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money money money

Must be funny....In the Rich Man's world.

(Just thinking of Abba).

No, really, I was just thinking how nice it would be to have any kind of surplus right now, to get some plane tickets for sweet hubby to see his family this summer. A few months ago I posted that I was going to be trying to get my finances back in order, so I thought perhaps a little update was over due.

I stink at getting my finances in order.

Some of the things I listed last time ARE helping, but some areas have not improved all that much.
For example, having a lower house payment is definitely helping.
We haven't gotten any better about cooking at home, and especially not about cooking meals that use same ingredients to use them up before they go bad. Does anyone want to volunteer to be my personal chef? I can't pay you, but I can tell everyone I know how amazing you are?

Knock on wood, but my car hasn't had major trouble for almost a month. (Last major trouble: brake lights quit working, meaning the driver is unable to shift gears since the car won't let one drive without brake lights). Unfortunately, sweet hubby's car is due for some serious maintenance last month, and we had to postpone that to let the finances build up a tiny bit.

Christmas is not helping, either. I did trim the gift list and came up with a great plan -- I made a huge batch of cookies, and as I need gifts for people, I'm sticking some in a bag and going with it. Not free, but not hugely expensive, either, and homemade, so....better than nothing. And they taste good.

The other thing that is not helping? We've lived in our house for many years (almost 5!) and we still haven't painted our bedroom. I'm determined that now is the time. I'm ridiculous. We lived with white walls for almost 5 years, and somehow I can't handle white walls any longer? We bought paint samples a few days ago, and I'm almost convinced of the color we want....we keep going back and forth between two of them. The problem is, though, that I can't just leave it at painting. We paint, and then I want new curtains (oh wait, I made them over Thanksgiving weekend!), new blinds (we didn't have blinds before), new lamps (grown up lamps, please!), a new chest of drawers (not bright blue this time?), to print and frame some pictures, and on and on and on. I want, I want, I want, and I'm already sick of thinking about it. But it is like a sickness.

And the big problem with buying Christmas presents and stuff to fix up the house?

Every dollar I spend is one more dollar I didn't save to use to send Sweet Hubby home this summer.

I am constantly torn between what will make our life nicer day-to-day, here, together, for our future, and what will make life bearable for the man who chose to leave his family so far away to be my family.

Just how long is too long to ask him to be away from his family? I think a year might be the limit. And we are quickly approaching two years (earliest projected visit is over the summer, and that's only if I can stop spending long enough to save up a ticket for him within the next month or so....).

If only tickets to Chile weren't $1,500 per person on the cheapest of flights available.....And that's only if you catch it on a good day....

Comments

  1. Errr, I get you. Ticket prices stink, and it is so hard to be torn between the daily needs/wants and the desire to visit and spend time with family.

    Could you do something to update your walls in a cheaper way instead of paint? A wall stencil, or some frames with scrapbook paper? Or instead of buying new paint, can you ask what "mix-up" paints the store has?

    Just some ideas to get the best of both worlds.

    ReplyDelete

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