Money Month

Money really is the root of all evil. We need it to buy our food and pay our bills, but it's so easily squandered. I'm not saying I squander mine, but it is easy to just flush it all down the drain.

I imposed a Nairn Family Budget for May. So far, Paul has forgotten to use his own account twice for what I call "junk" purchases. Not that he has much in there (just enough for his junk), but I want to keep our account cleaned up this month. I've always been terrible at managing our budget, so I thought it was a good idea to just stop spending frivolously and see where we were at by the end of the month.

So far, it's just stressing me out. Actually, I'm okay with it. I figure I'll even lose a couple pounds from not eating out or getting take-out. But I'm still working on my old man. In time I hope he'll get over his issues and get more on board with me. He says he's up for it, but I'm still debating that.

I find that saying no to spending money is the same as saying no to food. If I don't buy it, I'll have more money in my account; if I don't eat it, I'll have less blubber on my thighs. Since I was able to successfully not eat everything in sight for a year to get to my goal weight, I don't see why I can't also stop spending money on stupid stuff and grow our savings. Then we'll maybe get to renovate my kitchen...

I have to try to transfer this thought pattern to my spouse. He's just not involved (even though I've tried to get him to be) in our finances. No wonder money is a main reason couples fight! If he cared a little more and wanted to see where we were at, he'd appreciate how hard it is to earn and easy it is to spend.

Alas, as Joe Moore puts it: A simple fact that is hard to learn is that the time to save money is when you have some.