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If you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you may not have heard of Zen Habits. If you’ve logged on to the Internet within the past year, then without a doubt you’ve heard of Leo Babauta.

Not only is Leo behind the incredibly successful blog Zen Habits (over 60K subscribers), he launched Write To Done (a blog for writers) earlier this year as well as Web Warrior Tools (an e-book publishing venture).

Today I am pleased to present an interview Simple Marriages had with Leo and his wife Eva. Hope you enjoy. Continue reading…

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Photo courtesy Sleestak66

Have you bought the new 3G IPhone yet? What about the Wii Fit? Or the Apple Airbook? While there is nothing wrong with any of these items, as well as many others, do you really need them? Do they simplify life or make things more complicated?

On the surface, the latest cell phone/calendar/email server/game console/navigation system may help in organizing life, but at what cost? Many people will rush out and pick up the latest gadget before they can really afford it. Paying by the credit card shuffle in order to keep up with the trends. So do these gadgets really simplify life in these instances? No.

Rather than focusing this post on the materialistic pulls that may complicate life, it’s also important to look at how you can simplify schedules, family routines, marriage, parenting, and households. Continue reading…

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Photo courtesy flappingwings

I leave Sunday night for a 9 day trip to Scotland with my father. The travel around Scotland will be planned as we go along by my father and I. At this point, the priority of things I want to see consist of 1) family roots and places my father went to school while there as a child, 2) Scottish history, specifically some William Wallace stuff as well as the highlands, and 3) anything else we decide to go see.

I fly into London, where I’ll have about 24 hours to see the sights before hopping on the train to Scotland where I will hook up with my dad. So this week’s question (nothing like waiting until the last minute):

What are some things I should be sure to see while in London?

Bear in mind, this is my first time to Europe so I will want to see some of the mainstays. St. Paul’s Cathedral, Parliament, etc. What else should I try to take in along the way? Continue reading…

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While this may not be feasible for every couple, thanks to close friends that live nearby (actually so close they’re considered grandparents), my wife I get a weekend with no kids! Uninterrupted dinners, movies in one sitting, sleeping in, going out with other couples and not having to entertain the kids while we wait for our food.

Thank you Nana and Papa G. for loving and taking care of our kids.

This week’s question:

How often should a couple have a kidless weekend?

As always, post your response in the comments section.

Bonus question: Ideas how you and your spouse would spend a kidless weekend?

Maybe my wife and I will try out some of your ideas. I look forward to the discussion. See you in the comments below. Continue reading…

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To the loyal readers who continually return to the Simple Marriage Project and to the many others of you who’ve recently joined our fellowship aimed at taking over the world, I’d like to tell you I’m extremely grateful. I’d also like to take a moment and take care of a few housekeeping items. This idea was actually spurred by Leo earlier in the week with his Life Laundry Day post and then compounded by The Art of Nonconformity’s post In Defense of A**-Kicking (pardon the terminology, but worth the read).

Let’s get down to business. Continue reading…

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Brett and Kate McKay of The Art of Manliness have rocketed up the blog-o-sphere this year. In an effort to learn more about the people behind the blogs, here is a brief interview Simple Marriages conducted with them recently.

The hope for these interviews are for the rest of us to get a glimpse of life behind the blog scenes and perhaps a few nuggets of information we can apply to our lives and marriages. Continue reading…

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Photo courtesy auntsmack4u

I married a CPA. At the risk of offending the CPA society, your brains are just wired differently than the rest of us. That is definitely the case with my wife.

I consider myself to be fairly good with numbers, and I did well in Math back in school, but I’m not in the league of the CPA. Although I do find great pleasure when my checkbook balances and hers is off a few cents. She returns the joy by poking fun at how long it takes me to complete the 1 star Sudoku puzzle.

For the life of our marriage, she preferred to live within a budget. For the beginning years of our marriage I would enter the discussions kicking and screaming. I always felt a budget was far too limiting. I didn’t want to cramp my style.

Needless to say, my attitude helped get us in a financial hole.

The two most common topics fought over in marriage are money and sex. I’ve written plenty of times on the sex topic, now it’s time to tackle the money.

When it comes to budgeting, there are those that live by one and those of us that swear tomorrow we are going to sit down and write one out. The intention is honest, we just have trouble following through.

So how do you set up a budget you’ll actually follow? Continue reading…

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Photo courtesy mrbill

If you are like most married folk, you and your spouse have been through at least one discussion about money. Who spent what? That cost how much? You want to buy what?

This week’s ask the readers is pretty straight forward.

Do you and your spouse have separate checking and savings accounts or does everything go into the same pool?

Post your response in the comments. If you care to elaborate on how everything plays out in your relationship, please feel free.

Should be an interesting discussion. See you in the comments below. Continue reading…

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