Spending & Saving

Before I was a person with way too many opinions about personal finance, I worked professionally in user experience strategy, design, and writing—a field that I’ve joked saw me ascend the ranks to Associate Manager of Turning That One Button Blue So More People Would Click It. Why am I telling you this? Because when […]

“Freedom without discipline is chaos.”—Cullen Hightower I heard from a reader the other day who’s in marital gridlock about the best way to manage their newfound high income. When they earned less, she said, they were in agreement about their strategy: They used dedicated savings accounts for discretionary purchases and a rollover strategy, in which […]

Last year, my husband and I started a new financial tradition (okay, maybe it’s fairer to say I strong-armed him into it) in which I tap into the small, shameful part of me that’s still in awe of management consultants despite their well-documented crimes against humanity and I churn out a deck like I’m getting […]

In 2021, according to my Wealth Planner, I spent just $7,281 on food—that means, for me alone, I was clocking $606/month on all groceries, takeout, and restaurant dining. This was actually a marked increase from my 2020 spending, when there were some months I kept my food spending below $300 total.  Dear reader, my ability […]