Gail Club Meeting

Last night, our local chapter of Gail Club met again for some support, chat, financial advice, and general catching up. While some of our regular members were unable to join us, a couple new to the club showed, and talked about the situation. I have great admiration for them, as they made some difficult decisions with regard to a worsening situation. I don't feel at liberty to share their story, but suffice it to say, they have gained my respect by doing what's best for them, and not allowing said bad situation to get worse and making them get further into debt by throwing good money after bad.

We had a bit of a mini coupon swap, and shared the best Canadian sites for coupons. No one that was involved would fall into the category of extreme couponer, but there were some good coupons to be had by most. We traded coupons freely, and talked about strategies of using coupons with sales for further reducing costs on items we would already purchase.

The group shared stories of financial 'where we were and where we are now' as well as our hopes, dreams and plans for our respective futures. Some of us are still silently hoping to win a multi-million dollar lottery (but not having bought tickets, lol), while others are thinking more along the lines of turtle vs. hare savings and debt reduction strategies.

Our little group is evolving and growing. It's nice to just chat with others, gain new perspectives, and get a general sense of belonging while learning in the financial sense. Over the last year or so, we have have members come and go, heard from people who want to join but do not. We even went on a road trip to visit another Gail Club in a nearby city, to see how others run their meetings. Ours are very informal, but we like to pick themes for meetings, and explore options and ideas within the theme of the month.

After the meeting, hubby & I went to a restaurant for a sub and a chat. There was a good opportunity for me to bring up an idea that's been bouncing around in my head since forever, of something that I would like to accomplish in the next 5 years or so, but cannot do without his support and encouragement. Best case scenario would be in he joined in on this little venture idea, but he chooses not too, that's OK, as long as I have his blessing. This opened up the conversation to allow him to bring up something that had been bothering him for awhile, a financial decision I had made some time ago that didn't make any sense to him, until last night. I explained my reasoning, and he understood better why I had made that decision.

I love, love, love, that we are able to talk about these things, without the bitter, accusatory overtones that were present in both of our former relationships. We agreed a long time ago that we would be honest with one another, no matter what happened, through good and bad. We both agreed that we would do our best to never argue, yell and scream at one another, least of all about money issues. Now that's not to say that we don't have opposing views from time to time, but we do our best not to let those differences drive a wedge into our relationship. I personally like to think of it as 'me & him vs. the big bad world'.

Have you and your spouse, or significant other really talked lately about what is truly important to each of you, or about things that are bothering you? how do you handle those conversations, or do they turn into arguments?

I'll be away tomorrow and Thursday, having grown-up time with hubby, reconnecting, and bringing back some of the spark. I'll be back on Friday with another post.