Monday, February 26, 2007

Where is the money going to come from?

Yesterday's budget talks caused some issues for my wife, which we talked about before going to bed, but I figure I should post them here.

Because things have been so tight for us the past 6 months, she doesn't yet believe March's budget. She's a "doubting Thomas" even though we have gone check by check, showing where the money is coming from to pay each bill when and discussed all expenses coming. I'm convinced though that as the month progresses, she will see it come to fruition.

One other item on our April budget is that she brought a question to the numbers I brought. "You have $10 for prescription, once our child is born though in May, birth control is going to cost $50/month." I have been listening to a lot of financial "gurus" recently and one of them taught me to ask the question, "OK, where will we get the shortfall of the $40?". This is the first time I've ever used that question. In the past I would have been like, "OK, let's just bump income by a bit since my on-call pay is variable, blah blah blah". That DOES NOT WORK in real life, since you should base your fluctuating income on the average and have an emergency fund to handle when things are lower, not base it off of your emotions.

The cost of the birth control and the reductions we had to make on some things (eg: our education fund, her sewing fund, my computer fund) made her feel like she is a burden on me, a financial drain. She has this struggle every so often, it is part of the reason her heart says she wants to be a housewife but she tries her hardest to work a job to help pay the bills. All I do in those times when she feels like a financial burden is remind her that I love her, that the things she does around the house help us, the volunteering she does has a value that I wish if we were financially independent I could do right with her during the week. Right now as well, I remind her she is working 24/7 to bring our daughter in the world, a blessing we had been praying for a long time.

1 comment:

Danielle said...

ok, so i just started reading your blog and thought i would start off at the very begining.

there are a couple of thoughts that i have. one is about the birth control. is it possible to get it at a planned parent hood type of thing?i know this post was 4 months ago so bare with me.

and the second thing, if she loves sewing and is good at it, why doesnt she turn it into something profitable? i dont know what she sews, but for example, if she sews clothes she could sew adult clothes or baby clothe and then sell them on ebay or a place called craigslist.com. then you guys would be making money and she would be doing something she loved.

you have inspired me to start a paying off debt blog. i hope you keep up the good work and i am looking forward to reading more of your blog.

best wishes
danielle