I realized something really interesting this morning--the first decision I make every work day is, "What shoes should I wear today?" Depending on what I decide, it would determine my whole outfit. If I decided on one of my black oxfords, I'd wear a black or grey suit, but if I decided to wear brown shoes, is go with the navy colored suits. Since I have different black shoes and different brown shoes, the choice becomes more meticulous.

Finally after deciding on color and then style, I decide on my choice of suits. I then decide on what shirt to match it with and then lastly, which tie to match the whole outfit. Although it may sound tedious, the whole decision making process takes about 30 seconds since I already know pretty much every combination.

On weekends my first decision is usually what to eat, but what footwear I decide on, dictates pretty much what I will be wearing for the day. Although I always knew this, I never really thought about how much of a priority I put on shoes.

What's usually your first decision of the day?

And for all you fashionistas out there, what order do you have for deciding your outfit?

For those who forgot, today is tax day.  If you haven't done your taxes yet, they HAVE TO BE IN today.  I usually like to do my taxes in March, because it gives me time to collect all my forms, mentally build up idea that I may not get a return and begin saving money on the side just in case I have to write a check.  Instead of doing it through Turbo Tax like I have been doing the past couple of years, I decided to go with an accountant that a couple of my friends recommended.  Although it cost me about $150 more, it was quicker, easier and got me much more money back.  I think the best thing to do is to ask around your closest friends and ask for recommendations.

In terms of paying taxes, a lot of people have differing opinions as to what exactly they should do when they fill out their tax forms with their employers.  Some prefer to have more withholdings, which means they pay less taxes and will almost always have to pay when they do their taxes.  They believe that they rather have the money now, rather than have the government make interest on their money.  They may also use this money to invest and make more, maybe even just collect interest in their savings account.  As I read from a newsletter/blog entry from Ramit Sethi, best selling author of "I Will Teach You to be Rich," most people will probably just spend the money.  I know for sure that I have always spent almost every dime I made, but will easily put my tax returns towards debt.  In fact, one of the happiest moments I have is when I file my tax return and realize that I will be getting money back.  Right away, I take that money, allocate it towards my debt and then hope that I have some money left over.  

I know I mentioned this before, but this year, I took my return and paid of the remaining balance of my credit card.  At one point, I had over $20k in credit card debt and it really seemed hopeless.  I was paying like $300 a month on interest alone!  A lot of the credit goes to Mrs. jigg in helping me understand the importance of personal finances.  If she was any way like me, we'd be in the poorhouse!

The book I referenced earlier is in my opinion, a must read for everyone.  It's not so much about how to be rich, but more about taking the money you make and making the best of it.  He teaches you how to structure your finances in a way where everything from bills to savings to investments is automated so you don't really have to think too much about it.  He teaches you how to pay down your debt and even how to negotiate for a raise.  You can also learn how to spend money on the things you want but not on things you don't need.  This might sound really obvious, but trust me, it's not as obvious as you think it is.

The book is really well written, but if you're unsure, check out his blog at www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com and see if his advice makes any sense to you.

Most of my friends have a lot of debt.  Most of them battle debt by trying to make more money.  I used to think the same way, but the more I made, the more I spent and my debt was really getting nowhere until I made a conscious effort to tackle it head-on.  This made me wonder, on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being terrible (with loads of bad debt like credit card debt) and 10 being a Personal Finance Guru (healthy savings, investments and retirement plans, etc), how would you rate yourself?  I think I was a 1 and now, I'm a 5--neutral and slowly building towards being a 10.

Finally, everything has been moved and now, the entire basement is filled wall to wall with stuff. For the next couple of weeks, my goal is to go through everything and get rid of whatever I don't need. I'm thinking of doing a yard sale of some sort and then just throwing away whatever I can't sell.

I've read many stories about people who sell almost everything they have, living on basic essential things. I'm not going to go as far as selling my camping gear (in case there's a zombie apocalypse and I need to survive), but I have a proud collection of books as well as a large amount of CDs and DVDs. I'm sure there are other things I can get rid of like clothes and electronics.

Last night, we spent a couple of hours cleaning up the kitchen. Although spotless, the cabinets were filled with junk. I was forced to make my mom make tough decisions. I could tell that I was stressing her out, making her choose two of the 10 or so empty glass containers she had put away, but forgot about for the last couple of years.

I think we tossed out at least half of the stuff in there. I nearly rearranged what was left and I felt so much better. At that moment, I thought about the husband of a distant aunt of mine who was a hoarder--he keeps every single magazine and newspaper he has ever read for probably the past 40 years. Why he does that, I really have no idea, but I can't imagine his place looking nice. I wonder how much pain my mother will go through when she sees me get rid of all the useless things we have.

This past weekend, Mrs. jigg and I got evicted from our condo. Kidding. I was renting from my sister and by mutual agreement, we decided to pat ways. She's renting the place to someone else for more and I moved back to my parent's at Staten Island.

My parents have a relatively large townhouse and they're both pretty much retired because they both can't physically work. By moving back, we can look after them and save money at the same time. Even after paying them rent and such, I think of save about $10k a year.

Mrs jigg and I are planning on saving for our own place. With dual income, we'll probably be able to have a down-payment in about two years. We haven't talked about exactly where yet, but so far, we decided that the two things we absolutely want is space and being around good schools for our future children.

So far, I've moved four times in three years. I'm kind of sick of moving so I'm glad we'll be here for at least two years before moving again. I had hoped that we would get rid of things, but we wound up moving like 95% of our things back.

I'm going to try and sell all my useless things like CD/DVD collection. I also have a lot of clothes that I don't wear anymore and will be donating them. Everytime I move, I feel like there's always so much clutter.

