As I mentioned a while back, I initiated a discussion group among friends and Facebook acquaintances, which after some thought I christened "the League of Ordinary Savers." About 7 local people expressed interest as well as several FB friends who live far from me.
Today was the day of the in-person meeting, so of course it snowed pretty hard. But 4 people managed to make it: a fairly new but close friend, a woman I've known socially for years, and a couple whom I met through another friend but don't know very well.
I wasn't sure what to expect since everyone's finances are always so secret and can be different from their appearances, so I prepared a little "budget fitness" quiz (that I didn't end up using) and mocked up fake versions of my two main spreadsheets, as well as an old budget using a rudimentary text-file list, and printed copies out.
I was surprised when the couple and the old acquaintance both pulled out laptops and shared their budgeting systems! It's so easy to feel like no one outside of Saving Advice does ANYthing to control their finances, so it was cool to see that.
One used an Excel spreadsheet, which is what I do, but his was way different. The other uses Mvelopes. The last attendee was the youngest and also single, and didn't have a structured system. All the guests had interesting perspectives and I really loved sharing our different strategies and stories. I even pulled up my menu/grocery list spreadsheet when we were talking about meal planning. I was kind of embarrassed as I did it because I think it makes me look really anal, but the husband of the couple called it "brilliant" and everyone seemed impressed.
I had already decided that I was going to parlay the "League" name I came up with into a website and Facebook page, but I wanted to see how the group went, to see if it would bring up good topics and integrate well with an online presence. I think it will! It was refreshing and interesting to have that human connection, and I think it will lend a unique tone to the online stuff, so I'm going to try and reference the group periodically in the posts I make.
I had already created the website but hadn't done much with it. Tonight after the meeting I created the corresponding Facebook page. I jotted down ideas that the meeting had inspired and will post them periodically over the next couple of months. I vaguely discussed a second meeting for April, so hopefully this will keep going!
The first meeting of the League was a success!
February 11th, 2013 at 05:19 am
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