October 22, 2012

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

One thing I've found in the past few months is that life has been full of changes. Actually, this whole year has seen a bunch of new things happening all around. Some of those changes are within my control and some are not. Some I can affect and some I just have to roll with. It's like puberty for adults without the acne.

As I've mentioned before, there's been a bit of a baby boom. That's an understatement. There has been a baby KABOOM. Nearly two years ago one of my friends had her first boy. There was a lull of about 18 months and then all of a sudden there were baby boys flying left right and center. Two of those tiny people belong to ladies I spend a fair amount of time with.

Friends having babies is a big change. I may not have any kids, but I know more about the pros and cons of reusable versus disposable diapers than I ever thought possible.  I used to think poor people and hippies were the only ones that used cloth diapers. Now my eyes have been opened. (For the record, my parents weren't really either of those and I was a cloth diaper baby. Except back then they were literally pieces of cloth.)

I think it says a lot about your friendship with someone if you can weather their shift into parenthood and still maintain a good relationship. Little people change everything. Parents can't stay out late, can't drop everything and go to the movies, they have to bring the stroller, the diaper bag, and, of course, the baby. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering my sunglasses. As a person with no intention of jumping on the procreation train anytime soon, it's nerve wracking getting left behind sometimes.

That said, I guess it's okay that not everyone consulted me before forgetting to take their birth control. Baby snuggles are actually more fun than baby pug snuggles anyway. At least I imagine so, since the only baby pug I see is my boss' daughter's and I'm supposed to be "working" when they come in (read: no snuggles).

Those changes are old, though. I figured I'd fill you in on some other changes going on. You know, keep you updated with the big and the little. Because you care. That's why you're here. There are actually a lot more changes going on than I'm going to touch on today, so I hope you don't mind if I drag it out over the next little while. I'm hoping bigger changes will be coming, too. Bigger personal changes. And no they don't involve procreation.

The other one I want to mention today is that Karl and I are embarking on the big bad budgeting train. We're into week five of Financial Peace University and it's starting to get nitty and gritty. Last week we had to make a net zero budget allocating every single dollar we make per paycheck so that by the time we get paid next we're back at zero. Can you say intimidating?

We also found out that if we're going to buy a house in the next four to five years we need to be saving $1500 a month. Minimum. It's totally doable, it's just going to take a little bit of extra motivation. My motivation is going to be that our future home will have lots of windows (natural light!) and absolutely no spiders. And a bedroom big enough to walk in. Yes, please!

If budgeting isn't a lifestyle change, I don't know what is.

The thing is, the whole Financial Peace University thing is actually kind of fun. It's fun in the sense that expanding your brain and understanding of not only money but how we relate to money is fun. And it also forces awkward money conversations to take place on the regular between Karl and I and is, believe it or not, a unifying thing. Crazy, right? I would not lie to you.

So those are some of the less exciting changes going on in my life right now. Not that buying a house or snuggling babies isn't exciting because those things totally are. But there's more coming, just wait. Bigger. Better. And now in 3D. Okay, seriously, they aren't that crazy, but they mean something to me.

So what do you think? Budgeting sound like fun? Like a nightmare? Like something only irresponsible people should do? And what about baby KABOOMS? And change, is it good? All I know is that in my life, I know I can do better than I have been and change is how we get there.

4 comments:

  1. Budgeting is the best/worst thing in the whole world. I love to hate it, but love the results.

    Babies...yeah. Most of my friends have 3 already.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Woah. Your friends are busy. Mine are all on the number ones... for now.

      Delete
  2. One of the most fun parts of budgeting is when you don't end up spending all you have allocated towards a certain thing! Extra $$!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I actually enjoy budgeting, I may be slightly crazy though haha. :)

    ReplyDelete

 photo comments_zps824b3be6.jpg