Finances

Money “issues” or differences of priority are one of the biggest conflicts in a relationship! My wife and I have come to realize it is far more pleasing and de-stressing for us to be frugal, and we agree on this. It just feels really good.

There is an adage: “The best things in life are not things.” and we both agree completely. We would much rather help people than go shopping. In fact, we cringe at the thought of having to shop, unless it is for someone other than ourselves. “Mall” is a four-letter word. This has the added benefit of allowing us to fairly easily conserve our finances as well, which gives us even more security and peace of mind.

We rarely shop for ourselves, and when we do it is usually for home and yard improvement materials. We save clothes shopping for special occasions, birthdays, Christmas, etc. Most of our clothing is obtained from hand-me-ups from our kids when they upgrade their wardrobes. I have heard and read that the last thing a spouse wants as a gift is something they need. They say never give your wife and appliance for her birthday! Give her something to make her feel pampered and special, like jewelry! Well, it pleases us to go against that advice. If she or I need something and have been putting off going out and buying it, we use a birthday or other occasion as a means of gifting that item to the other. Expensive materialistic gifts make us both feel incredibly wasteful and guilty and using a gift-giving occasion helps us feel good both .

We also do things ourselves – only hiring out tasks we are unable to accomplish on our own, such as mounting new tires, or repairing/replacing a faulty circuit breaker panel, etc.  That kind of thing. We paint our own walls, tile our own floors, fix our own dripping faucets, mow our own lawn, change our own oil, brakes, etc.  We save, recycle, and re-use.

We have learned that the peace of mind this level of conservation affords us is profoundly priceless. An added benefit comes from knowing exactly how well the task has or hasn’t been performed, allowing us to better be able to plan to the future.

We do not subscribe to cable TV. What we can’t find on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Redbox, we do not watch. My personal favorite form of entertainment is to talk with my wife, learn what’s new and share our thoughts with each other often. We call it pillow-talk, whether it takes place in the bedroom or back yard. It strengthens our relationship and brings us much closer. Communication always does.