Benjamin Awerkamp

When I first was married I thought the best way to manage money was have all of our finances combined (including personal spending money). I was absolutely convinced of this. We would learn to be perfectly united and act as one as we managed our money. I no longer believe this to be the case. Issues with Having No Money to Call Your Own When you have no money to call your own it is too easy, or conversely too difficult, to spend money on yourself. Those who find it easy to spend money themselves create waste from overspending. Those who find it difficult to spend money on themselves find dissatisfaction from restriction.   When my wife and I married we combined our finances 100% because we thought that would be best. However, we quickly found I was great at justifying my purchases and finding the money in our budget to cover it. My wife, on the other hand, had a hard time justifying spending money on herself when it was considered family money. Neither of us were trying to c...

Have you ever been unable to find a file on your computer you knew you saved? I know I have. Over the years I've developed a naming convention to make it easier to find my files. Here are the components of that system.   Be Explicit when Naming When naming a file strive to capture the entire idea of a file within your filename so that it is searchable, recognizable, and knowable. Searchable Filenames capturing the entire idea of file will naturally contain keywords making your file searchable. This gives you the flexibility to find your files using keyword searches instead of relying extensively on folder hierarchies.  Recognizable Whether you use a keyword search or a folder hierarchy to find your files, an explicit filename will make your file more memorable so you recognize it when you see it. Knowable Explicit filenames help you understand the contents of a file without having to open it.  Include Additional Keywords No matter how explicit you are with your fil...