Tag Archives: marriage tip

Day 3429 – Marriage Tip – Constantly Think About The End – repost

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If I’ve learned anything by reviewing all of my blog posts, it’s that the ones where I am honest about something, and actually take the time to think through and write my post, that it is a much better post. There are many days it’s hard to write something, especially when most of our days look very much like the one before, that I just throw up something. But knowing that even my future self will be helped by what I take the time to write, encourages me to push forward, and take the extra minutes.

We have gone through a lot of losses the past few years. Every one is a reminder of the shortness of our lives, and the uncertainty of tomorrow. It seems that folks will go through something like a death or other loss, have a “sun breaking through the clouds clarity” moment, realizing we have to embrace every day, and never let moments pass. But after a few weeks or months, this thought is in the back of their minds.

One thing that Bret and I do nearly every day is look at the fact that we’re still alive as amazing, and the fact that either of us could go today is sobering. Most of our good mornings include, “I’m glad you’re alive today!” or “I’m glad you woke up today!” Most of our goodbyes are “It’s been real, I love ya.” or “I hope I get to see you again.” Instead of ignoring this fact of life, we acknowledge it every day. It helps us appreciate the moments we do have. It helps us move past a fight or disagreement quickly. It helps us to let things go.

I have no idea how long I’ll get to spend with Bret. I don’t know my last day or his. But every day of our 3,064 married days and 3,940 known days, is filled with the awe and wonder that we got another day.

….and a little eye rolling from both of us….

originally posted 11/30/17

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Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
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Check out our resources page.
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Day 3064 – Marriage Tip – Constantly Think About The End

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If I’ve learned anything by reviewing all of my blog posts, it’s that the ones where I am honest about something, and actually take the time to think through and write my post, that it is a much better post. There are many days it’s hard to write something, especially when most of our days look very much like the one before, that I just throw up something. But knowing that even my future self will be helped by what I take the time to write, encourages me to push forward, and take the extra minutes.

We have gone through a lot of losses the past few years. Every one is a reminder of the shortness of our lives, and the uncertainty of tomorrow. It seems that folks will go through something like a death or other loss, have a “sun breaking through the clouds clarity” moment, realizing we have to embrace every day, and never let moments pass. But after a few weeks or months, this thought is in the back of their minds.

One thing that Bret and I do nearly every day is look at the fact that we’re still alive as amazing, and the fact that either of us could go today is sobering. Most of our good mornings include, “I’m glad you’re alive today!” or “I’m glad you woke up today!” Most of our goodbyes are “It’s been real, I love ya.” or “I hope I get to see you again.” Instead of ignoring this fact of life, we acknowledge it every day. It helps us appreciate the moments we do have. It helps us move past a fight or disagreement quickly. It helps us to let things go.

I have no idea how long I’ll get to spend with Bret. I don’t know my last day or his. But every day of our 3,064 married days and 3,940 known days, is filled with the awe and wonder that we got another day.

….and a little eye rolling from both of us….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2768 – Marriage Tip – Have An Emergency Fund

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Yesterday was quite the day! I took our car to the mechanic because of an indicator light. Come to find out, we needed work that was a few hundred bucks. Finished up, stopped by a good friend’s house.

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Had lunch with another good friend.

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After lunch, I discovered my indicator light came back on. So back to the mechanic I went. They figured it out, and I left with another bill adding another hundred or so. After the events of the day, I kept thinking about something that has radically improved our marriage – an emergency fund.

After our truck was totalled, we got a hefty check and that was our emergency fund for a while. Unfortunately, it also became our fun fund and our bills account. So we went from a good 6+ months of an emergency fund to less than 2, probably even closer to 1. While we were on our summer trip, we started to listen to the financial peace seminar by Dave Ramsey. One of his biggest things is having an emergency fund. Hearing this was a great reminder for us. While we are also investing in Bret building a real estate investing business, we’re also trying to build our emergency fund up again. Since we’re back up to over 2 months, it’s a real comfort when something goes wrong. Driving to the mechanic, I thought, well, if something major is wrong, we have the money saved to take care of it. A few years ago, a day like yesterday would have been extremely stressful to our marriage. There would be anger, disappointment, and discouragement.

As I thought over the day, I was just struck at how powerful having that emergency fund is. It took us time to do it, it’s not a quick thing to do, but it should be a priority. Trust me when I say, it has a HUGE impact on your marriage. There are lots of ways to save money, and cut your bills back. One thing that helps us is an account on Mint. Seeing how much we ACTUALLY spend on things and not what we think we spend is extremely helpful….and surprising. Fun Jen and Bret fact – we spent over $400 on Dunkin Donuts since we started tracking our spending on Mint. Funny enough, we really started spending when we moved here. Darn you Dunkin within 3 minutes walking distance!

What about you, do you have an emergency fund? Are there ways you can cut back your spending so you can build it up? Let me know below!

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
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Day 2685 – Marriage Tip – Never Underestimate The Power Of A Cup Of Coffee

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I have become extremely spoiled recently. About 95% of the time, Bret makes the coffee in the morning. I’ll even “complain” if he hasn’t.

This week, Bret has started a new thing – bringing the coffee to me….while I’m still in bed.

Monday was a rough morning because I couldn’t fall asleep for a while and we were up really late. How does Bret surprise me? He let me sleep until the last possible moment and brought in the coffee. He brought in his cup too so we could chat. Great start to the day.

This morning, once I was awake (which I alert Bret to by blowing a kiss), he told me to be careful where I moved my arms. I looked to my right and there was a cup of coffee. He left it in there for when I woke up. Can I just say that I felt great when I woke up? Guess the smell of coffee is the secret to that “leaping out of bed, ready for a great day” thing. 🙂

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2299 – Marriage Tip – Make Time For Each Other – Even It Means Cancelling Plans

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Going into this weekend, I was so tired. We had several potential plans for the weekend….doing all of which would lead to a VERY busy weekend. Saturday morning, Bret informed me he was only doing one of them, this meant that we were able to spend the majority of Saturday together. We even got breakfast together. Sunday, we attended church and had no real plans afterwards. I noticed a Mission BBQ drink cozy….I cannot tell you if it was in church or someone’s car or what, but I saw it. So I suggested (not expecting to go since we just went out the day before) we go for lunch. I had heard about their noon tradition and it was 11:30 at the time. To my surprise, my thoughtful husband agreed!

So we headed over and OH MY GOODNESS! it was delicious! I got their ribs with Bay-B-Que sauce….can I just say that it is one of the best “Old Bay in food” foods I’ve EVER had. Hands down.

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At noon, all Mission BBQ employees (and every customer too) stop what they’re doing, stand and pledge allegiance to the flag. It is a truly awesome experience. Everyone is so quiet, so reverent. It was all I could do to not cry. (I know, SO surprising).

After our amazing lunch, I took Bret on a surprise trip. See, we love fall. It is our favorite season. Bret is fascinated by the leaves. Knowing all he wanted to do was just sit and stare at them, I took him to one of our old “photo shoot” sites. We walked along the path and just chatted about life.

I’m so thankful that Bret chose to cancel his Saturday plans AND give me his whole Sunday. It was a very refreshing time for us. 🙂

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel