Category Archive Personal Finance

Automate Your Finances

One of the best steps in getting your budget under control is to automate finances.  As much as possible,  make your financial matters a hands off activity.  This way you are eliminating human error like forgetting to send the payments or spending more than your budget Automate your financesallows, and your savings happens without your effort.

Limit access to money

One of the most effective ways to automate your finances and control your spending is to limit access to your money.  Your money is going to be spent the question is if it will be spent where you would like.  The best example of this is 401(k).  This money is normally taken out of your paycheck before you see it, like taxes.  So, you do not have a choice in how you spend that money.  Most people never even pay attention to how much money is taken from them in taxes.

This can be done in very simple ways.  If your company has a direct deposit option you can limit yourself by only depositing the amount you need for your budget into your main checking account while remaining funds should be deposited into a savings or investment account.  This helps control lifestyle creep (the propensity to spend more as you make more) because you don’t actually see an increase in your main bank account where it can be easily spent.

Example:

If your monthly budget for your bills is $1000 and you get paid once per month you would only deposit $1000 into your main checking account.  If your paycheck was $1200 then you would deposit $200 in a savings account.

If you got paid every two weeks you deposit $500 per check if you can balance your bills on two different pay periods, that may take some time to set up and get right.

This prevents you from having easy access to “extra money”.  I use quotes there because all of your money should have a purpose even if it isn’t immediate, and there should be a plan for all of your money.  Don’t let your money sit around and be lazy, send it off to work for you in an interest bearing account, or in an investment of some kind.

Automate your bills

Most utilities offer a budget program which allows you to pay the same amount all year round instead of being hit with high electric bills for your air conditioning in the summer and for your heating in the winter.  They will average the last year of your bills and  give you one median payment.  This allows you to set up a recurring payments of a single amount; no forgetting and no sticker shock on your bills.

For years we split our bills in half and paid half every two weeks with our paychecks, to make sure we didn’t spend it while we were waiting for the bill.  It forced us to do some manual work thanks to those three paycheck months but it wasn’t bad.  Now we use a different account for monthly bills that doesn’t get touched so we always have enough money and the bills are set to pay the full amount automatically.

How have you automated your finances and made your life simpler?

Automate your finances

 

Is College Worth The Cost?

My church is full of college students.  I have sat down and talked with many of them about how they are going to pay for their loans when they get out of school or now that they are out of school.  It is sad how few of them understood what they were getting into when they signed on the dotted line.

In constant 2010 dollars the cost of  a college education at a 4 year public institutions have increased 145% from 1990 to 2010. (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76).  That seems like a lot and since the jobs young people are promised when they graduate are not so easily found many people are questioning the decision that for so long has been a given.

General Inflation Vs. College inflation

Image from: http://www.finaid.org/savings/tuition-inflation.phtml

How does that compare to general inflation?  Not very well if you are the one looking to fund an education.  Inflation, the purchasing power of your money has been out paced by the increases in college costs.You can think of inflation as the amount the price of consumer goods increase on average.  Either we can remember or our parents have told us stories of how things used to cost less.  That is the effect of inflation.  The price of consumer goods tends to increase for various reasons over time.  However, this chart shows that the cost of college has increased much faster than general inflation, somewhere in the area of 150%-200% faster than general inflation, depending on the year. (http://www.finaid.org/savings/tuition-inflation.phtml)

Does all of this mean that college is no longer the deal that it once was?  Not at all.  The earning potential of the average college graduate is still much higher than that of the average high school graduate.  According to  over at BizJournals:

Adults with bachelor’s degrees in the late 1970s earned 55 percent more than adults who had not advanced beyond high school. That gap grew to 75 percent by 1990 — and is now at 85 percent.

That alone could mean the difference around 1 million dollars over the course of a career, assuming one pursues a career that pays reasonably well in the first place.

For the question “Is college is worth the cost?” A fine arts degree may be your hearts desire but there is no guarantee it will pay the bills.

In my opinion the question is “Could I pursue my passion in another way?”  Could you pursue an apprenticeship of some sort to learn what you need to know?  With the rise of online learning could you learn what you need to pursue your career.  I have heard from a few managers in my field that they don’t even pay attention to the education section of the resume in many cases because it matters more what you have actually done in the field.

