Choosing Enough

Musings on life, money, and how to feel like you have enough of each.

My Journey into Personal Finance

I share thoughts on personal finance, happiness, and financial freedom.

How to Find Enough

How do we get to a place where we feel that we have enough? How do we get to a place where we feel like we are enough?

The Big Picture of Life and Money

I look at how money fits into life, how to align spending with values, and how our mindset impacts our perception of whether we have enough.

About me

Hi, I’m Jess, recovering lawyer now in tech policy and mom of two little boys.

My journey into the world of personal finance started when, a few years ago, I realized that despite my seemingly lucrative career as an attorney, between a combination of day care costs for two preschool-aged children, basic expenses, and inattention, we were falling behind. We had never been extravagant spenders. When I looked back at our spending over the past year to figure out how to approach this issue, there was nothing crazy to write home about. It was death by a thousand cuts – diapers, food, Lowes, and random small expenditures that added up to too much to make progress toward financial security.

My way of dealing with a new subject is to go deep, read a lot, talk about it incessantly (sorry friends) and try to learn all the things. I started budgeting, paid careful attention to spending, and binged on too much personal finance information ranging from the debt-free philosophy of Dave Ramsey to various takes on the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement. I went from not tracking expenses to policing every purchase, feeling badly when I spent money on anything and driving my spouse crazy. But I realized this wasn’t making me any happier than being underwater, and worrying about money all the time led to a toxic scarcity mindset. I have also reached the point of life where we’re dealing with parents facing significant health challenges, which changes the timeline for shared life experiences.

All of this shifted my focus from exclusively saving to figuring out how to think about money in the big picture of life. There is a wealth of interesting research in this area. I’m still interested in good financial stewardship and think financial literacy is empowering, and I’ll talk about some of my learnings in this area. But ultimately, I’m focused on figuring out how money fits into life, how to feel like we have enough with what we have, and how our decisions can best align with our values. I hope to share some thoughts and discuss ideas on this journey.

Join me on this journey to choosing enough.

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