Date Night: Is 2 Chefs 2 Much?

This last weekend the hubby and I decided it was finally time to have another date night. We have been super busy lately and haven't done anything in a while.

One of the date night ideas for May—see my list of Free Dates for a Year if you don't know what I'm talking about—was to make a meal together, but it had to be something we've never made before. Jake thought it would be a great idea to make stuffed-crust pizza because we both love pizza and neither of us had ever made it before. I didn't have time to make my super yummy pizza crust because it requires two hours of rising time and it was already after 6pm, so we tried this recipe:

No-Yeast, Quick Stuffed Crust Pizza

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon cornmeal or flour
5 cheese sticks
garlic powder

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add 3/4 cup water and 3 tablespoons of oil. Stir until dough forms a ball, adding more water or flour if necessary.

2. Sprinkle cornmeal or flour over a greased 14-inch pizza pan or a large round stone. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 15-inch circle or you can do it right on the stone. Transfer to the pan, letting the dough drape over the edge. Cut string cheese in half lengthwise; place on the dough around the edge of the pan.



3. Fold dough over cheese, pinching to seal. Prick dough thoroughly with a fork to prevent bubbles. Brush with the remaining tablespoon oil and sprinkle with garlic powder for added flavor. Bake 5 minutes.

4. Remove crust from oven. Top with your choice of sauce and favorite toppings. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.

5. Enjoy!

For your own at-home date night you can follow our delicious pizza recipe above or choose your own great recipe. Consider making a multiple course meal including dessert!

Keep pinchin' ;-)

Jake's Take: Stranger Than Fiction - Have A Cookie!

Deriving financial insights from today's blockbusters and yesteryear's classics.

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When it comes to the movies, the character of Harold Crick is perhaps the best example of what Dave Ramsey calls a “Nerd”—a person who manages money with facts and figures and spreadsheets and has a difficult time letting go of all the numbers. Played by Will Ferrell in the quirky comedy Stranger Than Fiction, Harold is an IRS agent and he just doesn’t know how to have fun.

Then he meets Ana, a baker he is auditing. She is the complete opposite of Harold, an anarchist, an artist—the essence of what Dave Ramsey calls the “Free Spirit,” a person who doesn’t know how to manage money and is too busy having so much fun that they don’t even know the kind of financial straightjacket they’re in. That’s Ana.

There is a wonderful moment in the film when Ana offers Harold a fresh-baked cookie.

“I don’t like cookies,” Harold says.

“You don’t like cookies? What’s wrong with you?” Ana says.

“I don’t know.”

“Everybody likes cookies.”

Not Harold. He was raised in a family where the only cookies they ever ate were store bought. His mother never baked. So Ana gives him a nice, warm chocolate chip cookie and instructs him to sit down, dip it into some milk, and eat it. Which he does. And it is one of the most thrilling, eye-opening moments of Harold’s life, a moment that begins a sequence of events throughout the film that open up Harold’s world beyond the numbers and spreadsheets that he’s obsessed with.

Now, admittedly, I advocate for the Free Spirits because I am one, which is why I like this movie so much. I know, I know, us Free Spirits can get you nerds into a whole heap of financial trouble, I’m not saying we don’t have our own problems to reign in, but a Nerd that doesn’t know how to let go of a little bit of control is a real downer.

For us Free Spirits life is about having fun—going out to eat, seeing a movie, riding a roller coaster, taking a trip, eating a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie. We don’t care what it costs, we just need to live a little. I know that's dangerous. I'm not saying that we don't have our quirks, but when we’re confronted with someone who is always trying to reign us in we feel suffocated.

So if you’re like Harold, lighten up. And if you’re like Ana, be sure you offer your Nerd a cookie. Preferably freshly baked.

Keep pinching’ :-)

Advice To "Free Spirits" Who Have to Live with A "Nerd"

Yup, I'm the "Free Spirit." Dani's the "Nerd." Sure, she can be free-spirited, and I can be nerdy, but when it comes to money she's the one who wants to budget and plan and save and invest and IRA and frugality and whatnot and whatever, whereas I am, well... I lost interest in this whole sentence a long time ago.