Maybe you could start your own business or be self employed depending on what you want to do, you can certainly hire yourself without a degree.

Tuition cost compared to housing

Image from BusinessInsider

My fear in working with so many students struggling with college is that I really think we may be on the edge of some sort of education bubble.  If you compare the increase in tuition to that of housing prices a few years ago it is staggering.  The small bump that we saw in housing prices is noting compared to the skyrocket in costs of tuition.  I don’t know that we will see degree foreclosures but I think something may be seriously wrong with they way we are doing higher education.  Easy credit and government guarantees are helping more people take out loans but it is also making colleges more expensive as many are building resort style facilities to attract students who bring with them more government backed money.  It is a spiral very similar to what we saw with housing I just hope it doesn’t crash as hard or many of us will be hurt in the process.

There are many variables in deciding if college, or what type is best for you and there are many ways to reduce your costs if you take your time and make wise decisions.  But, we shouldn’t assume that a four year degree is right for everyone and it is fine if our children make different decisions as long as they are making wise ones.  After all it is they who will have to work off that debt in the long run.

Here are some questions to consider:

  1. You loan payment will be approx $100 per month for every $10,000 that you borrow.  Can you get a job to make that much with the degree you are pursuing?  $100,000 in debt to be a youth pastor ($20k a year) not a good idea.
  2. Is there a different way I can pursue my passion without incurring large student loan debt?
  3. Is the traditional four year college even the right choice for me and what I want to do with my life.
  4. Do I want to work for someone else the rest of my life?

By the time my girls are reaching that age there are a lot more viable options for higher education than pushing everyone into the same college mold.  But who knows what the future holds for education.

 

Cover image by TaxCredits

 

Give to everyone? Is Jesus Kidding?

Give to everyone?

Image by jorgempf

Are we really called to give to everyone?  Luke 6:30 and Matthew 5:42 are two scriptures I would really like to remove from the Bible, if I am being honest.

Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

I live in a city and people are begging all the time, on every freeway off ramp, on every street corner.  I have been approached multiple times in parking lots with stories of running out of gas and loss of debit card, and a dead cell phone.  How am I to handle these things as a Christian?  These scriptures make it fairly clear that I am to give to anyone who begs (some bibles say “asks”), but Paul says that anyone who doesn’t work doesn’t eat.  So, it is not as straightforward as just giving to everyone, at least I don’t want it to be.

I want to handle my money responsibly, but I also want to be obedient to Jesus and not be selfish with my money.  How do we handle this dilemma.  I will be upfront that I don’t know if I have a solid correct answer.  This article is more about exploring the issue.  If you are looking for a hard and fast answer: move along.

Why do we not want to give to everyone?

As with many things, asking why we feel a certain way can be very helpful.

  • I don’t like the idea I’m being ripped off.
  • I don’t want to be made a fool of.
  • I don’t want to be parted with my hard earned cash under false pretenses.

I give all the time when people I know are in need because I know them and their situation.  They aren’t faking it.

The gospel answers to these questions, of course, come from a proper understanding of stewardship; It isn’t my money in the first place, it is God’s.  He has the right to require it of me anyway he likes, if I am to call myself a believer.  Does it matter if the individual is sinning by lying to me.  That is up to God to handle and he will either by forgiving them and making them his children or by allowing them to bear the punishment for their sins.

So, am I simply worried about being a bad steward of God’s money? Maybe, but them I am reminded of a story I have heard about CS Lewis.

One day, Lewis and a friend were walking down the street and came upon a begger who reached out to them for help. While his friend kept walking, Lewis stopped and proceeded to empty his wallet. When they resumed their journey, his friend asked, “What are you doing giving him your money like that? Don’t you know he’s just going to squander all that on ale (beer)?” Lewis paused and replied, “That’s all I was going to do with it.”

If I am honest, even if I gave $20 to everyone beggar on every off ramp holding a sign that says “stranded” I would still give away less money than I waste on frivolous things.

Is there a biblical reason not to give to everyone?

Money is at best a temporary solution to the issue facing the person asking.  Giving money to a person on the street is a great way for us to feel better about ourselves without actually doing any good for the person we give the money to in many cases.  It seems to me that in the biblical context people knew more about one another.  If you saw the same person begging in the same place every day for a year you could assume they were not able to work.  You could ask if you didn’t already know their story.  However, in our day that is very unlikely.

