Budget Nightmares and Farewell Talks
Let me tell you a little story, folks, by way of introduction to my tale of wo.
When Chuck and I were first dating, he used to tease me because he'd never seen anyone take such faithful records of every penny spent. From the time I started earning my own money, I recorded every transaction in a check register. That habit has served me well my entire life-- and it DEFINITELY saved my wee little life once I started living on my own. I set up a budget based on my income and expenses (duh, Jessica... what other things are budgets based on?!?) and monitored it and blah blah blah.
Well, obviously, my husband tends to take a much less "work-intensive" approach and he'll log onto his online banking site and make sure no charges seem amiss, and take it as it comes. He goes with the flow. My flow had a hard time merging into his flow, but now I'm so used to throwing away my receipts that I would hardly know what to do with them otherwise.
Up until recently, I was enjoying my new-found freedom from my check register. I was livin' life in the fast lane! WOOHOO! Yeah, well, I couldn't quite shake the inner freak and I kept itching to have some sort of structured budget back in my life. You all may well remember my last post where I grieved over the possibility of being a poopy wife and a dead beat, to boot. If I don't know how much $ I can spend, I inevitably spend too much. Who doesn't?!
Anyway (I'm getting to the point, I swear), I mentioned this to Chuck last night and he immediately set to work tallying up his income. Let me just tell you this-- I'm so glad he could figure it out because I took one look at the chart he was using and felt my IQ drop 15 points. ... Aaaand I sure hope he was talking out loud for the mere purpose of hearing himself because I didn't understand a word he said and would only nod and smile blankly whenever he looked my way. ;)
Long story short, don't work out a budget based on a single income at 1:00 in the blessed a.m. It wont end well. You'll end up asking for a single used sock as your only Christmas present so as to relieve the stress from your spouse's shoulders of buying impressive gifts with no more than .23 cents.
All I can say is that I'm excited to see what growth the Lord has in store for us as a result of this trial; how we grow together and learn to work through things as a team. I mean, who would want to be married to a billionaire? BORING. For Pete's sake, you would never learn that you can make 101 things using nothing but beef flavored Top Roman and a stick of celery if such was the case.
Fast forward to Sunday morning (yes, this morning). Picture me in a chapel filled with people I don't know, sitting at the end of a bench next to the only people I DO know in the congregation--a dashing husband and a beautiful wife, and two gorgeous daughters (one in 10th grade, the other in 11th). I know what you're thinking.
"How did YOU come to know good looking people and why in the world were they nice to you?"
;)
All 5 of us are smiling up at the elegant, graceful, superb beauty (who positively glows) behind the pulpit, delivering a talk that immediately brought the Spirit of the Lord into our hearts, and made us all cry and laugh as well.
Rewind 18 or so years to where that elegant, graceful, superb beauty (yes, the glowing one) and I were joined at the hip all during elementary school. We met in kindergarten, and were the best of friends since then. I practically lived at her house, I tell you. Good times.
Well, those 18 years have flown by and my Lizzie is going to serve the Lord on a mission to the Baltic area, speaking Russian. She leaves a week from this Wednesday, and I miss her already!
When I see her and her whole family, it's like I've been away from home and I've finally returned. I love them all so much! They manage to have the Spirit of the Lord in their home at all times, and have such great love and respect for one another. They learn together (just ask the list of 5 or 6 words I can hardly pronounce and their definitions hanging on the kitchen wall), they laugh together, they play together, they work together.
They give me such hope just by being around them, and if I die having done HALF of what they've done for me for some other person, I'll go to my Maker a happy camper.
I know that Lizzie will be one of the best missionaries out there because of her love for the Lord and her patience and willingness to work hard. It wont be easy-- but what worth having comes easily anyway?!?
When Chuck and I were first dating, he used to tease me because he'd never seen anyone take such faithful records of every penny spent. From the time I started earning my own money, I recorded every transaction in a check register. That habit has served me well my entire life-- and it DEFINITELY saved my wee little life once I started living on my own. I set up a budget based on my income and expenses (duh, Jessica... what other things are budgets based on?!?) and monitored it and blah blah blah.
Well, obviously, my husband tends to take a much less "work-intensive" approach and he'll log onto his online banking site and make sure no charges seem amiss, and take it as it comes. He goes with the flow. My flow had a hard time merging into his flow, but now I'm so used to throwing away my receipts that I would hardly know what to do with them otherwise.
