Security At a Price

John's new assignment is confirmed now. He's finishing up his last few days with his old team, and then he will move to his new department on January 2nd. It is a great relief to know we won't make his joke of working at the local gas station/convenience mart a reality. It's no funnier to me now than it was then. We didn't have solid confirmation until about a week ago, so even though we thought he would probably have a job, we didn't know, and knowing in this economy is very important.

I see and hear a lot of people losing jobs, looking for jobs and taking lesser jobs to get by, so my complaints probably don't seem as appreciative as they should. It's not that I'm ungrateful at all. I am thrilled and thankful and relieved. I appreciate our situation very much, but accepting this situation is also letting go of some hopes John and I both had for our financial future.

John's taking a pay cut, a substantial one. It's enough of a cut that it won't make any difference that we pay off our truck this month. We will go from making a truck payment to making less money. No getting ahead on bills. No paying off taxes. No chunking off our debt. No house improvements. No second small car. No relief from counting pennies at the grocery store at month end.

We had dreams of finally getting out of debt for good. We have worked so hard to get out of debt and stop spending beyond our means. We went to a credit counseling service and got the skyrocketing interest rates, late fees and over-limit fees under control. We closed accounts. We quit spending on credit. We finally watched the balances on those accounts go down for the first time since we got them. We admitted we had a problem with out spending, and we looked to change it. We were changing it.

I tend to believe there are lessons in the hardships in life, and this is no different. Despite all we've done, we do still have some problems, and we failed to recognize them, because we had the chunk of money so very close. That money would solve all our problems. It would pay the bills that fell behind. It would take care of the taxes we haven't paid all year. It would buy a used car, so we didn't have to coordinate schedules and get stuck at home anymore. What we didn't realize all along is we should have been solving those problems right then instead of waiting for a fix. Though we've come a long way, we still have to learn to live within a budget for the right here and now. We counted on the extra money, and now the extra money isn't there. We're left scrambling for solutions as a result. That's not responsible financial management. It's better than we were doing, but it's still not good.

So it's time to analyze our situation again. There are lots of things we do that could be eliminated to help us save money. We still eat out way too much, spend too much on goofy things, buy on impulse, indulge the kids (though it's ten times less than other parents) and insist on unnecessary luxuries. We don't look over our insurance or phone bills or anything else people should check from time to time to make sure they couldn't get a better deal. We've gotten lazy. This pay cut snapped us to attention and made us realize that.

In the end, this is probably a good thing. Of course it's a good thing because John doesn't have to look for another job, and I don't have to rush out and get a minimum wage job. We don't have to worry about how we're going to make the house payment or feed the kids. We don't have to move in with our parents. We don't have to make any radical changes to our lifestyle at all. It's a lot more than many people have at this time, and we're really lucky for that. But my real point is we're probably lucky to have such a lesson at hand to straighten up our financial lives for good. It doesn't feel so lucky right now, but the cheerleader in me is punching the whiny, self-pitying side in the shoulder, telling me to it's not so bad. And I think Little Miss Pompon might have a point.