Paul was pretty clear in saying that if a man doesn’t work he doesn’t eat.  Laziness was not acceptable.  But how do we know if that is the case if we don’t have a relationship with the people in need?

As Christians we are called to give and help above and beyond.  That is why Jesus called us to give to everyone who asks.  He didn’t qualify it because he knew we would look for any excuse at all to not obey.

What do you think?  What are your considerations when it comes to giving to everyone that asks of you?

Extra Income, what should I do?

To Pay or not to Pay (off your debt)

I get a form of this question all the time. Should I pay off debt or invest it?  Paying off existing debt is a safe bet.  Think of it this way, if you are paying 19% on a credit card then by paying off that card you are saving 19% interest.  That is money in your pocket every month that you can use to pay off other bills or start investing.

If you debt is low interest and/or tax deductible you may be better off by paying your monthly minimums and investing the extra money you have.  Here is why..

Using debt to make money

Imagine if I told you that I would pay you 100$ tomorrow if you loaned me 90$ today?  Suppose that you didn’t have 90$, but you could borrow it from a friend and pay him back 95$ next week.  You would make 5$.  You can do the same thing with your debt if you have a solid investment plan and some time.

According to most resources, the average return from the stock market over the long term is between 7% and 12%.  If you are paying 4% on your mortgage, for example, you could take extra money and pay off that debt or you could take the same extra money and invest it.  Sure, you would be paying interest on that money, but over time you will make more money investing.  There would be some months where you may not, if the stock market has a bad run, but over time you should make more money.

This type of decision is not to be entered into lightly.  Previous performance is no indication of future performance.  That means that the stock market could make 1% over the next 30 years and you would lose money.

Additionally, it may be more important for you to be out of debt and play things safe.  You may want to leave the rat race and start your own business.  This is why I normally tell people to pay off their debt.  It is the right emotional choice for most people, but it is possible to make more money and possibly pay off your debt sooner with the proper investment strategy.

The chart below shows the difference in total value over 30 years when you invest at a conservative 6.5% instead of paying off a mortgage that has a rate of 3.5%.  The numbers include the equity in the home as well as investment income.  Once the mortgage is paid off the money that was being used to pay off the mortgage is then invested at 6.5%

InvestVPayoff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, there are many assumptions involved in these calculations.  Your particular situation may be different, but many people have never even considered the benefits of not paying off their debt.

This is for informational purposes only, everyone should do their own investigation and due diligence.

 

 

13 Free Entertainment Ideas

13 Free Entertainment ideas

Image by zigazou76

When you are trying to live with stewardship in mind you often have to think differently than you may normally to have fun and entertain yourself.  Here are a 13 free entertainment ideas. (or Almost free).  Many of these things consider sunk costs, example number one assumes you already have a GPS or a smartphone.

  1. Go Geocaching – What is Geocaching? It is a real world GPS scavenger hunt.  You use a GPS to find a set of coordinates where someone else has hidden a cache (usually Tupperware).  Our kids love it because you trade toys in the caches and they love to find new parks to explore.  We love it because it gets the whole family out of the house and doing something together.
  2. Hit up the public library – You can just sit and read to your younger ones while your older ones check out all sorts of new books they have never heard of.  Most libraries have some sort of story time where the librarians of volunteers read a book to your kids.
  3. Play a board game – We have an extensive collection of board games and we love to play.  Instead of going out and spending money find like minded people and have dinner together followed by some game time.  Trade games with people if you have ones you are done with or don’t like.  Introduce your children to the games you play instead of playing another round of Candyland.  Our kids love Settlers of Catan Jr. (And I like it better than the original)
  4. Family movie night – This is a tradition in our house.  We either get new movies from the library or watch some of our favorites.  Make popcorn or a treat that goes with the theme of the movie, curl up on the couch and create memories.
  5. Public parks – Find out what is happening at your local and state parks.  There are nature lessons and hikes, photography clubs and even geocaching gatherings.  You just have to know what is going on and when.
  6. Set up a walking tour of your town – Local historical groups are a great resource then once you are started pack lunch make a map and take a walk.  History will come alive as you actually walk through the areas where events took place.
  7. Take a photo walk – Take a camera and walk somewhere take pictures of anything you find interesting. It is amazing the cool things you drive by all the time but don’t notice.
  8. Check out any number of free courses online – Coursera, iTunesOpenculture or others that will allow you to learn something new for free.
  9. Take the day and clean up that one room – Not really fun but it really needs to be done.  You know that space that you have been meaning to clean out/up for a while but things just keep piling up?    Take a few hours and clean it.  You will feel so much better.
  10. Learn how to fix something around the house – I really like to fix things(or at least try to) but I am not very confident on the how-to part.  You tube is great for that. Last month I drained my hot water tank to fix a knocking sound it had been making.  Just to your research and you may be able to fix it by yourself and save yourself the repairman bill.
  11. Have a water fight(summer) – This was a great morning in our house.  We bought big squirters at the dollar store filled up a bucket and the four of us had a fight for about an hour.
  12. Have a snowball fight (Winter) – If it is winter take some time to make a batch of balls and have a snowball fight.
  13. Try new shows on Youtube – Youtube isn’t just for cat videos anymore.  There are actually networks of content being created by quality brands.  Try Geek and Sundry, Machinima, and more

