If I Can Just Get Through November...

You know the song, "Wake Me Up When September Ends"?? Well, I need a "Wake Me Up When November Ends" song right about now... Can someone just wake me up for Thanksgiving dinner, and then again around the first of December? That sounds great, thanks!

Seriously, though... People think college kids are poor and have no money and blah, blah, blah. Well, we had money. It was loaned, but we had money. It's how we paid rent and bills and a few fun things, but... We SHOULD have had no money, but with two kids, it's a little harder to do. Well, NOW we have no money haha! I finally will start getting paid tomorrow, but I found out that we only get paid on the first of the month at the clinic :( I'm not good enough with money for that! Don't they know that?? ;)  Levi is amazing and is working so hard for us - and hopefully this week will change things - but I know he's not working a dream job of his, and the money is hard when we are suddenly, actually paying for rent and bills and a few fun things (sorry, gotta get me some Chick-fil-A when we are in Idaho Falls).

I did get some good news from the clinic: I just have to give them my receipt for registering for my CMA exam ($125), and they will reimburse me for it! I just don't know when they will do that. And I should have 3 days on my paycheck for November... Can you tell I'm trying to type myself into knowing things are gonna be okay?? Haha! We will be just fine come December, but I'm not quite sure about November yet ;) Jk, we'll be fine.

I don't mean this to sound like a pity party or anything. I'll just put it out there... I'm not great at all with money. I've always been horrible about saving. If I've got three bucks, I'm getting a sandwich or something, ya know? Horrible. I keep thinking that we just need to learn how to be better and live without before Levi gets a great job. We really didn't live without in college. Our apartment came with internet, cable, washer/dryer, dishwasher, city utilities paid... We had scholarships, grants, loans, and Levi worked part-time at least through most of college. Well, now we're paying rent, internet, cable, all utilities, and no dishwasher (which does save on water, but you aren't allowed to see how high my dishes get stacked!).

I know. You're thinking, "Why did you take out loans?" For some reason I feel like I should explain myself, but the truth is... We shouldn't have. Not nearly as much as we did, anyway. We should have scrimped and cloth diapered and whatnot. (If you know me, though, you know I was way too lazy to cloth diaper two kids with school full-time. I'm not Supermom, and I wasn't gonna try to be!) And then you're thinking, "But you were posting on Facebook about making you're own laundry soap and whatnot." Yep, and ya know what? I literally HAD to make it when we recently ran out because I couldn't buy more, so I'm very glad I learned how! Really, though, in college, what we saved on making our own laundry soap would be spent somewhere else... Sad, but true.

A friend of mine that blogs does "Things To Take Away" from her posts. My posts are usually just rambly-on kind of things with pictures at the end, but I will add a "Take Away" to the end of this one!

1. Don't take out student loans if you don't have to! You really can live without a lot, especially in college. Most our stuff was in storage the last few years, and it's amazing how much crap you can live without.

2. Use credit cards only in emergencies!! True emergencies. Or, if you are very structured and responsible, use them and pay them off immediately.

3. I don't want to say "don't have kids in college" because I get mad when others tell couples when they should or should not have kids, but it's tough. It's tough on the relationship, it's tough on the wallet, it's tough on the kids. There's a reason we had originally planned to wait. BUT, with that being said, I love my kids to pieces. They can be little terrors, but I love them and they bring us a great amount of joy! Side note: notice I said "couples" before, and I would add mature adults, but I work at a place watching 14- and 16- year-olds come in pregnant. I really think people shouldn't have kids that young, but that's a different post :)

4. Budget. And stick to it. Whenever I budget, it's the sticking to it that is the hard part, as I'm sure it is for most of the world. Economic downfall, anyone? So, at least I'm not alone, I guess.

Lastly, being rich or poor really isn't about the money. It's a mindset and a spending habit. We're really not "poor," we just need to learn to spend more wisely! Now that we're being forced to - without the fallback of loans and credit cards - hopefully we will be able to actually apply some common cents to our finances! Here's to a Happy November!!