It’s All About You!

I know that I don’t have a ton of readers, but that makes it even easier to appreciate each and every one of you. I love reading and replying to comments and learning from you. You guys are what makes blogging fun and rewarding. So, today’s your day. I want to know what you want.

What do you want to learn about?

What do you want to read about?

What’s important to you about personal finance?

Are you struggling with some aspect of your personal finances?

Don’t feel like talking about personal finance, that’s okay.

What’s important to you?

What do you want to do in life?

Do you think my font is too large on here?

Anything. Just let it loose.

About Jen Perkins

Likes: saving money, being debt free (aside from our house), zombies, travel, getting money, blogging and dogs. Dislikes: debt, being broke, bunnies, wasting money, not having enough money to travel the world and paying interest. Facebook  ♥  Twitter  ♥  Google+  ♥  RSS

Comments

It’s All About You! — 8 Comments

  1. Love, love, love reading your blog! After I check my email in the morning, this is where I come! :) I find pretty much everything on here to be interesting. Until my husband got his current job (about 5 years ago), we struggled day to day with money. There were times that we were so broke, I had to depend on my parents to buy our son diapers and formula. My father in law used to pay our vehicle insurance. We were on food stamps and still struggling. But once hubby got a better job, things turned around. Now we can pay our bills on time and save some money here and there!! I am so thankful for his job and yet so scared of going back to those $hitty times. So I am interested in anything and everything about finance. :)

    • @Kelly- You’re just so sweet Kelly and I think I will be smiling all day now. :-) We had some tough times w/ our day 2 day’s too when our daughter was a baby. My grandma would buy us diapers and butt wipes from Costco. We didn’t have car insurance and were totally freaked out every time we drove. All this was happening when my honey was working and I was going to college and working part-time. We were just that bad with money. Some people aren’t as lucky as us with having people who love & care about us to help us through those tough times. I always try to remember that no matter what we are going through (or have gone through); there are always people way worse off who would love to be in our situation.

      Do you and your honey have a plan or money saved in case things every get back to that again?

  2. We do have money saved – although hubby would love to spend it! I guess you could say I’m the tight a$$ in our relationship 😉 He makes pretty good money and when he gets over time, I put that money “back” like it was never there. Because of our past struggles, I am really kind of a nutso about spending money – I am constantly thinking do we really need this? Is there a cheaper way? It drives hubby crazy but I can’t help it! I do not want to go back to those days of being late on bills every month and wondering how are we going to eat this week. I guess it’s better to be a little nutso than to be spending the money faster than he makes it, right? (please tell me i’m right…hahaha) :)

    • @Kelly- Worry not, I’m considered a tight a$$ too. :-) My honey isn’t even allowed to go to the grocery store; he’s the kind of guy who can fit $300 into one of those small carry baskets. Whenever he does buy something and I ask him how much it cost, he has no clue and doesn’t really care.

      I think I remember you mentioning saving all the over-time before and I think it’s awesome. Asking ourselves those questions prior to spending is really one of the smartest things we can do, and oftentimes we realize we don’t need it or can save money on it.

      Yep, it’s okay to be a “little nutso” and I do it too most times. Just don’t ever forget that it’s also important to enjoy the present too, we never really know how much time we have. With our current income Retirement seems almost impossible, but we could scrimp and save and forgo fun now to be more comfortable later. Instead, we’re trying to save what we can now without giving up all possibilities of fun now. It’s just kind of a balance thing, which I suck at but try to get better at every day. Also, finding other ways to generate income is important to us. I got the little things I do (like on my Earn it page) and hopefully I’ll eventually come up with something else to substitute my non-existent income.

      Overall though, it sounds like you guys are doing great and never want to live like you had to before. That can be a great motivator.

  3. I think I’m fairly sophisticated when it comes to money matters, but I still lack the discipline to save. Either that or I just have too many emergency expenses going on. I’m not sure which! My fridge just died and I have to replace it, and it’s a SubZero and I need another one to fit the cabinetry or I need to remodel. Sigh. And my old dog needs to go to the vet to have his old-dog lumps looked at and I’m afraid it’s going to be serious, and seriously expensive. I know I noted how I had to get a lawyer for my son ($2500) and a new pool filter ($1800) a couple weeks ago. It never ends, lately.

    I’m also an antique collector and I spend too much time and money on it when I should be working.

    I like this site, Jen, because you’re enthusiastic and honest. So many other PF sites are stuffy and tedious.

    • @Harriet- You do seem to have a lot of emergency expenses lately, but it happens. These things come up and all we can do is try to be prepared. I think you mentioned that you were able to pay cash for the last ones (not the best memory, I could be wrong) and that is amazing. So many people can’t even do that.

      I’m so sorry about your dog, that’s gotta be hard. I’ve got a dog too and I could imagine something ever being amiss with her. She’s a naughty little dog, but she has such a big heart. I’ve been looking into pet insurance to see if it’s cheaper in the long run or not, do you have any for your dog?

      We all spend too much time on things, especially those that are important to us. I think if your antiques are important to you then it’s okay to spend time on them. Have you ever thought of finding and selling them online?

      Thank you for the compliments 😀 *blushing*

  4. I do sell buy and sell antiques online sometimes. In fact I found a piece last year that a lady online offered me, I knew it was really good, told her she needed to take it to the local museum, the museum couldn’t pay her for it for a year, so she took it to auction and it sold for $85,000. It changed her life. If I’d been dishonest, I could have bought it for nothing and kept it. (Sometimes I kind of wish I did!) (I wrote a book about this particular kind of antiques, is why she approached me. I’m a writer.)

    My dog is too old for pet insurance; he’s 11.5. I should get some insurance for my two other dogs–they’re young and healthy.

    • @Harriet- Wow, that’s quite an antique! Personally I know nothing about antiques but my mom thinks she does. 😉 You’re a writer, that’s SO cool. I’ve always wanted to be one since I was little, but realized that I kinda suck w/ grammer and all that. Have you ever thought of starting a blog about you antique knowledge? That might be a way to earn some extra money and still spend time w/ antiques…just an idea.