Long Time, No Blog

So it's been a while. Excuses abound, but mostly I've simply found thinking or writing about money to be a little depressing these days. I'm fine, we're fine, my job still exists, I'm even on track to meet the financial goals I set at the beginning of 2008. Personally, I have nothing specific to complain about. But when the main topic of conversation at your last haircut involved your wonderful, talented stylist nonchalantly trying to gauge her job security by asking you about your job security, or you spend half your morning bus ride overhearing a conversation about whether your bus driver will postpone his retirement, or you are, hypothetically, in charge of a legal aid fund drive at your big firm place of employment and your highly compensated colleagues put off your solicitations with insincere excuses that times are tight (headdesk)... well, let's just say money is not my favorite thing to think about these days.

Needless to say, I've fallen heavily on habit lately. Thankfully, most of those habits are good. At least, they're not terribly counterproductive. A year and a half ago, Shiner and I decided we would cut back to eating out once a week. Ditto packing lunch. They're both habits now. When I started this job a few years back, I got in the habit of paying all my bills on the last day of the month, when I get paid. Savings and 401(k) remain on autodeposit. Some of these things have piddlier effects on the bottom line than others, but honestly the thing that most highly recommends them is that when the news is all crap and the weather has started to go to crap and thinking about money becomes synonymous with doomy, gloomy general crappiness, these are things you don't have to think about or worry about. Long live habit.