What are things you do to entertain yourself for little or no money?  Let us know in the comments.

Amazon Subscribe and Save

Most people know about Amazon.  Many people order electronics, books and toys from the E-tailer.  Fewer people know that you can order all sorts of household items from Amazon.  We order most of our non-perishable household supplies from amazon as well.

Amazon started from an online bookseller in 1995 to being one of the largest internet companies in the world selling everything from books to furniture.  Amazon has prices lower than most stores and they often deliver free to your door (if you have a prime membership or order $25 or more in qualified products).

But Amazon Subscribe and Save is almost a secret compared to other offerings by the online giant.  If you can plan carefully it can save you a ton of money.

What is Amazon Subscribe and Save?

Amazon Subscribe and Save is a subscription ordering service.  You set up a subscription to have a product delivered in 1-6 month intervals and receive an additional 5% off your purchase.  If you have 5 orders arrive on the same monthly subscription delivery date you save an additional 15% off your entire order.  This is where the planning comes in.  Take a look or keep track of what you are buying and how often.

What is available in Amazon Subscribe and Save?

What all is available from Amazon by subscription?  Almost everything!  Non-perishable grocery products, cleaning supplies, baby supplies diapers, cat food and dog food almost everything you could want that doesn’t grow on trees.  You can see the vast selection here.  If there are products that you buy regularly you should compare prices to amazon.

Keep an eye out

Just as many with many deals, you have to watch carefully.  Just because you are buying in bulk or subscribing does not mean you are always getting the best deal.  In preparation for this article I took a walk through our local Kroger and compared the prices on Amazon.  While some prices were great savings others items were cheaper at the store.  There were a few items that would be a better deal on Amazon if timed correctly to enable the additional 15% savings for having 5 items delivered at the same time.

Here are the prices I reviewed.  Red means Amazon was a higher price; green indicate Amazon had a better price.

Amazon Subscribe and Save

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This article contains affiliate links.
Cover Photo by  401(K) 2013
 

Kids and Money what you need to know

This entry is part [part not set] of 2 in the series Kids and Money

Last week I started to write a nice simple article about kids and money.  That article ended up more about our relationship with money and less of a “how to”.  You can read it here.  So, this week I will try again.

Teaching your children about money is an incredibly important.  Many of us grew up in homes without formal training on money.  Without an example from our own parents what we end up teaching our kids by our example.  Your kids will pick up on the way you think about money, good and bad. We should try to teach our children good habits and how to think about money.

Here are some topics to think about when it comes to kids and money:

Teach them how to give early

Kids and MoneyEarly on we got divided piggy banks for our girls.  This hopefully teaches them that their money is for different things: savings, giving and spending. We help them divide up their money as they get it so they will understand what each different section is for.  Setting that money aside to give makes them excited to give when the need arises.  They have offered to buy gifts for the girls we sponsor through Compassion international.  This is the type of thing we hoped for when we started training them with money.

By doing this now we hope that it will be more natural to them and that they will not be so “possessed by their possessions” money will simply be a tool at their disposal to use for God’s purposes and not something to be hoarded and lusted after…hopefully.

Allowance: Given or earned?

