Monday, June 12, 2006
Broke!
For the last couple of weekends, we’ve been spending a touch more liberally. Oh, just things like video rentals, a meal out, a pizza in, gifts for people plus postage, used books, a couple of coffees, that sort of thing. $5 here, $20 there. Nothing that made us think we were off the wagon.
Yesterday we went to get the grocery money and realized we’d spent almost all of our variable expense funds for the month. And it’s only June 12th.
To see all of that money just GONE and knowing that we blew so much in a matter of two weeks…. Well, I panicked because that’s what I do best in such situations. To his credit, Trevor kept his head, although with his ‘very serious and worried’ face.
Today, for work, I interviewed a couple that was eerily similar to us. They spent like crazy and then she did what I did – spent several months on unemployment as a means of spiritual recovery. Only the next job hasn't come in yet. Same debt load, minus one income. I could feel the stress and frustration in their voices. She even started crying at one point – she thinks it’s all her fault that they are one paycheck away from disaster. He thinks it's his.
Trev and I didn’t get to the edge of the cliff before we started stepping back. But we could have gone over just as easily as anyone. The cash is there to keep us conscious of and connected to our spending, even if an empty wallet is the lesson.
It’s working. We can’t quit now.
I know, finances are supposed to be hush-hush, more secret than sex, kind of up there with work. I figure that if I’m encouraging these couples to put it all out there on national TV, this is the bloody least I can do.
posted by Working From Home Today
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