I have my savings through ING, and hopefully nothing major will happen as a result of this acquisition.

I am dying to get back to Europe (haven't been in 10 years), and my husband is right on board....except we have to wait until I am done with my master's. BUT at least I will be able to live vicariously through you. Can you rent an apartment while there? That might cut down on costs, since you'll be able to eat in and all that. Reading Julia Child's "My Life in France" made me want to go back immediately.

I had actually never heard of lifestyle design until I read your post. And this post makes me never want to read a lifestyle design blog because of the smug attitudes you are talking about. One thing I have learned is that sometimes I can suffer from "grass is greener" syndrome, and over the years have learned that there is no perfect formula that fits everyone's life, you have to live YOUR life in the way that YOU want to, and don't apologize for it. Does wanting to own a house make you a bad person? No!

It all comes down to what makes you happy and if working that 9-5 allows for you to live the life you want and you don't hate your job (been there, don't recommend it), then there is no problem with that, since it works for you. I do envy the people who can just pick up and move anywhere, but to me it's more of a personality trait, I thrive in structure and don't love chaos. So I have built my life around that and have come to love and accept that about myself.

I totally got off topic on this one, but my point is to not let ANYone make you feel bad about how you live your life.

While we don't have a set budget for food every month, looking back into our tracking spreadsheet it looks like the husband and I spend about $400ish a month on food (cooking and dining out). We try to limit our eating out, partly because it's expensive, and if we do it too much I end up feeling gross. When I cook I know exactly what goes into my meal, and I also plan ahead to make plenty of leftovers for lunches.

I happen to love to cook, so that's not a problem for me, although I am also in grad school and some days just don't have any energy to do so once I get home from work. But I do a lot of menu planning, and some nights we have super simple meals that don't give us any leftovers, and others we will have something that is a bit more time consuming but will provide enough leftovers for each of us to have a lunch the next day.

We had some issues a while back with food costs spiraling out of control, because we went to the grocery store more than once a week, and once I started menu planning and limiting our trips to be only once a week, with some supplemental trips to Costco for bulk items like meat and pasta and such, it helped get our food costs under control.

I am incredibly fortunate to have my job pay for my health and dental 100%, especially since I work for a small nonprofit. My last job was 60/40 for health and I had to pay 100% of dental when I left.

My husband's job (which is an enormous fortune 500) just changed their health plan to be an awful high deductible plan with a health savings account (not to be confused with an FSA).

I have my annual checkups, cleanings, and I also see my dermatologist regularly for acne. I have some prescriptions (although by getting an IUD I don't have to buy birth control for 5 years, even though there was a bit of a small upfront cost) but the real kicker is that I have to get an eye exam every year, as my state requires it for contacts. So I spend just over $200 a year for contacts at costco (cheapest by far), and then this year was fleeced by Lenscrafters when I needed an eye exam at the end of the year (it was something like $150).

My husband and I are common potters. We fully combined finances when we got engaged, which was about a year before we got married. No prenup, as neither of us had significant finances to protect, and whatever my husband did have (it had been tied up in stocks and mutual funds, put in place by his father ages ago to fund his education and what not), we used toward our down payment on our condo. We each have separate retirement accounts through work, but everything else is combined. When making large spending decisions, we definitely talk it through (unless it's something like a surprise birthday gift) before committing to whatever it is we are buying. We've been married for almost 3 years and it's worked well so far.

I can imagine there could be some interesting discussion about this issue.

While I don't know the exact percentage of my income I give (and I'm in a multiple income household, my husband and I both work full time and are in our late 20's/early 30's, own a condo, and I am also part time in grad school that we are paying for ourselves), I think it's important to do so. My husband thinks we give "enough" while I think we could easily do more. I also have the interesting perspective of working for a small nonprofit, in the development (aka fundraising) office, behind the scenes. So I already know the importance of donating, be it money or your time.

I give to my alma mater (husband refuses to give to his), also sometimes to my high school (it's quasi public, a strange situation), as well as some other local nonprofits. Most of our donations rarely exceed $100 at a time, although I do also have them matched because my husband works for a large corporation. We have been increasing our donations over the past few years, but still aren't giving enough to itemize our deductions.

I give to causes I feel strongly about, and I'm also starting to get into more volunteering, as my coworkers put me to shame with all of the great work they do outside of the office for other organizations that are in many cases much smaller than we are.

My condo is just around 1200 sq feet. It's a loft, so it's all open living (has been my dream forever!). We have our own washer/dryer, a parking spot right out front, and are hopefully getting another off street spot, and a small patio for grilling. Also live on a bus line that is super convenient to downtown, and driving into the city is just as easy. Not a super developed neighborhood, but I kind of like being in an up and coming area before everyone else.

I have a non traditional engagement ring (that I picked out with my husband). It's an eternity band with three rows of diamonds. So I still have diamonds, but they're a lot smaller and totally different than what most other people have. I didn't want a big stone sticking off my hand (I have kind of small fingers), and after looking at a ton of options, I decided on the eternity band (my husband said that when I put it on at the store my face lit up and he knew that was my ring). And so for my wedding band I also have an eternity band, but it's one row and a different setting. The two rings can stand alone or look great together (also something to consider, what your wedding band would be as well).

Happy New Year!

Your goals sound great, and for the most part completely manageable (I WISH I had the motivation to even try to get in 4-5 hours of exercise a week. I'm lucky if I get 1 hour in sometimes).