Making plans to have a plan …

My husband I are back from vacation and back to the real world. We’re preparing for the arrival of our first child. We need to sterilize the house, paint the room, put the crib together, install new carpet and move furniture while maintaining our everyday tasks. Sigh. I don’t mean to complain but this sounds quite daunting to me. Maybe it’s the hormones or the heat, but I’m a bit overwhelmed.

With my husband’s income cut short during the summer, buying paint and putting in carpet have become quite a challenge. In fact, we’ve even had to put some necessities on our credit card this month. I hate to run up the credit card bills, but next month should be better, right?

At times like these I wish we had a better plan. Suze Orman and other financial gurus often talk about having three to six months of your income in a savings account in case something happens. I just don’t see how that is possible. We definitely need a plan, but how do we get started? Can we have an amended plan? Maybe I’ll spend some of my maternity leave catching up on the latest money saving strategies … or at least clipping coupons for diapers.

Once my husband heads back to work full time things should get better. We’ll both be working full-time jobs but with the new baby coming in about nine weeks, I can see “baby stuff” eating up any extra cash that we might have. I already save some money but I end up dipping into it every month. One thing is for sure, once I do figure out a plan, I will share it with my child. Not to blame our parents, but my husband and I were never really taught to save; therefore, we’re not savers … yet. I vow to learn to save so I can instill this lesson in my children at a young, impressionable age.