Another....de-lurker!

[Deleted]

I've been inspired to de-lurk, and try to post more. I've been a member on TN for several years, and TK before that. I think that I joined TK in 2002 or so. While I read the boards almost daily, I post sporadically so I'm probably more of a lurker! :-)  I often don't post because I don't have a ton of time or someone else has already said EXACTLY what I was going to say. I'll try to do a better job. I'm sure if all of us lurkers started posting, the board activity would EXPLODE!

Why I read MM...

It's hard to talk money IRL. It's nice to read about/talk about money with like-minded women.  DH and I have had many struggles throughout our married lives wtih finances, debt, and substantially different views on money. He's the spender, and I'm the saver. Reading these boards, and TN boards before The Great Exodus, helped me to develop a more balanced view on money. I've gotten great ideas about savings (ING accounts!), budgeting (meal planning!), and ideas of ways to make better use of our resources. I think of all items, purchases, and trips in terms of "how can I afford this" and end up with either a plan to shelf the idea, save for it, use a coupon, or cut out something else in order to afford it. This applies to crackers or trips to Europe. I also feel like I want more girlfriends, but I struggle with balancing work time, personal time, and family time.

A little about me....

I'm 36 and DH is 42. We've been married for about 10 years. We have no children yet (we've been TTC for about 2 years) but we do have an 8-year old papillon dog who is our "child." DH has a very large family, while mine is pretty small. We live in the Midwest. I work for a major retailer as a systems project manager and DH is a partner in a small manufacturing firm. I travel quite a bit for work - usually around 50% of the time - but have been relatively off the road for the last 3 months or so as we're in the planning phase of a project. When I don't travel, I typically work at home and spend a lot of time on conference calls. I absolutely love my job and the team that I'm on.

A little about MM....

We own a 4Bd/2ba SFH that is 50 years old and always have a huge list of projects that we should consider tackling. For example, the plumbing is screwed up and we can't use one of our showers! We have no debt at this point, apart from the mortgage and a small student loan that I'm debating just paying off ($2500). We save about 12% of our income for retirement, and have about 3 months of "comfortable" expenses in the bank (without doing major cuts).

What I'm trying to do better this year (MM)...

Meal planning
Spending less on eating out
Trying to resist hiring a housekeeper; it seems MM if I get it together to do more cleaning myself

[smiley]

Welcome to the group!

[womet]

Welcome and congrats on your MM ways. I'm sure that you've got good ideas to share with others here, so I hope you continue to post.

[pitterwoo]

welcome, hope to see you around here more

[Deleted]

Welcome!

Where in the midwest?