Up until recently, I was enjoying my new-found freedom from my check register. I was livin' life in the fast lane! WOOHOO! Yeah, well, I couldn't quite shake the inner freak and I kept itching to have some sort of structured budget back in my life. You all may well remember my last post where I grieved over the possibility of being a poopy wife and a dead beat, to boot. If I don't know how much $ I can spend, I inevitably spend too much. Who doesn't?!
Anyway (I'm getting to the point, I swear), I mentioned this to Chuck last night and he immediately set to work tallying up his income. Let me just tell you this-- I'm so glad he could figure it out because I took one look at the chart he was using and felt my IQ drop 15 points. ... Aaaand I sure hope he was talking out loud for the mere purpose of hearing himself because I didn't understand a word he said and would only nod and smile blankly whenever he looked my way. ;)
Long story short, don't work out a budget based on a single income at 1:00 in the blessed a.m. It wont end well. You'll end up asking for a single used sock as your only Christmas present so as to relieve the stress from your spouse's shoulders of buying impressive gifts with no more than .23 cents.
All I can say is that I'm excited to see what growth the Lord has in store for us as a result of this trial; how we grow together and learn to work through things as a team. I mean, who would want to be married to a billionaire? BORING. For Pete's sake, you would never learn that you can make 101 things using nothing but beef flavored Top Roman and a stick of celery if such was the case.
Fast forward to Sunday morning (yes, this morning). Picture me in a chapel filled with people I don't know, sitting at the end of a bench next to the only people I DO know in the congregation--a dashing husband and a beautiful wife, and two gorgeous daughters (one in 10th grade, the other in 11th). I know what you're thinking.
"How did YOU come to know good looking people and why in the world were they nice to you?"
;)
All 5 of us are smiling up at the elegant, graceful, superb beauty (who positively glows) behind the pulpit, delivering a talk that immediately brought the Spirit of the Lord into our hearts, and made us all cry and laugh as well.
Rewind 18 or so years to where that elegant, graceful, superb beauty (yes, the glowing one) and I were joined at the hip all during elementary school. We met in kindergarten, and were the best of friends since then. I practically lived at her house, I tell you. Good times.
Well, those 18 years have flown by and my Lizzie is going to serve the Lord on a mission to the Baltic area, speaking Russian. She leaves a week from this Wednesday, and I miss her already!
When I see her and her whole family, it's like I've been away from home and I've finally returned. I love them all so much! They manage to have the Spirit of the Lord in their home at all times, and have such great love and respect for one another. They learn together (just ask the list of 5 or 6 words I can hardly pronounce and their definitions hanging on the kitchen wall), they laugh together, they play together, they work together.
They give me such hope just by being around them, and if I die having done HALF of what they've done for me for some other person, I'll go to my Maker a happy camper.
I know that Lizzie will be one of the best missionaries out there because of her love for the Lord and her patience and willingness to work hard. It wont be easy-- but what worth having comes easily anyway?!?
So... I've been feeling lately like I need to revamp our budget because you see, we're living with my in-laws... so we can pay off debt and save money (in hopes of living the high life ya know)... but we don't have any money. So where is the money going that we used to spend on rent and utilities? And why did it seem like we had enough to feel comfortable? I'm confused and a little worried that when I do revamp it we're going to have the same freak out you two just experienced... again.
ReplyDeleteGOSH DANG IT JESS! You made my mom and I burst into tears. Seriously, you made the whole darn family cry. Except my dad, though, cuz you know. Men don't cry.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE YOU!! I can't even tell you how blessed I feel to STILL have such a good friend, even after all these years and all those trips to the front office bleeding or crying or whatnot. And your love of the gospel is positively AMAZING. You know what is right and you will not be moved from that. Holy cow, Jess. I'm still all teary-eyed, and Becca's looking at me like "Oh my gosh, Liz, get a freaking grip..." -sigh- You are still my best friend, and always will be whether far or near, with or without a husband 8 children (hopefully WITH, of course), and whether you like it or not. :)
BreAnne, my love,
ReplyDeleteYou can revamp your budget at our house, because then if you guys realize that after each paycheck you're going 33 dollars in the wrong direction, you can weep along with us. :)
Lizzie, my love,
Careful or you'll make me bawl again, too, and my eyelashes might just fall off. That would be a scary sight, I'm sure. Question for you: Is your mother (or father) more likely to check her e-mail or her facebook? I have something I typed up I'd like to send her (your) way but I don't know which place to send it to... and besides, I don't know either of your parental's e-mail addresses. That kinda makes things hard ;)