothered with on a regular basis. Next to that, I added a "discretionary fund" to provide a cushion to draw from if we go over our grocery budget. Our goal is to NOT go over the budget, and at the end of the pay period move whatever's left in the discretionary amount over to savings. This is also the fund we'll draw from if we decide to go see a movie or go out to eat--which, given my husband's homework load, isn't likely to be happening too much during the semester. The other change I made was to take out my entire grocery budget in cash and put it in an envelope. This way I instantly know how much money we have left without having to go through the receipts and subtract our spending; and with cash I can't possibly miscalculate and overdraw my checking account. Managing money is a constant learning process for me; sometimes, it's a re-learning process, as I forget to do what works, or try to fix something that ain't broke. Usually when I do that last part, I'm the one who ends up being broke. For the time being, though, I'm pretty happy with the changes I've made, and I think they're going to get us back on the right track. |
Lender searches made easy
| *Sponsored Post* I don't have the discipline to pull this off, but a lot of frugal hackers save a lot of money by making all of their purchases with credit cards that offer reward incentives. Some get to take free trips with frequent flier cards, some get cash back, and some just get a percentage instantly knocked off all of their purchases. Even I use a rewards card that offers 5% cash back to make all of my gasoline purchases--which every few months amounts to a free tank of gas. Of course, to do this and save money you have to be in a situation where you can pay off your entire balance each month. It won't save you any money to carry a balance and rack up interest. For a while there, I tried using a cash back incentive card for all of my purchases, hoping it would save me some money; but once I started falling into my old overspending habits, I had to quit. So this system isn't for everybody. But if you think it's for you, you can get a Credit Card with Centrro--a financial search engine that can quickly and easily match you up with the rewards card that's right for you. You can also get a Loan with Centrro, be it a first time mortgage or a home equity loan. They'll match you up with at least four potential lenders with the best offers. Filling out the quote request form only takes a minute. I didn't get a list of potential lenders, though--instead I got a promise that I'd hear from the top lenders with offers matching my criteria within twenty-four hours, so we'll see how that goes. We've already decided that if for some reason we don't qualify for a fixed interest loan, we'll most likely pass on buying and go back to looking for a place to rent until we DO qualify. Sub-prime and adjustable loans are what got the housing market into the mess it's in, and we're not about to exacerbate the problem if we can help it. Labels: credit cards, disclosure, loans |
<$Thursday, February 7, 2008$>
The food problem: still a problem
| Okay, I've tried to make peace with how much we spend on groceries by rationalizing about how we're foodies and we don't get out that much anyway, but the hard cold fact is that we still spend way more on groceries than two people should. For the last several months we've been going over our already substantial grocery budget, to the point that we spend more on food, alcohol, toiletries, supplements, pet supplies, et al each month than we spend on rent. Sure, our rent's cheap, but still: something is very, very wrong there. As of this writing, though, we're beginning to make some progress. Part of the problem is that I got lazy about hunting down bargains and clipping coupons, and that part's easily fixable. Last night I went to the store armed with a wallet full of coupons matched to advertised store specials, and while I didn't necessarily come out spending less than I normally do on the first grocery trip of the pay period, I did come out with substantially more food to show for it. That should help with the second part of our problem--making our food last longer. We've been in the bad, bad habit of stopping by the store any time we run out of something, instead of seeing what else we can eat instead until the next payday. I've been carping at Husband about how this practice really needs to stop, and he's trying his best to cooperate and eat what's on hand instead of immediately replacing something he's run out of. He's also trying to be more cost conscious when he makes his list, as am I. I think (hope) this is a pretty good recipe for finally getting our grocery budget under control. If we can learn to eat within our budget, then we'll have no trouble living beneath our means and building up our wealth. Labels: marriage, money management, personal, spending |
Wealth building strategies
| This year, we're focusing on getting rid of our debt. Hopefully by next year, though, we'll be ready to start building our retirement. We've got a lot of catching up to do in this department. I've got my 401k, of course, but I only contribute what the company matches, and I've only been doing that for about a year and a half. If we rely on that alone for retirement savings, we'll end up poor old people. Once we start building our retirement portfolio, I'd like to investigate hard money investment strategies. Real estate trust deed investing looks like a relatively safe form of passive high-yield investing--and passive investing is perfect when you're talking ADD--but I'd need to learn a lot more about it before I took that plunge. Besides, if I understand correctly, we'd need to actually own a home and have a few years vested in it before that would even become an option for us. So I guess our next step, after building up our emergency and rainy day funds, will be to go the standard route and open up a Roth IRA. Once that's done--and, hopefully, maxed out--we'll look into the trickier stuff. First things first, though: gotta pay off those credit cards. We're actually considering using the next two student loan checks to do that. As much as we're tempted to do other things with that money, we both know the smartest would be to eliminate the consumer debt. That would free up so much cash flow that we'd almost feel downright rich. Labels: debt reduction, saving+investing |
<$Tuesday, February 5, 2008$>
I hate cleaning.
