Cheers to New Ventures

Just a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I didn't know how we were going to pay all of our bills. We were in a situation where we were trying to figure out what bills we could put off, or what we could sell in the house to make a couple of extra bucks to pay something. I was trying to take out a loan, but I only work part time, so I couldn't get approved for any. On top of that, my student loans are unfrozen, so that's another bill that was added. Needless to say, I've had a couple meltdowns thinking/talking about our finances. I wasn't sleeping, and all I could think about during the day was what I could do to make some money so that we could survive.

It's a little bit better now. Don't get me wrong, we haven't solved our financial situation. But we're in a better place; I'm working part time, and I've started an after school babysitting job. I get to keep Sloane at home and help take some of the pressure off Ben to make all of the income for our bills.

But oh my gosh, why is living so expensive these days?! 10 years ago, Ben's income would have relatively easily covered a family of 3. I wouldn't have to worry so much about taking care of Sloane and paying our car payment, or our electric bill. Groceries alone, for basically two people (Sloane doesn't eat much yet) are almost double what Ben and I spent in our first apartment together, and that was only 3 years ago!

Ben and I decided recently that we want to set our future up for success. We were spending so much time only thinking short term in terms of our financies. "We are making this much this week, so we can pay this bill. Okay, perfect, we're set for the week." Okay, but what about next week? Or next month? Hell, what about next year, when Sloane eats more and needs more food? What about a couple years from now, when she's in preschool and we have to start paying for that, along with school supplies? Long story short, we weren't thinking about our long term financial health. To be honest, that's hard for anyone to do in this day's economy, especially for families living paycheck to paycheck. But it's the only way we are going to set not only ourselves, but our daughter up for success in the future. Ben and I decided we want to build a stable future for Sloane.

We still have a long way to go. We aren't any closer to being financially stable this week than we were 3 weeks ago when we were stressing over how to pay our bills. BUT what has changed is how we are viewing our money. We have changed how we plan with our money, and we are changing where we spend our money. We've started believing that we deserve to break the cycle we were born into. We are taking active steps set ourselves up for success. And we aren't expecting change overnight, like we used to.

I recently heard a quote that said "children don't spell love LOVE, they spell it as TIME." And that was the quote that really changed the way Ben and I want to spend out future. Currently, Ben is working 4 nights a week. During the days during his work week, he is sleeping. There is so much of Sloane's life he feels he isn't a part of, and he realized how much he hates that. And I feel like my time at home is a ticking time bomb - eventually I won't have an excuse to be home with her, and I'm just not quite ready for that.

We've been so lucky to meet some people who are willing to help us get where we want to. And for the first time in a while, I am optimstic about our future. Ben and I deserve to feel more stable. Our daughter deserves to have parents who aren't stressing about our financial future all the time. And I think the first step for us was realizing that it doesn't have to be like this forever, we just have to be willing to try something new.

So here's a cheers to something new, and the prospects ahead of us!