Let's Get Fiscal!

There’s more to getting pregnant than the baby dance. In the midst of researching prenatal vitamins, fertility diets, fecundity gadgets and conception concepts, it suddenly dawned on me that this isn’t all about the physical. If Eric and I are going to add another member to our family, we’re going to have to get fiscally fit, too!

To steal a phrase from Dave Ramsey, sometimes we have “too much month left at the end of the money.” (Can I get an amen?) After a mini-mantrum, Eric begrudgingly agreed to sit down together, financial statements in hand, and analyze our spending habits.

Now, to be perfectly honest, we don’t “want” for anything. We eat organic groceries, wear designer clothes, drive shiny vehicles and host fabulous parties (if I do say so myself!). There’s no coupon clipping around here. As Eric once so eloquently put it, “We have all the luxuries a Tech Sergeant and a Literacy Specialist can afford.” But after a little googling, I discovered that raising a child in this day and age costs an estimated $340,000! Cha-ching!

Subsequent to scrutinizing our finances by color coding our purchases, it was decided that we waste a small fortune on lattes and eating out (we might own shares of Starbuck’s and Chic-fil-A). Thus, we are determined to tote our own thermoses, pack our own lunches and limit our dinner consumption to the dining room. By the way, I’m so glad we went to eat sushi YESTERDAY!

Will these cut-backs earn us the equivalent of a new Ferrari? Doubt it, but ya gotta start somewhere!