Living On A (Tight) Budget
First: this is the last call for entries for the book giveaway, two posts down. I will pick a winner (using random.org) this evening after 8pm.
I have been kicking around a few thoughts about budgeting and frugality lately for several reasons. One: because we live on a very tight budget because our income is severely limited (my husband’s business is still very young and I haven’t worked for a salary since we got married). Two: because we are living in newly restricted economic times. Three: because of the public emphasis on “green” living.
As far as budgeting goes here is how our life works. Jared has a set salary he pays himself. This is the minimum we need to pay all of our non-negotiable bills. We pay our mortgage and utilities out of it and then we withdraw the remainder in cash and use it throughout the month to pay for everything from gas to groceries to clothing. When the cash is gone, we have nothing left until the end of the month. Like right now… This works well for us since it is very hard to justify an expenditure when the dwindling supply of money is physically in your hands. Any income we get beyond this (money I get from doing odd jobs, gifts, selling stuff on Craigslist, and soon my BSU stipend) goes in a predetermined ratio to savings and to paying off our unsecured debt and medical bills. Our regular income hovers just above the national standard of “poverty” for a family of four. But this “poverty” provides us with: catastrophic health insurance, a lovely home, tasty and nutritous food, two cars, decent and respectable clothing, as many books as I can read (which is saying something!), a glass of wine nearly every night, a computer, internet access, etc, etc…
We are uniquely blessed in several ways. My in-laws are incredibly generous people who regularly buy new clothes for our children and often have us over to eat. In other ways that I am not comfortable disclosing they have made our life and our lifestyle possible. This is the blessing of family. We also have been blessed with a unique skill-set that allows us to do most anything for ourselves. I was blessed with parents who taught me everything from how to bake bread and grow vegetables to the basics of construction and the ethics of hard work (digging ditches in the sun will teach you a lot!). Jared grew up with a small-business-owning father, who taught him much and has supported him limitlessly, and a mother with boundless energy and drive, who gave him a relentless work-ethic.
So as the months go by and the budget remains tight I have come to accept, and maybe even embrace, that this will not quickly pass. It may not ever pass. I may go to my grave still needing to be very careful and occasionally very self-denying. But that’s ok. My life is rich, beans and rice are nutritious, only having five pairs of shoes is not a travesty, and a joyful attitude is a choice. I am occasionally frustrated – putting six dollars worth of gas into the tank is a little embarassing – but this struggle is my life. May I continually grow from it.