Irish Eyes was writing about the tablet of paper she uses for her writing projects. In addition to being a tactile kind of process, it is also highly portable and immediately available.

Her comments struck me as very familiar, since I am used to keeping my financial records in a ledger which I carry around in my bag to and from work. I have my entire financial queendom in the book--accounts, interest rates, payment amounts, payment due dates, who's on the account--the whole thing. I can tell at a glance what funds I can use where, to maximize their effectiveness.

My husband used to keep the finances on a desktop computer. So whenever we did the finances, he had to be home, boot it up, and yell back and forth to me (I was in some other part of the house) when he had a question or concern. His computer room is too small and too full of junk for two people to sit in it at the same time, and anyway, I do not have the patience to sit and cool my heels while he dinks away at a computer he really does not know how to use.

By the time he gets sidetracked onto why the scanner isn't loading or a particular icon is missing, I'm ready to scream--"This isn't why we're in this Black Hole, and I'm leaving until you're ready to work." This is not conducive to smooth financial and personal coordination and I suppose is my fault. But I'm very task-oriented. If you tell me we're going to audit our finances, that's what I expect to do. Not sit there and fidget while someone goes off on a tangent. The underlying paradigm is that wifey is supposed to stand in shock and awe while manly, all-knowing, wise pater familias controls the household steering mechanism. Yeah, right.

Anyway, I now do the household finances--I earn the money, I pay the bills. I spend 2-3 hours a week reviewing and paying and balancing checkbook. (Not the 2-3 hours a day as he did, mucking about). And I know where the money goes, and goes, and goes. And comes from too. All in my little, handheld, low-tech ledger.