real life with (very) real debt
Welcome to another edition of personal finance confessions — a totally irregular recap of how I’m managing my money lately.
This is my fourth confessions post. Here are the others: one | two | three.
This round features five confessions. Much like the first three posts, calling these confessions is likely a little dramatic.
Here we go.
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I used to start my budget updates with a note about how our monthly budget doesn’t change much.
And for a long time, that was the truth! Then, in 2021, we had a kid and bought a house.
What can I say? We apparently thrive on chaos. As a result, like got a lot more expensive. Our budget had to change — so, too, did my method of sharing updates on this blog.
In January 2022, I debuted a new look for budget updates and I quite like how it came together so I’m keeping it! These updates will now focus more on the wins coming into the month, any noteworthy expectations and areas I want to focus on in the month ahead. I know I like reading about how people budget their money so hopefully this will be at least a little interesting.
With all that being said, here’s my February budget forecast.
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Something was off, but it took time to figure it out.
I had a whole other post on the schedule for today. The idea was to talk about some of the ways I plan to take care of myself in 2022. I had the outline, the headings identified and a few sentences drafted.
The last part was my first clue something was wrong. Those sentences…man, they did not come easy.
Of course, writing isn’t always easy. I worked as a reporter at a daily newspaper for almost six years. I’m not stranger to writer’s block.
This was different.
Each day it felt like I made less progress than the day before. Eventually, it got to the point where I found myself avoiding the task altogether, as if doing so would somehow solve the problem I didn’t know how to define.
When I finally figured it out, I felt relieved…until I realized what it meant.
Writing a post about self-care felt disingenuous. Writing a post about…just about anything felt disingenuous. Because if I’m being completely honest: I’ve been struggling lately. And while I wish I could just ignore that fact, I’m finding it hard to move forward as a writer without acknowledging it.
So, in the interest of moving forward — and in keeping with my mission to keep it real in this space — I wanted to take a moment to share some of what’s been going on lately. I’m hopeful writing these things down will remove them from my brain and allow more space for other things.
So here we go.
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For many, buying a house is one of the most financially significant purchases they will make.
Individual circumstances notwithstanding, becoming a homeowner can involve a lot of money upfront followed by years spent paying back the rest of the money required to attain the asset. Sure, there are folks out there who can purchase a house without taking on debt to do it, but that’s most certainly the exception, not the rule.
Finding a home can also be a time consuming process, frustrating process — especially when the market is hot.
I know this because it’s what we experienced while house hunting in spring 2021.
It’s been about seven months since we closed on and move into our house. And while buying one house in a hot market does not an expert make, I did learn a few things during the process which may (or may not) be useful to others who are in the process of house hunting.
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I used to start all my monthly budget posts with a note about how our monthly budget doesn’t change much.
So it only makes sense to start this one by telling you our monthly budget has changed. A lot.
There are two key factors that drove the changes: in March 2021, we had a kid. Then, in July 2021, we bought a house.
What can I say? We apparently thrive on chaos.
Add in the fact that my income is significantly reduced while on mat leave and, well, our budget needed to change.
So, too, do my budget updates — something I realized quickly when I sat down to brainstorm this post. The old format doesn’t make much sense for our current reality.
Today, I’m sharing my first refreshed budget update. My plan is to focus more on the wins coming into the month, any noteworthy expectations and areas I want to focus on in the month ahead. I know I like reading about how people budget their money so hopefully this will be at least a little interesting.
With all that being said, here’s my January budget forecast.
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