Those of you who have been following this blog probably suspected that eventually I would somehow tie budgeting into nesting. Well, that time has come! Hooray! Hooray! (okay--so maybe I'm the only one who gets excited about it...)
Last fall I posted several times about my personal struggles and triumphs with spending and organizing my finances. I lauded Mint.com as one of my best finds for the year (and then subsequently quit visiting it...), and wrote about practicing mindfulness when venturing into the stores.
Since then, I've touched on the subject from time to time, even a tiny bit during this series. Up to this point, though, Nesting has been in large part devoted to creating comfortable and cozy living spaces. Establishing a home, however, also includes the pursuit of order. And I can't imagine an area needing more order in my life than my household finances.
The concept of financial order in Nesting is certainly less endearing than design and motherhood. But it is arguably as important. Finance, as we are learning in the nation and the world right now, has this knack of sowing itself in to the foundation of everything, including our households. So while a pretty living room may bring comfort and joy (and believe me, it does), it will not manage to erase the anxiety that comes from economic insecurity or debt. There are few things in the world that have the power to bring us as much comfort as secure finances--even soft beds and warm soup on cold days have trouble competing. To draw an analogy from nature, birds can build nests to lay and hatch eggs, but they still have to bring in the bacon (or seeds, or bread, or whatever). One pursuit cannot survive without the other.
And so I'll be spending a few days discussing the subject of getting my dollars and cents in order, all as an extension of Nesting. Starting tomorrow when I borrow a great budgeting idea from the city I live in. Come back to learn more!
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