This is not a poor pitiful me post, as I know there are so many people worse off and we are able to pay all our necessary bills and have some extras like cable and internet. This is a little insight as to how stupid my husband and I were with our money and why I am now trying all these new things all at once!
So, recently it seems as though the only checks that are being cashed in this house are reality checks. Blah! Getting older and wiser isn't always fun and it definitely isn't the fairytale I had always imagined it would be! Before my husband and I were transferred to our current location we lived in VA living the single life. We lived together but we were not married and we had a small apartment and a cat. It was very simple to maintain and he was active duty and I had a full time teacher's assistant job. Financially we were set and life was good for our checkbooks! Emotionally we had a lot of growing up to do but that is another story. So anyways, we got to do what we wanted, when we wanted and buy anything we wanted. We went out to eat and on dates all the time, we bought new clothes and my cat was so spoiled it was unreal. Then we transferred...
We decided to buy a house because it was hard to find a place to rent with 3 pets. My husband decided to get 2 lab puppies right before we moved and our cat weighed 20 lbs at the time. So we bought a house with a large yard for the puppies.
Fast forward to last month and we are still living like we used to but with our income reduced by $1500 and our expenses increased by $900 and we are in debt. We sat down one night and actually talked (amazing little concept that one) and realized that were were in debt with credit cards and personal loans to the fabulous tune of $20,000. After we added it all up I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. We won't even include all the money we owe his parents and thankfully they aren't keeping tabs because I may just vomit. Now, I know everyone is in debt (for the most part) and it is just the reality of life in this economy but we also have the debt of the house, a car payment and then life's expenses. The only thing that we have charged to credit cards that was necessary was our cat's vet bills (he was diagnosed with cancer in his leg and it spread so quickly we couldn't save him and he had to be put down. :'( but we had several vet visits to find this out and do what was best for him... not cheap). The rest is frivolous crap that we bought for fun...
For the first time ever we made a budget and we realized that in one month we spent over $800 on gas (my husbands work commute accounts for about $500 of it) and over $600 eating out. So everything we do is budgeted, even how long we can take a freakin' shower (haha, I kid!).
The point of telling the world our financial idiocy? Well now that we are on a budget, we had to make a menu to make grocery shopping more organized and cost affective and because I have to find free/cheap ways to entertain myself and our son. I only know how to make the basics, shake and bake, box mashed potatoes, the sides that come in boxes and bags. But now that we are eating in more I am making more creative things and trying to make better dinners. I am teaching myself how to cook! I do know how to bake sweets and usually they turn out good!
Thankfully we found a great meetup group in our area. I also made a friend who has a son the same age as our son. Her and I get together weekly and scrapbook (I bought a ton of stuff pre-budget) and just hang out while the little ones get some much needed social interactions with someone their age. Along with scrapbooking, I have started making decorative bows thanks to some youtube videos and a friend of mine is teaching me to crochet. I also want to learn to quilt!
All of this leads to Newbie/amateur homemaker status for me and guinea pigs for my family and friends!
No comments:
Post a Comment