You Spend Money on What?!

So we’ve been reading lots of books about money these days. They seem to all say the exact same thing…they tell us how to budget, save, invest, save even more and spend even less. And, frankly? We just can’t relate. We work really, really hard but don’t seem to have much to show for it so the answer is not ordering the double latte from Starbucks? Is it really that simple?

Reading these dreary personal finance books got me thinking that planning was a good idea so I came home and started to track our expenses. When I took the next step and created a budget, my husband and I had a heated discussion about essential items. While I agree that I don’t need yet another pair of cute rain boots, my highlights are an absolute must. For my part, I think we could easily get rid of the dog walker since he works from home. But we have different priorities (hence the heated part).

When I came into the office, Kim and I started debating about the definition of essential items. Apparently, we all don’t spend money the same way. But if that’s true then how can all of these books be published that supposedly offer one answer for everyone? How can all of our priorities be so different? For Andrew, it’s about time. Anything that saves him time is worth money. For Kim, it’s about feeling pretty. When she feels pretty she feels that she can accomplish anything and that is worth money. For me, it’s about living somewhere that makes me feel secure and taken care-of. I don’t mind spending a fortune in rent if when I go home I know: my packages are waiting, when I run the dog out for a walk that the doorman knows I’m out there and if my water pressure suddenly goes a plumber will be at my door within hours. That peace of mind is worth setting aside a HUGE chunk of my budget. It’s not everyone’s priority but it’s mine.

We asked our assistant what she spends money on and she gave us a list. At the top? Designer jeans. She doesn’t care how much they cost, she wants the two hundred dollar jeans more she wants to start a savings account. They make her feel good and that’s enough. We asked our friend David and he came back with take out. He hates shopping, doesn’t always like eating out but depends on delivery. So with any budget he creates that is going to be a necessary expenditure. It’s all fascinating.

To help us with our own little survey, we would love to hear about your essential expenses.

Humiliation Highway

OK so we are the kind of girls that find humiliation hilarious and our trip down to Baltimore to speak at the book festival is still making us laugh. We were invited down to kick-off the festival’s Ladies Night and were asked to speak for about 30-40 minutes about our second book The Girl’s Guide to Being a Boss. Let me say upfront that the organizers of the event could not have been nicer or more helpful and what happened was completely out of their control.

We are happy to say that we pulled a great and very enthusiastic crowd, many of whom had really solid and interesting questions. Kim and I were rambling along when all of a sudden we hear a big truck pull up next to our tent. Now, we are sitting on a stage in an open aired tent so the traffic along side of us was already an issue since we were in the middle of rush hour. So you can imagine how hard it was to talk with a truck backing up along the far corner of the tent. But we manage to speak a little louder and the crowd, like I said, was supportive and engaged so it wasn’t an issue.

A woman raises her hand and asks why we chose to use the word girl in the title of our books. In the past, this has always turned into a bit of a heated discussion. Not negative, but heated. Everyone it seems has an opinion about the use of the word girl for females over twelve. We believe that we should be able to claim words as our own and we like the upbeat and energetic…girl. So, I begin to explain this when all of a sudden we see a bunch of people in the back row shaking their heads and grimacing. I am thinking ‘wow, this is going to be more heated than usual’ when I notice that the next row closer to us is grimacing. We observe that members of the crowd are now pulling their shirts over their faces and suddenly a few people are running away. Then, like The Fog, it hits us. Raw sewage. The smelliest, most disgusting stench imaginable. The truck that pulled up? Was emptying the porta-pottys. Now, that is hilarious humiliation at its best.