I've read over 50 books since the start of the year. I only buy a book after I've read it 2-3 times. How? Sign up at your local library! (And keep signing up wherever you can get proof of residence; I've managed to collect 4 library cards.) And then find whatever system they have for borrowing e-books (mine work well with Libby). I've found that I almost never lack for books. A kindle or e-reader could be a good investment to limit screen time; you can download library e books onto them auite often.

Browsing the physical library is more fun than browsing online for books. Just pick the covers you like, check if the summary sounds fun, and give it a shot. Never feel guilty if you don't read a book you checked out or put a hold on. Sometimes it just doesn't sound as good two days later.

Yes. It's always a good question to ask yourself:

Would you rather be effective or be right?

Thanks. I've been very angry out of a feeling of complete helplessness. I'm reading a book about data bias in relation to gender (invisible women) and it's hitting a lot of sore points that come up being in an office that's 10% female... There's four of us.

Hehehehehe sounds like satire as you point this out to how often the opposite happens

Hey! I'm part of a trend!

Keeping it under 10-12k total. Biggest splurges so far are 1.5k custom tailored three piece suit and 1.6k for photographer to cover the entire day without hour limits. Food will be about half the total cost.

But grocery store flowers, digital invites, thrifted dress, basic rings, picnic area ceremony and restaurant rehearsal. No DJ. No alcohol. No florist.

1. A house is not an asset if it's the one place you can live cost-free in retirement.
2. We all pay into the system with our taxes - including someone who earned enough to afford a home. Why should anyone not benefit from the taxes they paid?
3. Anyone can be sick and in long-term care as they age, including ourselves. As we age, we may not be able to keep working. Those costs add up fast in our healthcare system. And we don't get to make those choices up front for ourselves or our families. The bills come months if not years later. No one says what you owe until it's too late. Why should anyone pay a cost they weren't told would be coming?

I can't argue that the way the US provides many services based off wealth is fair - I believe we should have a universal system that we all benefit from. Why should someone making less than me get better services than me because my job offers worse insurance than they get? We should all benefit.

But, if the choice is that no one benefits or that of our current system. I'll choose our current system. Because I don't know if I'll be the one on the other side 40 years from now.

Wait really?? That makes so much more sense 🤣

I'm dying now because that's literally what I thought when my extended family says it.

What part of California?

Not quite an idiom but term of endearment: petit chou in French is little cabbage but is often used for young kids...

She doesn't! She just flops out there until I make her come back in.

It was a very structured community with a lot of acronyms and rather intimidating.

Most of this community is going to be focused on credit cards with high rewards which often have high interest rates. (Aka my 28% APR). :(

I'm going to put in a third vote for YNAB.

How do you feel it compares to YNAB?

Heehee yay YNAB!

Does your bank not allow you to download your transaction list as a CSV? I used to do this.

Agreed. I wish it was cheaper. Although now with YNAB Together my partner and I can share an account and my sister also agreed to have her budget. (I can technically peek as account manager but I've promised I won't and we're close enough that it's not an issue.) But now it's $30/each!

My partner and I just combined budgets rather than trying to split everything.

Could you try YNAB together (no extra expense to you and you can offer it free) and use YNAB to split things as mentioned in comment? Or if you don't mind losing some visibility then making a broad "together" expense category to pull from/put into?

Also! Maybe try a different card? Plenty of good cards to try churning! But I agree - it's frustrating when one doesn't pull. My credit unions credit card does that.

Very late reply... But why not have all the garnishes? I'm a little ignorant when it comes to cocktails... what's normally included? If you don't have a full bar then it can be the mixed drink you offer outside of wine/beer and you can just plan on a lot of it? I don't know 😂 I feel unqualified

Congrats! Have fun and remember to slow down enough to enjoy at least the first couple weeks of being "officially" engaged before jumping off the deep end!