Easier Said Than Done
Being a wife and mother on top of being a student just adds extra pressure to tighten the purse strings. My husband has just started a new job after being out of work for some time and it is good to know that he will back getting health insurance at a good price in addition to getting back into 401K savings again. We have accumulated some credit card debt since he has been out of work and of course I have accumulated some student loans along the way. We have been living off our savings and it will be very freeing to be able to start paying down our debt and start to save again.
I have some serious issues that I am trying to work on in this area and so I know it is going to be tough. Unlike my husband, I am a spender. Savings is not my specialty and that makes me a little nervous. I am afraid that finally having a decent income again might cause me to spend more as it usually does. I don't mean to do it and this time I am trying to prepare myself for it. This has been a huge issue in my marriage. I love to buy things for my kids. I don't need to buy for myself, as a matter of fact I don't. The kids however are a completely different story. If I have the money then I have a hard time saying no to them, and of course they have learned this and take full advantage.
I can see that the overall economy is not doing well, and I really am trying to do some things already to cut down our expenses so that when that first paycheck comes of my husband's I will have a savings plan in place. I need to start saving as if it is another bill, to be paid first and not just with whatever I have left over at the end of the week. I want to be debt free and stay debt free. As a matter of fact I just changed banks and will be attending a free class that they have their about debt management and budgeting, so maybe I can truly figure out where and how I am going wrong. I just want to know that my family is on a good financial footing now, so that when I actually graduate school and get a better job that our family finances can truly soar. I don't want to spend every penny I make with nothing put aside for an emergency or the future.
Posted on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 12:50 PM by Carol Ann