Living Frugally with Thousands in Student Loan Debt on 1 Income....

I am both grateful and frustrated with being a stay-at-home mom.  I am grateful because I am the one raising my son along with my husband and not someone else.  I get to watch him grow into a smart, compassionate person.  I have been able to watch him crawl and walk for the first time and teach him the alphabet and numbers.  Being home with my son has been one of the greatest adventures of my life so far.

But...yes there is a but.

Between my husband and myself, we have many thousands of dollars in student loan debt.  With my husband being the only one with a steady income, I find myself frustrated that I am not directly contributing to paying down our loans.  I know I am contributing financially in other ways.  Daycare is expensive and essentially I am free daycare.  I am the one who balances our checkbook and keeps us on the straight and narrow as far as spending goes.  Despite this I have the occasional freak out moment, probably once a month and my gracious husband talks be down from the ledge.  We talk about our situation often, and have come up with 6 ways to alleviate any anxiety about money that help for the most part (except for my once a month freak out.)

The Pollington/Pratola Household Money System:

1) Create a year long budget on an excel spreadsheet and stick to it.  This is harder than it might seem but with living frugally in mind, it can be done.

2) Create a monthly budget using and excel spreadsheet.  This tends to be more detailed than the year long budget and includes how much money we can spend on food, gas, miscellaneous...  We currently have a $350 food budget each month which includes going out to eat.  Being that we live in a town with only two restaurants and one has very strange hours, we don't go out to eat much.  Like VB stated in one of her recent posts, eating at home saves a lot of money and is healthier too. :)

3) We have a savings account, but right now we are using it as a savings for our quarterly taxes.  Yes, we pay our taxes quarterly and since we only have one income, we put the money we need for them into our savings and then transfer the money over when we have to pay them.  So right now, we don't have a savings that we don't touch and let the money accrue.  We are working on figuring that one out still and it will probably take a while.  But we do have a savings account for when we are actually able to start saving money.  Many people don't even have that, so I think we are heading in the right direction.

4) Weekly checkbook balancing.  I balance our checkbook once a week so then we always know what we have in our account.  Not only does it ease my mind that we aren't spending more than we have, but it makes me an active participant in our finances.

5) If we use our credit card, we pay it off right away.  We use our credit card for things that Jason can be reimbursed for through the church so once we get the reimbursement money, we pay our credit card off right away.  It just makes sense and makes both of us feel better about life.

6) Breathe and be grateful for what we do have, which unfortunately is a lot more than many people have these days.  We might not have a lot of money, we might not have all the new gadgets or the newest vehicles, but we have a warm place to live, clothes on our backs, good healthcare, food in our bellies and wonderful family and friends.

So yeah, I still freak out about our student loan debt and our small household income from time to time, but these 6 things, especially the last one have been extremely helpful for us, our marriage and our family.  I hope they help you too.

How I entertained a 15 month old by myself for 48 hours.....

It is getting colder outside and snowing at least once a week for the past two weeks in Fairfield, MT. There are not many places to take my son Preston for long periods of time that he can run around in, except the church where Jason's office is. So most mornings, Jason takes Preston with him to coffee time at the local restaurant called Cozy Corner Cafe and then takes Preston to the office with him. Preston runs around the open fellowship hall and then either takes a nap or doesn't before the guys come home for lunch. This does not happen every morning, but most mornings.

It gives me time to get things done around the house, like cleaning or some laundry, or work out and read a bit of the book for book club for a while. Sometimes I work out and then work on one of my many crocheting projects that I'm trying to finish. So what I'm saying is that most days, I get some form of time to myself.

Last night, today and part of tomorrow, it is just Preston and I, while Jason finishes up his last stint at 1st Call Theological Education, which is required for 1st call Pastors in the ELCA. So I am trying to come up with ideas and then implement them to keep Preston occupied this morning and this evening. Luckily this afternoon there is a break for Jason so Preston and I are going to meet up with him and some of our friends for a little bit, so I don't have to worry too much about entertaining him then. I have to run some errands too before and after we hang out with friends this afternoon, so that will burn some time too.

That is the background for the next couple of days...

This morning, in order to take a shower in peace, I put on one of Preston's favorite tv shows, "Super Why". I was able to take a shower and get dressed without him banging on the bathroom and bedroom doors. 30 minutes of quiet so I could get ready for the day. It was amazing. I am now updating this post as he watches a little more tv. Many people would chastise me for using the tv as entertainment so I can get things done around the house and for myself. I say to those people, "Hey, I just got to take 30 minutes for myself with no distractions. I win!"

Okay, free time over. Now time to find something else to entertain the munchkin. I'll report back later today on how things turn out.

Later on yesterday....

I distracted Preston with some more of his favorite shows and then got him ready to head to Great Falls after feeding him lunch. Lunch consisted of a peanut butter sandwich, beets and some pineapple with milk to drink. Then we headed to Great Falls where I proceeded to drag him around all over town. First to Barnes & Noble, then to hang out with friends for a bit at Starbucks. We went to Michaels, ate a Subway for dinner, went to Target and then to Sam's Club. We left the house around 1pm yesterday afternoon. We got home around 8pm last night. Needless to say, we both had a pretty busy day, so Preston basically passed out from exhaustion when we got home and I had the rest of the night to myself to do whatever I wanted.

That is how I entertain my 15 month old on rare occasions. Today is another story. Today he has been entertained with reading books, playing with toys and watching his television programming simultaneously. He is also a bit more needy today, so no putting on his favorite show and having 30 minutes to myself to get ready for the day. Today, I'll probably have to wait for Jason to get home before I'll be able to take a shower, or I can have a screaming, temper tantrum throwing kid bang on the door of the bathroom while I take a shower. No thanks. I'll wait for Jason to get home. Preston and I might go for a quick walk outside today to get out of the house for a few minutes, but it is going to be a more low-key day today.

Entertaining a 15 month old changes everyday. Some days are easy, some days are hard. But everyday is worth it.