The Beginning of the End…

To get an idea of why we decided it was time to live a truly budgeted lifestyle, I need to back up 2 years – to the beginning of my pregnancy with B. We’d been trying to get pregnant for a year to no avail. We were on our last cycle of trying before getting checked out by doctors. Then R lost his job. Devastating. Luckily, he qualified for unemployment pay and his 401K plan was too small to roll over to an IRA so it cashed out to us, so we weren’t in real trouble yet (or so we thought). We figured we’d set aside what we thought we’d need to pay the remaining taxes owed on the 401K disbursement and use the rest to pay off chunks of debt and hold in reserves if we need it. That was a Friday. Over the weekend, we talked about how I didn’t think I was pregnant this cycle, and it would be a good idea to put having a baby on the back burner until we figured out what was next. The next Friday, I got my BFP (big fat positive). Talk about a BIG surprise!

Excitement, relief, and then fear – mostly of the unknown:

²      How long with R be unemployed?

²      How will we afford my maternity leave (my company didn’t have a paid maternity leave benefit)?

²      How will we afford my pregnancy and birth care (birthed out of hospital with midwives – not easily covered by insurance)?

²      How will we afford everything we need for this baby?

²      If R is unemployed long-term (thank you economy), will his unemployment still come in?

But my excitement overshadowed all these worries and questions, and R’s reassurance that our finances were fine (he primarily handled the finances until last year) put me at ease. Little did I know we lived in a house of cards, waiting for one to slip…

Welcome!

I am Courtney, wife to R going on 4 years. We met while working together 6 years ago and our love blossomed in the workplace. R incurred school loans acquiring his Associate’s degree, then we paid for our wedding and honeymoon with the help of our parents and credit cards, and finally, we each contributed bad financial sense and existing debt to the pot, thus cementing ourselves in long-term debt and setting the foundation for our own financial ruin.

In an attempt to get a better grasp on our finances, knowing we were in manageable trouble, we remained living with my parents for the first couple years of our marriage. Foolishly, we moved out prematurely at my insistence thanks to clashing with my mom and increased stress. Shortly after moving, I lost my job and had to find another. We spent money we didn’t have on furnishing our apartment modestly and continued to live beyond our means with the help of our many credit cards, while also living in denial.

About 6 months after moving out on our own, I found out I would become “mom of one” to B, my chunka-lunka baby boy who is now 16mo old. He is pure joy in my life, and I can’t imagine the world without his boisterous laughter at his own jokes. He tells them and laughs, but he leaves the rest of us hanging since it’s in his own language still…lol… Having a baby comes with its own expenses – from the cost of the prenatal care and birth all the way through the gear, clothes, food, etc., etc., etc. Anyone who has kids knows how expensive kids can get.

Please join me as I try to detail and chronicle our journey of trying to rein in our spending, change our money philosophy, and eliminate debt from our lives to live in peaceful financial freedom!