Thursday, July 21, 2011

Cleaning up and Moving on...

So last night I finally put away all of the baby stuff that I had furiously washed and sorted over the last week (Thank you Naomi!). On the up side it is now all clean and organized and ready to be unpacked once we get The Call…again. On the down side, I had to put it away…and I was sad :@(

Not necessarily sad for this particular situation because I know in my heart that this wasn’t our baby and she is with her family where God wants her. More like sad for OUR baby. There is this ache now that I haven’t really felt yet in through this adoption process. It’s almost like it took realizing that this wasn’t our baby to make me miss OUR baby. The heart connection wasn’t really there until the baby part of it was real.

I don’t know if that makes any sense at all to any of you, but that’s the best way to describe it. It’s a little disappointing to be “back at the beginning” of the waiting game, and I know it brings us another step closer to the baby God is getting ready for us, but still…

In the meantime, we are working out a new budget strategy that I’m hoping will help us stock away some additional money each month. After MANY years of marriage and joint checking accounts DJ and I have FINALLY figured out that we manage money totally differently! Umm, duh! DJ is a big picture, long term planner – he works well with a large amount of cash in the account and being able to mentally calculate what has to come out of that amount. I however see it as extra money and proceed to spend it! I am however a micro-manager. I can budget out a week really well – and I work best with a small amount of money and the promise of putting any leftovers into the adoption account.

So we are parting ways….at least in the checking department. DJ will maintain the “big account” that will pay all of the “bills” and I will manage a smaller account that will get a set amount weekly and handle the weekly needs of the household. Fingers crossed that this will work!! I’m hoping that the challenge of staying on budget and doing something I really want with the fruits of my labor will motivate me to get my spending under control. Sadly, I feel I will be missing my beloved Target :@(

I’ll keep you guys post on that end. (If you hear nothing further, assume that it crashed and burned!)

Post again soon!
~Jeny

3 comments:

  1. Husband and I are both spenders and not savers, so trying to save for our adoption has always been difficult. Target is the number 1 place we spend money. Keeping myself out of the Target is the best thing I can do to boost our saving power. At some points we were going to Target almost every day! While it's handy having it within 3 miles of our house, it's also a little too hard to resist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha! Target is definitely a black hole for money! We had to reorganize our budget too when we were saving for our adoption, and while it was difficult, it was so worth it! Not only were we able to save a lot more money then, but it taught us a whole new way to manage our money for now. Good luck with your new budget!

    And your explanation for not being sad for this baby, but longing for YOUR baby makes total sense. I hope he or she comes home to you soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not sure if you are a couponer (I am not now because I'm so busy with full-time school and the kids + new adoption). There are several really great coupon planning sites that will take a big chunk out of your budget. www.southernsavers.com has Publix savings and coupon matches weekly. When I was couponing, I would check the site weekly, make a list of the sale items and gather my coupons. I would typically save $85 or more every trip I made. This also allowed me to stock up on things like toothpaste, shaving cream, personal items and pantry items while they were free or super cheap which clears money up for fun! Also, there are remarkable coupon deals for baby items. You can also check out www.totallytarget.com for Target deals and www.couponmom.com for many stores. Wish you the best of luck! Budgeting isn't easy. We have seperate accounts too and savings that we try to not touch. -Sarah

    ReplyDelete