It's getting to be past time for another financial housecleaning session. There are several things that I need to carve out time to take care of over this week and the next, including:
Hrm. The first part of the year is always tough. Those tax rebate checks (and any refunds we might be due for '07) can't come soon enough. At least if I can tackle all of the above, I'll know we've got a good foundation to build on for the rest of the year. Labels: money management, organizing |
Spam: The Next Generation
| I wish I could find a spam filtering service for my cell phone. Has this been happening to any of you guys? My husband and I have both been getting spam text messages advertising various web sites. Both of our numbers are listed on the Do Not Call Registry, but I guess it's not a "Do Not Text" registry, so these buggers feel free to text us anyway. Does this ever actually work? It makes about as much sense to me as all of the automated telemarketing messages I used to get in my receptionist days: "Please hold for a very important message from blah--*click*" Actually, with me the *click* usually comes way before they get to the "blah." How is this a good way to get customers? I will never understand how going out of your way to annoy someone is supposed to entice them to check out your product. It makes NO sense to me. In fact, with me it has the opposite effect: I will go out of MY way to AVOID your company/service/web site if you use these tactics to make them known to me. 'Cause I'm all contrarian like that. Or, y'know, just human. Stop texting me, spammers. Labels: advertising, disclosure, random, rant |
<$Monday, February 4, 2008$>
Link Roundup: Philosophical Edition
| This round of links is all about the deep thoughts on financial matters. Philosophical (and practical) discussions ensue: Labels: finance+blogs, link roundup |
Give the ability to keep in touch.
| Pre-paid phone cards are big business these days. When I was in college--the first time, in the early '90s--they were still pretty new, and I was grateful for them. My poor college student status, combined with my lack of money management skills, meant that there were plenty of times when I didn't have phone service. These cards, whether received as a gift from my parents or bought on my own, often felt like my lifeline. I was feeling pretty down during that time of my life; I think it's safe to say I was depressed. I remember a lot of evenings spent on the pay phone outside the 7-11 near my apartment, talking to my best friend who was half the state away. Those talks saved my sanity, and I wouldn't have been able to make them without pre-paid phone cards. If you've got someone far away on your gift list, whether they're a college student, your parents, or a long-distance significant other, ESPECIALLY if it's someone who you know might be going through something that they need to be able to talk about, a phone card would make a great gift--for Valentine's Day or any other occasion. I know how grateful I was to receive such a gift back in those miserable, post-adolescent college days. Labels: disclosure, gift ideas |
1-Spot Shopping
| It's no secret that I love Target. So much so that for the most part I had to stop shopping there, because every time I went I was overcome with temptation to spend money on things I don't really need. However, on occasion, if I want to treat myself, I'll let myself go in with $10 and go crazy in the 1-Spot. If you don't know what the 1-Spot is, it's the little section at the front of the store where they sell everything for a dollar. Well, it used to be everything for a dollar. They've changed it to "nothing over $2.50." Still, you can get some pretty great stuff there. During some of my 1-Spot Sprees I've scored the following:
...and much more. Most recently, I picked up this stuffed puppy dog that made a perfect topper for the diaper cake I made for my sister's baby shower. I saw a lot of other baby items there that day, too, but as I had already blown my budget shopping elsewhere, I left them alone. :( My husband has put a moratorium on my 1-Spot shopping, especially for household items, until after we move, saying we've got enough to pack as it is. Once we do move, though, I know where I'll go first for household odds & ends and small decorating touches. I love the 1-Spot, even more than the dollar store. What about you, dear reader? What kind of 1-Spot treasures have you scored? |
When automated systems fail