I guess the worst thing part is the commute to work. It takes us about 25 mins longer than our previous place, which means we had to wake up earlier. The good thing is, I now have more time for reading and blogging.

Anyway, before moving here, we got rid of a ton of things in the basement but it seems like we have to get rid of even more things. Apparently, Asians are known to be hoarders and they keep EVERYTHING. I'm glad my dad is open to the idea of throwing away useless things. My mom on the other hand had to keep away because watching us throw away things was painful to watch.

Are you a hoarder or do you get rid of things when you realize you don't need it?

Today is the first day I am completely credit card debt free since 2006. I had at one point over 20k in credit card debt and it took a lot of help, advice and encouraging from Mrs. jigg to bring that number down to zero. Yesterday, I used my tax return to pay off the last of my cards. It's probably the best birthday gift I could ever give myself.

A lot has happened in the past 30 years. I almost didn't survive my teenage years by making a ton of mistakes like dropping out of school, but after that hurdle, nothing was going to stop me from bettering myself and making sure I wasn't going to waste my life away without an education. Yet, it's hard to imagine how my life would be at 30.

Did I know I would be working in Corporate Finance? I studied history. Did I know that I would be married? Actually, I did know this since I thought I'd be married by 27 and be a father by 30. All these life events really mad me realize how useless it is trying to plan your life. I think the most important lesson I've learned is to do the opposite of that, live for today, prepare for tomorrow. Planning anything more than a year away is pointless since anything can happen.

I don't think I'm old, but my body has certainly aged. I don't move as fast and my reaction is not as quick. I don't lose weight as fast and my recovery time from injuries, sickness and hangovers take much longer.

But since 30 is the new 25, I'm just really starting to really live life, now that I'm married, wiser and relatively debt free. Although I feel like I'm always teaching Mrs. jigg things and I'm the smarter, more knowledgable one in the relationship, I have definitely learned a handful of life lessons from her, especially regarding personal finances and savings. She really set me straight and I cannot thank her enough.

Getting to 30 wasn't a walk in the park, but I feel like I have gained enough experience points to really take control of my life and enjoy everything that life has to offer.

I've been writing about my thoughts on life for the past 9 years and I just realized that I never really post about money and finances. Maybe I'll start spreading some of what I've learned in past year.

Anyway, I want to thank you all for joining me on my journey in life and reading my blog. I always wondered why people read this thing.

And of course, thank you all in advance for your birthday wishes!

Mrs. jigg has a problem with sleep. She can sleep 10 hours and still wake up tired and groggy, while I have the exact opposite problem--I can't sleep much at all, just a couple of hours a day. But regardless of how many hours we sleep, we are usually really energetic when we wake up on the weekends, starting Friday morning.

Case in point, Monday - Thursday, I have to wake Mrs. jigg up, but she always wakes up on her own on Friday! Normally, she power naps on the commute, but she's actually looking right at me right now, wondering what I'm blogging about.

There's this psychological thing about the weekend and out internal clock is telling us that playtime is near. On the other hand, no matter how much we rest or veg on the weekends, we always wake up tired on Mondays. I wonder if there's a study on this.

Anyway, although my birthday is next week, we're celebrating my 30th birthday tomorrow. Since I strategically proposed to Mrs. jigg on my birthday (so she would not expect it), we get to celebrate our engagement anniversary as well and will probably be doing it every year. But the best part is, she would always be the one paying!

Happy Friday!

Popeye's had a 8pc deal yesterday for $4.99. I really wanted some fried chicken for dinner, but knew I had to work late. By the time I got off, some places might be sold out, as they did before.

Mrs. jigg offered to wait on the ridiculously long lines to get me some. It would be hot and crispy by the time I get home, reheated right out of the oven.

Although it was a really small thing, I was so happy when she said that. It wasn't like I haven't had fried chicken before or that I would be saving tons of money (probably $3-4 at most), but the fact that despite some places with wait times for over an hour, with lines outside of the store in the rain and snow, Mrs. jigg was willing to go great lengths for her husband to have fried chicken for dinner.

As I posted on my Facebook yesterday, I felt like Phil from Modern Family, waiting for his iPad, all day. I couldn't wait to get home.

Anyway, I got into a discussion/debate with Mrs. jigg's friend yesterday. She says her and everyone she knows in Boston, prefers KFC over Popeye's. Why would anyone want fried chicken that's dripping in grease and oil? Popeye's hands down is about 1000x better.

Readers, if you have tried both, which do you prefer, KFC or Popeye's?

A friend of mine was asking me how my relationship with Mrs. jigg seem so easy while her relationship with her fiancé was so hard. It made me wonder--does everyone think that keeping a relationship is really hard? Is every relationship a struggle?

I haven't been in that many relationships, but I feel like while every relationship has its struggles, a good and healthy relationship shouldn't feel like a struggle. It shouldn't have constant bickering and fights.

While there is no clear formula in producing a good relationship, much really has to do with talking and communicating properly. Just because words are being exchanged does not mean you are communicating. Instead, I would say that once there's anger and sarcasm in the tone, the conversation is going the wrong direction. "Yes, but," statements may seem to help you get your words in, but they're not really words of comprehension, but superficial words to make it seem like you even somewhat agree.

I think it surprises me when people hold on so tight and so long to struggling relationships. Hope is a crazy thing, but it's also irrational. Sometimes, some of these relationships look like disasters to me, yet the people involved refused to protect themselves and run away to safety. They stay in and hope that things get better when things are only getting worse.

As I'm writing this, I'm wondering how many people will read this and feel defensive about their current relationship.