time marches
Sometimes we have the best of intentions when it comes to our finances… and as we try to take those incremental steps to clean up the messes and build for the future, life happens. We have to stick and move - roll with the punches.
Sistah Beginner got her tax refund. She took the entire amount to fix her thirteen year old car. Sis just didn’t want to buy another car - if she bought a new one, she’d have a car payment, and any car she could afford to get outright would probably have as many problems as the car she just fixed. Sis figured she might as well hold on to the car that was familiar and gamble on unknown problems. It’s important to keep control over finances as much as possible for one very important reason. Not long before her little boy had his second birthday, Sister Beginner found out that she is expecting her second child.
Besides the baby news, there’s more to deal with - she isn’t too happy with her job and she needs to get another one that makes more money. Like Moneymonk often says, bringing in more income can do more for you, quicker, when you’re trying to improve your finances. Sis is trying to figure out how to make a job transition when you’re pregnant. Who’s going to hire someone who’s inevitably going to be on maternity leave almost as soon they walk through the door? Besides that, she’s got to rebuild her "baby infrastructure." Because her apartment is small, lots of her baby supplies have been given away to friends with infants, and she’s going to have to start all over again, especially if her new little one will be a girl. And speaking of that small apartment, she’s looking for a bigger place. Her one bedroom just isn’t enough for herself, her live-in boyfriend, and her soon-to-be-two children.
It’s not that she is giving up on cleaning up her credit or building up her savings, it’s just that in her journey, things are happening that are making it harder for her to worry about those two things. Just paying the rent on time is a struggle. Staying current on each of her bills is a struggle (but she’s doing it, which is one of her major improvements!). She’s always juggling, bargaining with the calendar, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and now there’s a race against time to get certain things done, like get her son into cotton underwear so that she doesn’t have to buy both expensive Pull-ups and expensive diapers at the same time. She doesn’t want public assistance. She’ll take WIC and children’s health coverage, but not food stamps and not cash assistance.
You may be tempted to ask about the boyfriend and his role in the household. He is working full-time and contributing to the household expenses. But like Sistah Beginner, he’s cleaning up old credit problems, paying a car payment, and looking for a job with more income, at Sistah Beginner’s urging. We’ll see about a second job. Needless to say, the finances do put a strain on their relationship.
She and I talk and brainstorm about career options, budgeting ideas, etc. I’ll be there for her throughout this whole process. We’re hoping for the best. But in the meantime, time continues to march.