But here's the thing, my fellow Free Spirits, I think you've got the harder job because, let's face it, you're the one with spending habits that need to be curbed. You're the one who needs to exercise a little discipline during the regular budget meetings. Granted there are many things that Nerds need to learn as well—like how not to keep such a tight grip on the financial reins, and that, yes, sometimes you actually have to spend money to have fun, and that that's OK.

But here's the thing, a Free Spirit has to realize that it is possible to have fun on the cheap too! You just got to get your head in the game. Here are a few things Free Spirits should be doing... scratch that... need to be doing in order to make a partnership with a Nerd work in the best way possible. Otherwise you guys will never get ahead financially.

#1 Learn to have fun on the cheap
Sure you can spend $50 and have a great dinner date with a movie and bowling, but there are other things you can do to have fun that don't cost as much. You just have to keep your eyes open. Check around for deals on free or discounted opportunities. Surprise your spouse with something fun at home—maybe even get a little romantic. I think you'll find that planning the surprise is half the fun. Just stay within the budget so as to ensure you'll meet your money goals.

#2 Rise above the "Whatever" response
The person who just says "Whatever" to budgetary matters is not taking control of their money. Furthermore, they're just frustrating their Nerd. Don't be so dismissive. You've got to communicate with your Nerd to help them understand what's important to you. You're both going to have to do a little compromising, but that starts with communication.

#3 Stick to the plan... mostly
A Nerd is going to look at your budget as a financial Bible. Once the two of you get a working budget on paper, in the Nerd's mind it might as well be carved onto stone tablets. So what does the Nerd feel when you then go out and blow the budget all willy-nilly style? Disrespected. Granted your Nerd has to realize that the budget is not set in stone, and that it should be flexible to some degree, but you've also got to understand what it means to them. If there are changes you want to make to the budget you've got to communicate them first.

Living with a Nerd isn't easy, Free Spirits, but look at it this way: in a year's time you're going to have more money and be better off financially WITH your Nerd than you would be without them. So appreciate them. Love them. Work with them. They need you just as much as you need them because, let's face it, unless they're living with a Free Spirit, Nerds don't get to do much living at all!

I love you, honey!

Keep pinchin' :-)

Three Steps We Took Toward A Unified Financial Vision

Dani's a nerd. I'm a free spirit. I don't say that to be mean, those are just the categories that we fall into in Financial Peace University. One isn't worse than the other, they're just different.

And they don't work together very well.

One of the things that frustrated Dani and I early on in our marriage is that both of us were relating with money differently—me as a spender/free spirit and she as a saver/nerd—and neither of us were making any headway with our financial goals. Rather, she wasn't making any headway with her financial goals because I didn't have financial goals at all.

After we went through FPU, however, and learned about the differences between savers and spenders—nerds and free spirits—a light clicked on. We realized why we were irritating each other so much. When I was able to set aside my selfish spending habits and see why saving was important to her, and once she was able to see how much enjoyment I got out of spending some of my hard-earned money, we reached an understanding. And then things started to change.

It was rough at first because we both had to make sacrifices. I had to recognize that I had a lot of unhealthy spending habits that were holding us back from paying off debt. She had to realize that some of her financial goals weren't realistic with a partner, and that she couldn't forge ahead with her own financial plan, that we had to work together. There was some pushing, some pulling, some compromise, and after about six months we began to get pretty proficient at budgeting.

If I had to boil it down, I'd say there were three main things that helped make us successful when it came to creating a unified vision for our finances.

1. We spent a lot of time in prayer. We asked God to unite us in our financial plan. We prayed for wisdom in knowing where to spend our money.


2. We communicated. We came up with a plan for buying things and kept weekly accountability with each other. We shared, and still share, a bank account, so there were no money secrets. And we decided that any expenses over $100 would need to be discussed before acted on.


3. We followed Dave's plan. Financial Peace University gave us a common language when it came to talking about money, and it also gave us a good starting point. Dave's baby steps were a solid "first step." Once we were telling our money where to go, we started seeing results.

Keep pinchin' :-)