Better late than never ...

That's what I always say, but I think thats what all people that our consistently late say. Well, I have been on blogger a lot lately. I have mostly been reading Personal Finances sites. I have found fantastic one called MapGirl's Fiscal Challenge. She is fantastic to read and offers several links to other sites. Since my last post (last year) I have gotten married and lost several more pounds. Hurrah! Marriage is fantastic and I couldn't be happier. BUT!! Now I am consumed with planning our financial future. We have always talked about money and have been great communicators, but I have taken it to a new and quite disturbing level. My wife nows when I am about to talk about finances and she walks in the other room. My wife and I have not had the best background with finances. I was a spender who found new and exciting ways to spend money and more interestingly enough *find* money (spend next week's check before you get it)that I didn't have. After a rough tenure in Chicago I filed bankruptcy. No good. My wife was different. She was supported by her family while she was in college and worked for fun money. When we first got together she had never paid a bill or balanced a checkbook. Sounds like a disaster in waiting, right? It's amazing what a great love will bring to the balance of your life. We are preservering and slowly, but surely making headway. A lot of the advice that I have been reading from other PF sites have really help me shape where we COULD go.

We face a lot of challenges for our financial future. I am passionately motivated to accomplishing several financial goals. I plan to list them here soon in order to face them often and help to stay on course. First things first. We need to make a budget that makes sense. We currently have a budget, but its not functional. It basically lets us know that we make enough money to cover our fixed expenses. It stops there. Now it has helped. For the last several years I have been saving for a goal. Not being able to acquire things on credits forced a level of frugality that I never knew was in me. My budget was easy - pay for all the expenses and what is left over goes towards buying an engagement ring, then a wedding ring (now suffering, but that doesn't require money) and half of our wedding. The next big thing is a house. I am affixated on creating a smart budget for two graduate students with not a lot of money who want to buy a house.