My first day of sailing...

But it isn't my last day of sailing. Today turned out to be a gorgeous spring day. My husband, Dan and I recently joined a sailing club in Kirkland, WA. I have only been out sailing a couple of times but Dan used to teach sailing and race sailboats back in college. Since I've known him, he hasn't done a lot of sailing - but about a month ago he has decided to spend a lot more time sailing.

So today was the first time he took me sailing. I started out not sure of what to expect. I had started reading, It's Your Boat Too: A Woman's Guide to Greater Enjoyment on the Water
- a guide for women on boats. But that didn't really prepare me for what it is really like to sail. We got on the boat and Dan explained some things about raising sails, etc (which didn't make a lot of sense - I'm more of a hands on learner). And then we started out from the dock.

We were in a Catalina 22 - a small boat, but was a lot of fun. I was in charge of raising the sails (although Dan had to help - since I wasn't very quick). We 'heeled' over a lot further than I expected. So I was a little worried about falling into the water, when I had to switch sides to tack. I started getting more comfortable after the first hour.

It was great to see Dan's enthusiasm for sharing his love of sailing with me. I look forward to going out sailing (and learning how to sail) over the next couple of months and through the summer!

Money, money, money...

I just finished doing my monthly budget review for the month of March. My husband and I have split the financial duties - he calculates networth each month and I calculate cashflow. Then we meet and discuss.

Our ideal monthly review we would review our goals, metrics, and finances and determine how we did. Of course - it doesn't quite go that way, but it's an evolving process :).

Some of the metrics we came up with (but of course forget to track) are:

• Did we meet our budget goals?
• Calculate the amount of food thrown away due to spoiling (ideally we would use all food)
• Did we have a weekend of fun - during the month?
• Did we do something outdoor adventurous?

Of course we have great intentions, but mostly just focus on the budget review. I have started using Mint.com for the past 6 months and love it. And my husband actually likes it too. We have it setup to refresh for all of our accounts. And have budget categories setup. Once a week (or less frequently) I go in and review transactions and update the categories. Every Saturday morning my husband and I receive a weekly email showing recent tracsactions, how we are doing against budget, bills due, etc.

It is much less stressful because Dan can see that I am not out on secret shopping sprees and when the credit cards are due (so he knows they are being paid on time and not getting dinged with late fees).

It's actually almost fun to review and track finances now that I have a process and a tool I enjoy using (and my husband has stopped bugging me about whether or not I've paid the credit card bills)...