A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted out the above special announcement about G becoming the president of budgeting after we combine finances (and yes, I realize there is somewhat of a typo in the tweet – sorry, that’s what happens on a teeny-tiny keyboard in an 140 character space).

Not surprisingly, I was met with a couple shocked responses.  But, really, this is no surprise.  Do you see many detailed budgeting posts on my blog?  Nope.  Even when I was anonymous, I rarely blogged about my weekly/daily spending habits or my detailed budgets.

Extremely detailed budgeting just doesn’t get me all jazzed up.  Yes, it is what got me out of debt, but now that I’ve gotten comfortable with my spending habits and living below my means, I don’t see the need for a strict budget if it doesn’t excite me.

G, however, is very different.  He maintains a meticulous, self-made budget in Microsoft Excel.  I sorta love that about him, too.  He updates it regularly – I think weekly, but sometimes daily.  I always know when he’s crunching the numbers because I get e-mails like “where did I spend $37.08 last Saturday?” or “we ate out too much this month”.

Even though I’m not a budgeter, that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in personal finance.

While G thrives on working the details, I seem to focus on the bigger picture … in most cases.  To illustrate, here are our personal finance interests:

Amber’s Personal Finance Interests:

• Big purchases (like a home) and the related saving and spending journey
• Making more money through professional growth or freelancing/side hustles
• Frugality & shopping for bargains
• Long-term financial goals

G’s Personal Finance Interests:

• Budgeting – the detailed kind
• Detailed saving for all purchases, big and small (from groceries and oil changes to cars and houses)
• Investing
• Short-term and long-term financial goals

My personal finance focuses have most definitely shifted in recent years.  Like I mentioned earlier, extreme budgeting got me out of debt, but since my saving and spending habits have changed, I don’t have the need to budget so scrupulously.

One habit that hasn’t changed since I became debt-free?  Frugality and my desire to look for good deals.  I have scored some killer deals during wedding planning and really do plan to be a bargain-hunter for the rest of my life.  What’s the point of spending $100 on something when you can spend $50?  If I can’t find a good deal, it’s not the end of the world (trust me, they’re not always out there), but it never hurts to try.

In addition to being the family budgeter, G has also been assigned the investing hottie guru.  Investing interests him, he does his research, and I trust him to make good decisions for us and our family.  He controls our employer-sponsored retirement plan investments and all our outside investments (independent retirement accounts and other investments).  He’s good at it and it works for us.

Something that I have been focusing on more in the recent years is personal/professional growth and side-income streams.  With my CPA and freelance writing, I have made a lot of progress recently.  I’m excited to see where both ventures take me.  G is also starting to try his hand at professional growth – he recently started studying for a computer-related certification exam.  Go G!

What are your personal finance interests?  What personal finance topics don’t interest you?