This is a big question: Should you give an allowance to your children, no strings attached or make your children earn their money?  I have seen a lot of good articles on both sides and I have seen families that I love and respect do it both ways to great success so I don’t actually know that I can offer much wisdom on this topic, but to know your own children.  Each of these methods can have different effects on children and you will have to watch and learn and even perhaps change your own views on what is best based on how your children learn.

We have always had chores for our children to earn money.  We currently use the Accountable Kids chore system and it has helped our girls not only to get all their chores done, but to start to learn how to relate an amount of work to the things they want to buy.  It has worked for us but we are by no means under the impression that is a perfect system.  We are thinking about combining those chores with a standard rate allowance to give them an idea of how to budget with a standard income.

 How much of their own money to they have to spend?

I have know of families where the kids had to buy ALL of their own things, clothes, food, toys everything.  These kids worked hard and were paid well for their work and they were expected to spend that money on necessities and luxuries.  I have also known families who gave their kids money and never gave them the opportunity to spend it. Then how do you help them to spend it wisely?  Do you let them waste it on cheap toys that they will break or lose in days?  (Yes, it is what they really want right now but it is stupid!)

I think there needs to be some sort of balance here but I don’t claim to know the right answer.  I bring it up more as food for thought.

I would love to hear opinions on any of these topics drop a comment below on how you handle these issues with your kids or how you think you should.

 

Where is your missing money?

Where is you missing money?

Image by Ano Lobb

We all have missing money.  You get to the end of your week and you know you had enough money to pay for everything you needed, but somehow you are coming up short.  Where is your missing money?

Look, I have been talking, writing and lecturing about personal finance for years now and it still happens to me.  I know exactly how much extra money I have in my various accounts.  I know that we deposit extra into our main bank account to ensure we don’t overdraft.  I know we have extra paychecks a few times a year so I know there is technically extra in the account we pay our bills from.  So, I spend it because I know it is there.  That is where my missing money is; living it up outside of my budget.

My guess is you have a few dollars floating around outside your budget.  We all do. This problem arises when you allow money to sit idly in an account somewhere doing nothing.  It will run away from you when you aren’t paying attention.  Money wants to be spent, or used in some way and it will find a way to get what it wants.  What can you do to keep your hard earned dollars from becoming missing money?  I am glad you asked.

 Give your money something to do.

The secret to keep your money from going missing is to give it something to do.  You money, like most of us, wants to feel like it has a purpose.  You need a plan for all of your money, give it something to do.  It doesn’t matter if it is paying off debt, paying for your bills, or being put in a nice quiet interest bearing account or investment to make more money for you.

Alright, the metaphor has gone far enough.  I recommend you automate everything with your bank to make sure all of your money is going somewhere and doing something.  Here are a few ideas.

  1. Recurring bills that are the same each month. (mortgage, car loan, insurance etc…) — Have an account where money goes to pay these bills that you can’t spend from.  Each month set up an automatic payment with your bank to pay these bills’ total balance each month.

  2. Recurring bills that are not the same every month (utilities) — Call each of your utilities and see if you can make them stable.  Many utilities will let you pay the yearly average of your bills all year.  That way you know exactly how much you are going to pay each month.
  3. Any money left in your budget — Use it to pay off your debt if that is your goal, or put it in an interest bearing or investment account so you can’t spend it.  That way it isn’t in a place where you can spend it on frivolous things.

Following these types of ideas will keep you from asking “Where did my money go?”  It just won’t be available to spend.

What other ideas do you have?  Tell us in the comments.

Envelope budget

Envelope budget system

My wife and I often get asked how we manage our budget on a practical level.  It is all well and good to have a piece of paper somewhere telling you how much money you are supposed to spend each month, but it is much more difficult to actually manage to that budget.  There are many ways this can be done.  Mint.com‘s budget system will track all of your spending categories and can even alert you when you go over budget.  Some people do this manually with a spreadsheet or by keeping all of their receipts.  We use an envelope budget.  We pull cash each paycheck and put that money into envelopes.

These envelopes correspond to various categories of our spending and when the envelope is empty we are out of money for that particular category.  If there is no money in the “Eating out” envelope we eat at home.  Or at least we should, we aren’t perfect.  Using this method makes all the money spent more tangible, you think more about each decision to spend.  It also helps us to ensure we don’t go over our budgets because in theory we shouldn’t be using our debit card, where spending is much easier to lose track of .

