I am starting this post partly as a distraction from a fabulous, black, wool Chanel skirt for which I nearly abdicated all of my financial maxims to purchase: no payments, no impulse purchases, no purchases that are not within my budget, nothing in excess... I could go on. The path to financial irresponsibility is paved with beautiful, French, designer clothing. By putting into writing my thoughts on personal finance, I hope to accomplish two goals. The first is to keep myself accountable to the financial guidelines that I believe in through the introspection required by writing them down. As the above Chanel-skirt-near-transgression should illustrate, my financial life is far from perfect. My husband, Monsieur Financier, and I overspend on groceries; we eat out too much, and while we stay within our income, there is room for improvement. I hope this serves as an ongoing reminder that there will always be more Chanel; there will not always be more mon...