My guest post is up today at Punch Debt in the Face's website. Kinda of a fitting reflection on my one year anniversary. All newly weds deal with this issue of personal finance in Marriage. Go check it out and let me know what you think. I would love to hear your comments.
Ashley and I just moved into a new place last weekend. Thanks to my dad's help we were able to get everything moved in one day. 5 trips from the old apartment to the new one was all it took (4 trips, two full cars each trip, all day thursday). You could say we have upgraded in the world. We still live in a one bedroom, but the square footage is a bit bigger, and the place is newly remodeled.
Moving can be expensive. Especially when they charge you a two full months rent to start off with. For big city people or California that can be one full months income. It definitely makes you rearrange your money around in order to meet those demands.
Has anyone ever done direct deposit for their rent before? It starts taking the money out a week in advance before it finally drops the money into another account. The money has to be available a full week prior to when it is due. This can be tricky as well, because sometimes paychecks do not come in until the friday before. Lessons learned in this new place. We love it and how to spend a few years here...
Here is first look....
I am sure there will be many more to come. We are off to Seattle Saturday Morning to watch Debt Ninja get married. Have a good weekend everyone.
In the next week I will be doing a guest appearrance on Debt Ninja's blog Punch Debt in the Face. Newlywed Finances is the topic. Be looking out for it.
Ashley and I recently moved into a new place and we are very excited about it. I will post pictures in the next few days....
Sometimes we lose touch with the things we once held dear to our hearts. This post will not consist of some sappy story, but I believe that I have lost touch with aspects of life. Let me explain...
I was at a friend's house today and I picked up an old book that I had not read in awhile. The book consists of some deep and insightful truths about life, spirituality, and love. Holding the book in my hand reminded me of how inspired I felt about life when I use to read those chapters. I wanted to live differently because of these stories and truths. The book was My Utmost for His Highest. Sometimes the book can be over your head, but other times the truths are simple and relevant. I love contemplating God and life and how they interact. These thoughts cause me to dream, wonder, and change.
I love to read, because it is like you are listening to another persons thoughts and imagination. I've always wished that I could be better at putting my thoughts into words. I always feel like I fail to truly articulate exactly what I am feeling. I read a book by the pool this weekend by Hemingway, and it was so nice to get caught up in a story, forget about my own reality, but at the same time compare that story with my life.
My point is that I feel like I have let some of those passions die for a bit in order to focus on other priorities. My passion for life is the people that I interact with from day to day. I love sharing life with others, and I want to continue to connect my life with people. I have lost touch with the reality of God, life, and people and how beautifully they interact with each other, but I am sensing a bond beginning to grow again.
One of my many things that I put on my list to do this year was fix my bike. It has been rotting away on my front porch since we got married. Spiders made it their home with cob webs throughout the spokes. Birds frequently use the handle bars to perch and poop. Ashley got a new bike last week, and named it Ruby, so that inspired me to fix up mine. It makes so much more sense to take your bike to the beach than your car. You never have to worry about parking, and you are more mobile around town. After work yesterday I started calling around to price out how much it would be to fix. Got some $60 and $50 offers for new tires, new tube, an inner lining, and they said it could be fixed by next week. I decided to wait until this morning to check out a local shop and I am glad I did. I walked my crusty bike into the shop and was out of there in 20 minutes with new tires and tubes. Tires were $12 and tubes were $4.50. Ashley and I road our bikes to the beach, to lunch at Pizza Port, to a friends house, and then back home. Bikes give you this weird sense of freedom, and make you feel like a kid again. :) I decided that I want to ride more often, and now I can. There are so many benefits to riding bikes. Save money on gas, no pollution for the air, and it is good exercise.
I know you all probably have a bike somewhere in the garage or in your backyard. I encourage you to pull it out and take it for a spin. Ride it to the grocery store, or around the block. I need some help coming up with a name for my bike. Like I mentioned before Ashley's bike is the Schwinn pictured above named Ruby. Mine is an old Shogun road bike with a lot of history connected to it. Anyways, thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to completing many more items on my list for 2010.
Over the weekend Ashley and I spent some much needed time at the beach. I usually do not mind going with ashley and doing what the girls call "Laying Out". I usually bring a book and my ipod to pass the time. This weekend we stayed for 3 hours!!!! I read a few chapters and listened to some music for awhile, but that was all the "laying out" I could handle. I walked around for awhile, went from one end of the beach to the other. I come back and ashley has yet to move. How do women sit still for so long? They could lay there forever. I told ashley that we needed to have some sort of activity that we played during these "laying out" sessions. I saw some couples playing volleyball, frisbee, and paddle ball. I think I will convince her to try paddle ball or whatever its called. I am a guy and I need some form of sport to play or game to keep my interest levels high. So what about you all, any other people out there experience this? I understand you all do not have access to the beach, but I am sure you have similar experiences.
In one week I will be starting a new position within the University that I work for. There has been a lot that I have learned about myself and my career throughout this transition. The first thing I learned is I hate interviewing. It is weird for me. You have to basically go into a room and brag about yourself for a half an hour. I am not a bragging type of person, and I feel uncomfortable doing it. In an interview you have to brag though, because they need to know why they should hire you.
Through this transition of jobs I have learned a lot about career choices. I tend to become content with my job once I have learned my responsibilities and I know I perform them well. I was hesitant to take this position at first, but I received a nudge. Change is good and it keeps you learning and growing. This new position will keep me growing and developing. I will be challenged again and start to develop new skills. I encourage all of you out there to take a risk and try something new if it is available to you. It might be different at first, but if it is a good development opportunity, then go for it. (Thank you Ashley for pushing me :) )
I try to remember to keep my life in perspective and not allow my career to take over. I tend to go through phases where I can get obsessed with certain things in life, and put too much emphasis on them. I should care about my job and I should do it well, but that does not mean that it should consume me. I am learning to find a balance between career development and my big picture perspective on life. My career should not dictate my life.
So I ask you? What risks or big changes have you made that you have learned from? Was it hard or relatively easy? How do you balance your career with the rest of your life?
The purpose of this blog is to share my life and interests. You will find me writing about spirituality, marriage, finance, and every day life. Thanks for stopping by and letting me share my journey with you.
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