I said that the other day to a friend. We were talking about budgeting and the struggle being real with money. Of course her husband popped into the conversation. He was listening in to our phone conversation (she had me on speaker), . He stated, you always have money like from Blogging.
So, I took the bait and let him in on our conversation. My reply to him was, “that is where we differ.” We differ, on things like going out to eat, buying clothes or games Such things that are not needed for life, come last. We don’t have the resources for those things. This is what I believe and luckily so does my significant other, that bills come first.
Bills First!
We pay all our bills for the month, put gas in the vehicles. Do things like maintenance on vehicles. You know, oil changes and such. We set money aside for groceries and a bit for an emergency. That emergency fund has been immensely helpful this past year. Anyway, I digress
At the end of every month, I put together our “bill book” for the next month. It has every bill that we pay, individually and together. In writing where either one of us can see what is due and when. When we pay a bill it is notated with the date, confirmation number and amount.
I Don’t have the Money for extra’s!
Now, my friend’s husband does not remotely understand our system. Consequently, I do not believe that going out to eat, buying a new game, a stereo, a tv, new clothes or makeup should come before banking. Therefore, once the bills are paid, we can pretty much say “I don’t have the money” for everything, anything extra. Because, as I said the struggle is real and I sympathize with others who feel this way.
Well, this subject did not start because of covid or the pandemic or whatever you want to call it. This started because that is how my parents raised us. Both of my parents worked. My Mother was not a stay-at-home Mom. She worked in an office and drove 35 miles to work, 5 days a week.
In the Midwest, in good weather and bad. My Father was an over the Road truck driver. And he was gone for weeks on end. The roads and weather he drove in, the stories I could tell. But that isn’t what this blog is about.
The Almighty Dollar
So, this is about almighty dollar that I don’t have and bills I do have. The struggle is real, it isn’t that my guy and I are rich or well off by any means. We have the same struggles as the rest of the people we know and many that we don’t. And the longer the covid pandemic goes on, the less money we have. Along with that, it seems that our bills get larger, our bank account gets smaller. Our world too for that matter.
I hear stories of all these people who have flourished and made money and bought new cars and new houses. And the list goes on of what people have bought and places they go. Out to lunch with friends, dinner, casinos, movies, bars, the club, pool parties and of course shopping. Who can forget the shopping sprees I hear about and see pictures of? But here is what you may not know, a lot of people are running up their credit card debt. Because of loan forgiveness, stimulus checks and just not caring about peoples endeavors to get by.
New Homes, New Cars, Parties & More…
Yet, here we are, for us the struggle is real, I sit here at my desk and wonder where people get the MONEY $$ for all these things. How they manage to work the system so well. Continually getting the grants upon grants, and government loans so large it is almost funny.
How many people that read this are like us? Small business owners who fall between the cracks? In consequence, our business is small enough to be home based, but not large enough to support us, yet. The money we were receiving before covid has stopped. Someday it will start coming in again.
Yet, we are not so poor that we live in an urban barrio like some girlfriends are in. It is ironic that the government is throwing money at them. They choose to live where they do, nobody forced it on them. I know it benefits their business to be in that location. Accordingly, they stay there partially for that reason.
Did You Fall between the cracks?
On disability, I make too much to receive any government aide. And yet not enough to live on. So I use my credit cards, that I have managed to hold on to from when I had a job, earned a good living. Before the big accident that ended my work life.
Covid has stopped me from working any gigs, like ride share. Nowadays, what person wants a stranger in their small car? Maybe again next year, it was a stopgap for us before. I made enough to not affect my disability income, yet enough to help us get by.
Blessed
There you have it, in my words. Therefore, when I say I don’t have the money to do something, buy something or go somewhere. I truly mean it. Roof over our heads, heat and water, food on the table. For now that is our blessing. The rest, I don’t have the money for, I won’t struggle for luxury.
In closing I would like to tell you this. That if you would like to comment on any of my posts from here out, I have changed the system. I have been getting spam comments and people trying to sell their items through my website. So many that I turned off commenting. If you would like to comment, just copy my bolded email address. And write to me at janetm@janetmccue.com . If you want your comment to published, please make that known in your email to me.
Namaste ~ Momma Janet