Feelin' the Pinch

Have you ever been stuck in a pair of too tight work pants--or jeans--for that matter.  Like so tight that it literally feels like they could be cutting your skin at the hips....and if you exhaled fully, the button just may pop?  But you're wearing them anyway because you'll be damned if you have to buy a larger size.  And you'll just shed that extra five that are making the waistband feel like razor blades anyway.  You ever experience that?  Cause I have.  Especially lately...and yes, I have even pulled down that bin of clothing labeled "clothes that don't fit"....I stuffed it full back in my work-out days when I dropped all of the poundage and went out to buy all of the work pants in a size 4.  Talk about a flip flop.  The fours went in the bin and the fat pants came out.  Hold me. 
I will lose it. 

When the gym goes back into the budget.

Speaking of budget, and the whole purpose for me walking you through the whole pants too tight scenario at the beginning of this post, we met with our budget coach last week.

She did our budget for February with us.  And....I.can't.breathe.  Whoa. 

Just as we wanted her to do, she gave each dollar a place and each dollar a name.  Every penny that we bring in, has a purpose.  And that purpose is clearly labeled in an Excel spreadsheet.  And if you forget, you can look at remind yourself.  Ugh.

It was all fun and good before the appointment, sure, it sounded fun!  It sounded great!  On her plan, we'll be debt free (including my whopper student loan balance) in three years.  Yes, three (3) years.  Which then means that we'll be racking up one heckuva down payment on a sweet home very soon. 

But now it's all real.  It's not just fantasizing about living debt free...we're making it happen.  We are living on cash only and we're living on a budget.  We know how much it costs to actually run our home and we only spend that much...every other penny goes to a debt snowball and into savings. 

Sounds tight, right?  It is.  Very tight.

But let me tell you, it is LIBERATING!

To know that our savings account is now loaded and ready for an emergency....wow.  Car repairs, we can pay cash.  Car tags, we can pay cash.  Vet bills, cash.  Clothing, there is cash set aside each month.  Now mind you, each month a little more goes into each category in our savings but knowing that each month we build more and more just makes me feel less stress.  It's tight right now but I know that in a few months it is going to feel good.  It will feel good to know exactly how much I can spend on whatever and pay cash and have no guilt for shopping.  I'm ready for that.

For the first time, ever? maybe...our tax refund came in and it went into savings.  We didn't go out and blow it, we didn't go out and buy something big and shiny and we didn't justify that we "really need ___"...we just acted like it didn't come at all.    It will be allocated to pay off bills as the coach sees fit. 

I'm ready to be past this stage of life--the stage where I live paycheck to paycheck.  I'm ready to live and enjoy life and not worry about money.  I spend too much of this life worrying and I'm over it.