Finances

In our house, I am in charge of the finances. This is a double edge sword, so to speak. I don't ever have to ask permission to make purchases and I can also "hide" unnecessary ones. However, those benefits are VERY short lived. I often wish my husband would just hand me my weekly allowance and I wouldn't have to fret over every penny spent or saved. The whole equal ownership in the money does nothing for me. I'd love it if I had no idea where we stood financially.

Every morning, I balance the books, check and enter it into our budget, rearrange where money can and should go. I also spend several hours a month researching investments, finding better ways to spend, save, earn. Every afternoon when I walk to the mailbox I am filled with a loathing disdain for what awaits me...more bills. Will it ever end? The supposed benefit of "hiding" unnecessary purchases is a myth, b/c I see the bottom line every day and I know that we can't or shouldn't make that purchase, so I rarely do. I think it would be better if I just didn't know.

I am working on an emergency fund these days and I finally transferred money from our savings into a money market account where I am making a whopping 3.5% interest...which is about 3.48 more than I was making at my savings account! I also opened up 529's for my kids. Now I need to research some mutual funds and an IRA b/c I have heard those are good to have too. It just never ends. It is always haunting me that we won't have enough to pay for college, missions, retirement...never mind all the things I want to spend my money on right now!! My goal is to be so on top of our finances that I don't have to go to work to make money, but b/c I invest, save, and spend so well it will be almost as good as me bringing in an income. If only I didn't love to spend money so much, my goals would be much more easily attained!! :)