Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

Jim Harnish

Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.

Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.

Fernando Figueroa

Gary Beemer

Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

Sean Marcus

Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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Household Budgeting and Other Life Threatening Endeavors

Posted Sep 28, 2009 by Gary Beemer

Updated Sep 28, 2009 at 09:29 AM

If you want to ruin a perfectly good weekend just say the word BUDGET on Friday evening just as your significant other trudges through the door after a grueling week at work. The death stare is the least you’ll get, but you’re more likely in for a high pressure emotional storm resulting in a two-day cold shoulder.

Just about everyone we know is being more careful with their money these days. People are selling cars, using coupons, eating out less, cutting back on the “extra” things in life and yes… making out budgets.

My wife and I recently enrolled in a thirteen week financial management class that starts out by having participants create a formal written budget. We have an informal budget and pay our bills on time, save for retirement and help our kids pay for college, but we knew in the back of our minds that we could do better.

The biggest problem with a formal budget is that two people have to agree on where every penny is spent after essentials like food, shelter and transportation are covered. Sounds simple enough, but this is where you discover that each of you have vastly different financial priorities.

My wife loves to fill our garage with strange things that she finds at garage and estate sales while I prefer to fill it with tools from the local home improvement store. A formal budget forces concessions on both sides, and that’s why the class recommends doing the initial budget in a public place to avoid heated exchanges and possible bloodshed.

We stayed home and managed to peacefully negotiate our way to a budget that balanced our individual wishes with our finite income. Smooth sailing ahead, or so we thought.

During the first week of our new financial life we woke up and our ten year old dachshund was not moving. Closer inspection revealed that she was alive but extremely lethargic. She went out back and wandered around more slowly than normal, but the next day she started to stagger like she’d been binging on Nyquil all evening. Tears flowed as we thought she wasn’t going to make it another day.

As loving pet owners we took her to the vet where she needed an exam – cha ching, x-rays – cha ching, admission to the doggie hospital – cha ching, IV drug therapy – cha ching, a follow up visit and meds – cha ching! In total, she broke the budget to the tune of $350 and was back to terrorizing lizards in our yard without a hint of any lingering problems.

My wife, who appears to love this dog more than me at times, was initially willing to spend whatever was needed to get little Pebbles well. At the vet – post formal budget - she turned into an accountant. Before the budget, cost wouldn’t have mattered, but now that this medical treatment was competing with her garage sale and Starbucks coffee indulgences, life became more complicated. Though I can’t verify it I wondered if she was thinking that Pebbles had lived a long and happy life and maybe we should let nature take its course.

The economizing continued later at the home improvement store where I was grilled about the type of mask I chose to filter out fumes from paint stripper and floor finishing chemicals. I had purchased the expensive one that prevents organic solvents from causing brain damage, but my wife wanted to know if the $1.99 mask would have been just as effective considering how I act at times?

Putting these minor things aside, we are making real progress on our budget. Round two of the negotiations are coming up this week as we develop our pre-holiday budget. I think I’ll secretly save some Starbucks cups and refill them with cheap grocery store brew and see if there is any change in my lioness’s behavior. Hopefully for me, there won’t be.

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