| There's a lot of talk these days about automating your finances. Basically, this means setting automatic transfers, deposits and withdrawals according to your payday and billing schedules, and then forgetting about it. This "set it and forget it" approach would seem to be an especially ADD-friendly way to manage your finances, but I've never had enough trust in automated systems not to go wonky to do this for my own finances. This weekend I got confirmation that I was right not to do so. Since my big problem when it comes to paying my bills is simply remembering to do so, I go halfway towards automation by setting up reminders for everything, usually by taking the option for my creditors to e-mail me reminders that my statements are available. Woops! It turns out that I didn't get my monthly reminder for my Paypal Buyer Credit account in December, and as such I completely forgot about it--until I got a letter in the mail on Saturday telling me that I missed a payment and my account is past due. *facepalm* Of course, I immediately signed online to make a payment (for twice the minimum they were asking for), and I spoke to a customer service rep to explain why the payment was late. Now all I can do is hope that this won't put a ding in my credit score. I've been working so hard for the last several years to raise my score, and my last late payment from six years ago is close to falling off of my credit report. The last time I ran my credit through the FICO Score Estimator, it estimated that my credit rating has finally jumped from "Fair" to "Good"--pretty important considering we're about to apply for our first house loan. This is a pretty good lesson for me not to put my trust in those to whom I owe money to do the work of reminding me to pay them on time. Time to set up some external reminders, like Outlook pop-ups and the alarm on my cell phone, to keep me on track. And I'm now convinced more than ever not to trust computers to handle ALL of my finances. The outright scariness of what would happen if any part of that system should ever fail far outweighs the convenience factor, as far as I'm concerned. Labels: bills, credit cards, money management, organizing |
Tax time...eventually
| It's that time, folks. No, I don't mean Valentine's Day--that's covered in the post below. I mean everybody's favorite time of the year: tax time. I've been debating whether to just save money and do my own taxes this year; but would that really save me money? I've always done my own taxes, but last year we had them done by a professional for the first time. The fee seemed steep at first, and I was reluctant to pay it; but after we were in and out of the accountant's office in under thirty minutes and expecting a larger refund than either of us had ever seen before, I felt it was money well spent. So I'll probably stick with the pros this year. But first, I have to get all of my documents. I'm pretty frustrated that the first week of February is already more than halfway over and I still haven't gotten my W-2 or 10-99. Since we're waiting until we get our 2007 taxes done to turn in our mortgage application, you can bet that we're anxious to get them done. Labels: tax time |
10 more shopping days to prove your love...
| I can't say I was all that surprised to see Valentine's Day displays spring up the day after Christmas, seeing as how this is one of the more consumer-driven holidays in our culture; which, as usual, pretty much misses the point. That is, if the point is to celebrate love and the people in your life, and not to try to quantify how much you love someone based on how much you're willing to spend on them. I was never a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I thought this would change after I met my husband, but we're still both pretty "meh" on the whole subject. We acknowledge it, and use it as an excuse to do something romantic, but (with the exception of last year, when I bought him a wedding band to replace the wedding ring that got lost on our honeymoon, and he took me out to an overpriced pub; but it was our first V-day as married people, so we can be excused) we don't go nuts with the spending. Our favorite Valentine's Day so far is the one after we became officially engaged, when I wrote him a love poem and printed it on a homemade, computer generated card, and he gave me a really sweet love letter. Neither cost a cent (unless you tally up the cost of ink and paper), but nevertheless we were both moved to tears by the mutual gesture. That's why this year I plan to try to top that by sitting down and handwriting a love letter to my husband. If you're like me and you think putting time and energy into your Valentine means more than the money you put into it, then these links might be for you:
One thing I'd ad to that last list: make a night of snuggling on the couch and watching her favorite romantic movies. If my husband would do this instead of grumbling about having to watch chick flicks and then finding something else to go do halfway through the movie, I'd be thrilled. It's one night, guys. It won't kill you. And it's a great way to get her in a mood for romance after the movie's over (If you want to surprise her and you don't know what her favorite movie is, a good bet is anything starring Drew Barrymore that does NOT have "Charlie's" or "Angels" in the title). |