Comments on Feminist Finance: Money Diary, January 2009

Rachel B, I changed my name to a different family ...

2009-03-13T19:01:00.000-05:00

Rachel B, I changed my name to a different family name on my side, one I've liked for a long time and that was about to "die out" because of the lack of male heirs to carry it on.

Shiner wanted us to have the same last name (something that wasn't very important to me, my mom never changed hers), but I told him he was welcome to take my new last name if it was important to him. It was, and he did. For him the pros were: his sense of unity, and his increased googleability; Cons: having to buy a whole new set of URLs. Ah, the geeks we love.

Ironically, strangers now probably assume we are just like any other traditional married couple who are following a patronymic system! Which is fine, though in a way I regret a little bit that we won't be able to model for our kids that the fact that two parents don't have the same last name DOES NOT mean that they don't love each other--something I heard more than a few times as a kid. From stupid meanieheads, it goes without saying.

I've couchsurfed, and it was awesome. I highly rec...

2009-03-05T12:30:00.000-06:00

I've couchsurfed, and it was awesome. I highly recommend it. As long as you pick a host with many character reviews, who matches your basic life place (ie stay with an adult if you're an adult; stay with students only if you're a student), you'll be golden.

And I'm really interested in this name-change stuff. Did you & Shiner decide to both go the hyphenated route?

Spanish fluency sounds to me like a valuable profe...

2009-03-05T10:09:00.000-06:00

Spanish fluency sounds to me like a valuable professional asset. Think of it as professional development, not a luxury vacation.

doogie style money diary is rad! i hope you'll sh...

2009-03-05T10:03:00.000-06:00

doogie style money diary is rad! i hope you'll share again in a month or two. it's a great way to put in the random thoughts that don't quite make a blog post, but piled up they're great.

Couchsurfing sounds scary to this old fart. Kind ...

2009-03-05T08:57:00.001-06:00

Couchsurfing sounds scary to this old fart. Kind of like hitchhiking. And I agree the only way to say IRA is I.R.A. I can't stand that Ira business, although I am in the IRA business...heh. Nice job Doogie!

It sounds crazy, but if you break your glasses, go...

2009-03-05T08:57:00.000-06:00

It sounds crazy, but if you break your glasses, go to ZenniOptical.com. Your optometrist can release your prescription to you, and then you can go buy glasses online! To be fair, you might want to buy them before you break the old ones, because their shipping is rather slow, but the glasses start at $8 a pair--including lenses!--and they're pretty nice glasses. I just bought four pairs, and I paid $45 including shipping. It was basically amazing. (Also, I realize this sounds like a shill, but I'm unassociated with the company, just really excited about cheap glasses.)