All About the Money, Money + An Announcement!

Money. Ugh, what a sensitive topic. If you're newlyweds, established in your marriage, or just engaged, the "money talk" is never easy. However, it is important. Especially when kids are involved. Suddenly, it's not just you and your spouse that you have to think about. With kids there's schools to consider, neighborhoods you should live in, and of course the desire that they should never want for anything.

Planning For The Future. What Are We Doing??

Linking up with Christine, Brittany, and Ashley for Mama Tells All



Josh and I were (thankfully) smart enough to have the money talk early on in our relationship. That doesn't always mean we did what we were supposed to. Sadly we had to learn the hard way when it came to money.

We met eight years ago (almost 9 years ago). Most of my regular readers know I'll be 27 this year, so doing the math we were young. We still are young. The good news is we're not learning these hard lessons now rather than earlier in the relationship. We both maxed out credit cards and didn't know how to balance a check book when we first started dating. Clearly that was a recipe for disaster. During that time Josh even had one of his tax returns go completely to a student loan because they wanted it paid off ASAP. Obviously we weren't saving a lot during that time.

Fast forward to 2009 (three years being together) we knew we had to get serious about saving. After Josh's student loan got paid off we started working to pay off other debts. We still have a little way to go in that area, but we're much better off than we were when we started. In 2009 was when we found out Zander would be joining the family early 2010. I opted to sign up for my company's 401k program. Since signing  up for 401k I've had to roll it into different accounts because I've had a few job changes, but I've always kept it active. And we DON'T touch it!

In 2011 we started actively contributing to our savings accounts with our banks. Believe it or not, a little savings each week goes a long way.
2013: Josh's company finally started offering benefits, including 401k. He opened one as well. He also has a life insurance plan through his job. It's been a long, slow, drawn out process but we're getting there. We know the importance of saving now. Especially with kids. We want our kids to be able to go to good colleges, and good colleges aren't cheap. Of course, if they don't want to go to college that's their choice... and that's another topic. (We want them to go to college).

I hope I don't come off as some sort of savings expert. I'm not. Josh and I are still learning. We're still a new couple. (We're still less than 10 years into this, y'all...we're new) haha. All I know is what works for our family. I definitely suggest all couples... with kids or without... have the money talk. Money is a serious subject. It takes both parties in order to really save in a marriage.

Linking up with Anne for Wednesday Wishes

My Wish for today is that everyone reading this takes heart if they're not already saving. I wish that you're able to get a savings plan in order and get things figured out. Work out what's best for you and your family. It takes time. I wish everyone be able to realize when they need to start saving. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

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And Now For the announcement. Don't worry, y'all it's GREAT NEWS! 
As y'all are well aware (I'm sure), The Rambling Llama is slowly growing and making it's own little mark on this corner of the interwebs. This week, one of my super favorite bloggers, Lora from Heart of Life contacted me about a new collaboration / Link up! I'm SUPER excited about this because Lora is seriously one of my blogging besties and one of my favorite text buddies.

Here's the deal:
It'll be a monthly linkup. Starting THIS MONTH! (aahhh! how exciting!) It'll be every third WEDNESDAY of the month. So if you're doing the math, that means the first one will go LIVE on Wednesday Nov 19th.
Lora and I are proud to introduce "Monthly Musings", A monthly linkup where we'll be reflecting on the finer things in life.

The idea is every month we'd like to post about the happiness's in your life, what you're looking forward to, what's going on, why are you Thankful, etc. We're trying not to focus on the negative that tends to happen oh-so often.
So for November: why are you thankful this month? In December, what do you love about the holidays? Or what's some good news related to that month? It's an open linkup!

All we ask is to simply write a post about something you're loving about the month we're in. We're trying to remember the finer things in life, and not focus so much on the negative. Add your link here and be sure to grab the button 
Please follow your hosts, and comment! Remember, comments = love! You might make a new friend!

If you use the hashtag #MonthlyMusings on social media and / or tag Lora and Melissa we'll be sure to retweet you and share the love! Lora's Twitter || Melissa's Twitter