Shevy's Miscellaneous Life

Oh look, it’s another personal finance blog. Yes, Shevy has decided to make the leap from making long comments on various PF blogs to writing her very own blog, mostly about personal finance, but also about Life.

Why, you ask? For one thing, I don’t fit very neatly into any category and I hope people will find it interesting to explore some of the same old topics from a slightly different point of view. I’m, ahem, approaching a milestone birthday later this year and have 3 grown children, 3 grandchildren, a husband (my second, in case you’re counting), and a five year old. I’m also an Orthodox Jew and a Canadian. Having spent a considerable number of years as a single parent, I’m way behind on saving for retirement. Since retirement and Dear Child’s post-secondary education will presumably coincide that’s a bit of a worry. Okay, it’s a big worry.

Did I mention that my dream is to open a small kosher winery? You’ve heard the old joke haven’t you? Somebody asked the winemaker what he should do to create a small fortune in the wine industry. The immediate response was, “Start with a large fortune.” That won’t be happening in my case, barring a lottery win. So, a big part of my planning has to do with how to finance my dream on a shoestring, while putting my child through school and putting away some money into RRSP’s.

Where did the name for the blog come from? Well, there’s the whole “not fitting neatly into any category” aspect, but I’ve also been sorting through boxes from our latest move (the end of January) along with the boxes that had been in storage, and the vast majority of them are miscellaneous. Even the ones that are purely paper have important papers, bills, kid’s artwork and old Linens ‘n Things ads all mixed together. Sigh.

What are my qualifications for talking to the world about personal finance? None, except that I spend money (sometimes more than is coming in) and I’ve had to figure out a lot of this myself over time. What? You thought I was some kind of professional financial planner and could tell you what to do with your money? No, read my disclaimer.

Why do I keep saying “I” when I’m married? Well, I’m the one who likes to write and to track our finances and who has this outrageous dream. Hubby’s outrageous dream would be to be a rock star, but he’s willing to go along with mine as long as I don’t turn him into a full-time farmer. Besides, blogging is a lot like journaling—very personal. I’m not presuming to speak for my DH most of the time, even when he would probably agree with me.

I plan to post an average of six times per week (nothing from Friday evening to Saturday evening or on religious holidays) and to review at least one book per month. I hope you’ll hang around and read a bit. If you like what you read, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed.