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I've had some posts lined up in my brain: one on San Francisco, one on making cheese, another one for Pi Day. They are rattling around somewhere in the spiderwebby attic of my cerebral cortex.

But instead, I am going to write about money, honey.

Yeah. I've been thinking about it non-stop lately. In good ways! In grown-up, empowering ways. It has always been a fascinating topic for me, as opposed to a taboo, awkward, private one. I'm turning 30 this year, and money is on the agenda of my 'sit down and thinkaboutit' horizon.

(If this topic is not interesting to you, I would skip this post.)

Here is a brief look at my history with money (inspiration here):

• My parents taught us to be smart and careful with our money, since they didn't have much when they were kids.

• When I was little, my Dad saved all my birthday / Christmas/ Chinese New Year money from relatives into my parents' bank account. He would write out each incoming transaction on a crumpled paper ledger entitled 'Joann's Savings Account'. As a child, I watched my "money" grow to $2000 (collected over like a decade), and fell in love with savings through osmosis.

• I have had a job, part-time or otherwise, since I was 14. In grade 9, I would work two evening shifts during the school week, and once on the weekend. When I worked at the GAP, we would be scheduled for "flow night" once a season (new summer products, etc.), where we would work from 7pm to 3am putting out new merchandise. My dad always drove me everywhere (<3 thanks pop.)

• I have been: a pizza franchise employee, a clothes horse employee, a Starbucks employee, a bartender (?! for a month before they fired me), an after school care leader at community centres, a summer camp instructor, a drama camp instructor, a voice/acting mentor for kids, and a tutor.

• When deciding how much I could spend as a teenager, I would just look at my savings, eyeball the last two digits and decide I could afford that amount (i.e. $2567 means $67 to spend).

• In my early twenties, my best friend and I had a "$10k Party" (and by party, I mean we went out for dinner) when we both reached our financial savings goal around the same time as each other.

• Confession: he and I never tipped when we were in high school, and my boyfriend at the time told us that we were embarrassing and we needed to start tipping our servers. 

• I always tip now, even if service is shitty (I don't know why.)

• I was lucky that my parents set up a CST education fund when I was a a kid, and also had scholarships from my highschool and UBC to fully finance my BFA. Later, I paid for my Bachelor of Education from my work savings. I've never taken out a student loan.

• I will be getting my Masters of Counselling (fingers crossed) in the next years, and will pay the $20k pricetag, as well.

• I have always paid off my credit card bill in full each month, since attaining one. Once, I forgot the due date by a few days, and was mortified when they charged me interest (it was like... $5). 

• I am working part-time right now, and taking a class, so incoming money is less than it has been since I started my teaching career.

• I have never set up a real budget for myself, and this year is the time to start.

Would I categorize myself as a spender or a saver? The latter, definitely. It's just so ingrained. So it's funny to me that a compulsive saver such as myself has never entertained the idea of a budget, 'til now. B and I have grand, sexy plans to sit down with our finances this Monday, and have a good long think about things. Like, how much of our take home pay will go towards RRSPs and retirement? How much into a rainy day fund, in case we fall on hard times? How much for things like shoes and gourmet chocolate? 

Because. Well. We may very well differ on these opinions. So here's another list.

- I will fork over $$$ for food. Food festivals, 5-course menus, expensive groceries. Whatever.

- I hardly ever--or it pains me a little when I--pay for drinks at restaurants. Desserts, too.

- I will indulge in getting a pedicure once a month (when I'm living in a city), because I love reading trashy magazines in silence, and having me time.

- I do not pay for manicures because it chips so easily, AND I can't read trashy magazines while     someone works on my hands.

- I will spend a couple hundred dollars on leather shoes I love.

- I no longer buy random, cheap clothing from stores just because it is on sale.

- I pay for $50 haircuts, only because I cut my hair once a year.

- I wouldn't spend money to dye my hair, or upkeep it that way.
- I/we will shell out a lot to sustain our desire to eat organically, ethically
- I wanted to hurl when we were in Juneau over christmas break, and was charged $11 for one single red pepper.

- I will spend money on travel, without raising an eyebrow, because it sustains me.

- I would never pay for a business class ticket, and will always choose the option that is most        economical, even if it means a kind of nutty wake-up time.

- I pay for art: theatre tickets, books, prints to hang.

- I am scared to think about buying a couch, fridges, canoes, land, houses, cars or anything grown up like that.

The reality, at the end of the day, is that it is time to turn some of my theoretical ideas of money, into concrete ones with my partner. Marriage will do that for you. I was reading one of the billion blog posts I peruse on any given day, and had a stark realization that legally, all of B's $, and all of my $, is now just a big pile of BJ $ (haa), anyway you slice it. 

When we move away from this wonderful territory this summer, we are leaving behind employment + low rent, and heading into the unknown. Being imminently unemployed, with a higher housing market will probably make any couple wizen up, team up. I have imposed a personal budget for myself for the next few months, and it feels surprisingly good. It feels nice to have boundaries, to have purpose.

So as Team Beejay talks credit union vs. big bank, and whether fresh flowers (her) or dry cleaning (him) will fall into the joint budget, I want to ask you brave ones.....

a) what is one interesting factoid from your history with money?

b) what is something you have no problem spending money on?

c) what is something you would never spend money on?