Physician In Numbers – Page 36 – A female primary care physician opines on money, travel, fitness, and other topics to be determined

My Killer Financial Tool: The “Secret” Savings Account

I frequently refer to my “secret” savings account, but realize I haven’t really written about it explicitly. Since I consider it one of my key tools to managing my finances over the past 10-12 years, I think it is time to review how it works and how important it has been.

Just to be clear, I am not advocating hiding money from your spouse; that is not cool in the least.

Instead this is an extra account to “hide” money from myself–which is sort of silly, because for sure I know I where these savings are. But the account is in a separate institution from my checking account, and it’s difficult to check the balance, so I don’t think about it very often. This means money accumulates without any effort on my part, growing steadily month by month.

Today I will finally describe all the ways this account has helped me since I started my “grown up” job, and encourage you to try this as well. Especially those of you just starting in a new position this summer, with a new (hopefully bigger) salary.

Fitness Log #143 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

I started the Friday Firsts sections as a way of keeping track of some of my “firsts” as I dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Things seem to be settling down, but I will keep it for now–more as a way to be aware and thankful of what is happening in my life.

Monday Melange. Money Is For Spending, Too

Before I leave on a vacation, I always try to tidy up the house: clear the desk, put everything away, empty the fridge of food that won’t be good by the time we return. This makes coming back to regular life slightly less painful. This time, I also put together a round up post, to share some blog posts that spoke to me over the past few months.

I didn’t have much of a budget for this vacation–after over a year at home, I sort of didn’t care what it cost. Sometimes it is time to loosen the purse strings, and for the PiN household, this was that time; though I still like to get a good deal if that is possible. A number of the posts below reflect that mindset.

Fitness Log #142 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

Being on vacation–my first travel in over a year–I paid much more attention to my firsts. I exercised a bunch, I think, but didn’t measure it carefully.

Fitness Log #141 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

If You Are Reading This. June 2021.

If you are reading this, I am taking my first trip away since COVID hit.

See you on my return to the Internet!

Fitness Log #140 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

Why We Won’t Ditch Cable

It seems like every person writing about personal finance thinks that cable is the worst waste of money, ever. (Well, except for a new car, maybe.)

It is true that cable is expensive–my father in law calls the companies “bandits” for a reason–and watching too much TV does use time that could be used elsewhere. Like for reading. Or blogging.

In the PiN household, however, we feel we get such enjoyment–and education!–from the cable-provided music stations, that the price is worth it. Especially since, once we account for the fact that we need a reliable internet source anyway–cutting cable would save us $2 a day. We totally feel we enjoy $2 worth of music daily, not counting the actual news, sports, or drama we can watch if we chose.

Fitness Log #139 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

The 7 Best Wedding Gifts

Some recent…weather… and associated power outages not only delayed my weekly post, but also gave me the opportunity to reflect on some of the best wedding gifts Mr. PiN and I received many moons ago.

I think peak wedding season is coming to an end, but if you aren’t sure what to give as a present–or what to ask for–here are my favorites, seen through a retrospective lens. I have linked to my favorite items, or similar options, but these are not affiliate links. I get no monetary benefit if you decide you want to buy any of these.