Advantages to the Envelope budget system

    • Spending is easier to track – As I mentioned above, you know exactly how much money you have left in a particular category.  You can all so put your receipts in the envelope to replace the cash to know exactly where you spent the money.
    • Theoretically impossible to break – If you only spend the money that is in the envelope you will never go over your budgeted amount.
    • Money easily carries over to next budget period – Money not spent during the week or month carries over ino the next time period.  This allows for visual savings or if you need larger amounts like for a family hair cut.
Cash Envelope budget

Image by kgnixer

Drawbacks to the Envelope budget system

  • You don’t always have the right envelope – We have many times decided to go out to eat after church but we didn’t bring our eating out envelope.  Now we have to decide what to do?  Will you deposit the money you spent from your envelope?
  • You need to pull cash regularly – It is inconvenient and we often forget to pull the cash so we end up using the debit card and trying balance that by not pulling the full amount of cash.

Envelope budget apps

These are from the Google play store. Sorry I don’t use iOS but there must be some out there?

Easy Envelope Budget Aid

SimpleBudget

mint.com

How do you manage to your budget?  Are there any good apps you can recommend?  Tell us in the comments below.

Lifestyle Creep

What is Lifestyle Creep?

This is the cycle of lifestyle creepLifestyle creep is defined by investopedia as:

A situation where people’s lifestyle or standard of living improves as their discretionary income rises either through an increase in income or decrease in costs.

This simply means spending more money just because you can.  For most of us that comes when we get a raise.  We can spend more now; we can buy the little things we have always wanted.

My wife and I have noticed that we spend more on things that we didn’t “need” before.  It happens to us all, when we are forced to do so we can live on very little and be quite satisfied, remember college?  What is it that happens to us that causes us to spend more later down the line?  Our lifestyle creeps.

Is lifestyle creep bad?

If lifestyle creep isn’t intentional then I would argue that, yes, it is bad, because it means you are not in control of yourself and your finances.  If you and your family have intentionally made the decision to improve your lifestyle or increase your budget for the right reasons, then great.  I am not arguing that everyone should be living like broke college students.  Most of us paid our dues, and if we have kids now they would love ramen noodles and mac and cheese for every meal it would not be healthy for anyone.

If we aren’t paying attention and lifestyle creep happens then we are not being good stewards of our money.  We are just allowing it to flow whatever direction we feel like at the time.  Not being careful and intentional with the money entrusted to you can cost you down the line by reducing the amount of money you can give or save.

The more expansive your lifestyle is, the harder you will be hit by financial crisis if and when it comes.  If you live more simply, by definition you require less money each month.  If you lose your job or have an emergency expense you will have more money to be able to handle it.

How to Prevent Lifestyle Creep.

The best way I have found to prevent lifestyle creep is to automate your finances as much as possible.  Direct deposit is a huge benefit for this.  My wife and I know exactly how much we have budgeted and that is all that goes into our regular checking account from my paycheck.  This is easily explained with an example.

Preventing Lifestyle creep

This is what our actual budget looks like but I have changed the numbers a little.  The $1479 would be my total paycheck.  Only $650 is deposited into our primary account (The one we have easy access to).  The remainder is directly deposited into a secondary account where it then transferred to other savings plans and pays our monthly bills.

The pink accounts are non-cash spending.  Veritas is our church and that is automatically sent by the bank every two weeks with every paycheck

The green line items are our cash spending.  We actually pull cash and put them into envelopes marked as groceries, eating out etc…  There is a whole set of reasons why we settled on cash spending.

It leaves us with a little ($59) left over every two weeks.  When I get my next paycheck I pull what is left over from that $59 dollars out and into a savings account.  Every two weeks we are starting from scratch and keeping to the same budget.

This way even when I get my yearly raise we don’t see it in our primary spending account.  Our budget changes when we decide it needs to, not simply because there is more to spend.  This worked out very well when I got an unexpected bonus from work, we didn’t say “Hey, let’s spend it”  In fact I forgot to tell my wife until a few months later that I got a bonus at all. (oops)

Improving your lifestyle is not a bad thing; if I lived like I did in college with my kids CPS may show up at my door.  But if we are to be good stewards of our finances we should be in control.  And we should be constantly looking out for things getting out of hand.

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