We just renewed our lease.
I guess we'll be in this apartment another year!
Really, I love this place and I'm happy to stay.
It's reminded me of a few things. For example, a year ago, I thought we would be 'not poor' when we could stop worrying how we were going to pay rent next month. Six month's ago I thought we would be 'not poor' when we could afford to visit our families without feeling a budget strain. In January I thought we would be 'not poor' when I could afford a new couch. Yesterday, I thought "we will be 'not poor' when I can buy whatever clothes I want."
Boy, we have come such a long way! I've forgotten to be grateful. We have a beautiful apartment, money to eat out once in awhile, and an amazing king-sized bed (and really, if you have a nice bed, what more do you need?). We've saved up so that we can take a fun trip for our anniversary next week, and this summer we're going to purchase some new furniture.
I'm so grateful that we've been provided for in so many ways, and that we started out so poor. There are some people in our church congregation who are struggling to find work and to make enough to support their families while going to school. Things are tight for us, but the student grants we get pay for our school (yay for cheap tuition!) and we both have two jobs.
We have learned so much from our time being "poor."
1. We know how to budget. We learned how to get by on less than $1000 a month, so now that we have a bigger income, we can save (or go out to eat more often, depending on how responsible we're feeling).
2. We know how to set financial goals together so that we can do expensive things that are important to us.
3. We know how to work together financially. For a few of our friends, this is a huge source of marital discord. They actually make more than us, but because they were never as poor as we were, they never learned to work together to plan where there money goes. Because they aren't careful with spending, they are much more restricted than we are financially.
4. Everything we have we built together. After the honeymoon, we got all moved in and settled down and looked over our finances to find ourselves with next to nothing. We literally started from ground zero. It was nerve racking. It might have been harder, but I think that newlywed bliss covered some of the rougher patches.
Honestly, at the end of the day, I don't feel poor. I'm just happy for the awesome life I've been given.
Did you have a 'poor' time in your life? What did you learn from it?
-Mrs. Smith
3 comments:
i struggle with money. i've seen both ends. i've been very responsible and very irresponsible with money. i have learned that budget is key. and starting new is hard. but you have to start somewhere, especially if you want to be smart. my biggest struggle right now is trying not to feel guilty about spending money.
The day I got married to the present day has been my poor period. Every time we get extra money I think "NOW we'll be okay" and something always comes up to use the money. But we've never gone hungry and have always been able to pay for the basics, so I guess "poor" is relative.
Ahhh this post makes me so happy. It always seems like our budget is only as just barely small enough for our wants, doesn't it?
We have made huge progress since we got married, but it seems like there is always that need to "improve" what we have. In reality though, we have a lot.
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