From the mouths of babes….

My husband is an Assistant Principal for a public Elementary school. A few days before we got married, one of the second grade classes decided to make him a book full of marriage advice. Every now and then I read it and think about how easy it would be if we just listened! Especially about the new car part…seriously Honey get with the program. J

 

My No Spend Month starts today!

So I have gotten a little more into blogs lately and coupled with my Pinterest obsession (because for serious, who isn’t obsessed these days), I have stumbled across the idea of a No Spend Month.  The idea is based on a family of 3 or 4 people who are only allowed to spend $250 on extra “stuff”.  Necessities like groceries, gas, and bills don’t count. 

I want to do this a little different.  I really can’t include my husband because we somewhat keep our finances separate for the time being.  He (we) have number of rental properties which he is sinking a lot of money in at the moment.  I will write more about our lovely (cough, cough) rental properties sometime.  Right now they are consuming our lives to the point where I don’t want to think about them! 

So, I want to try and spend $300 between now and July 20^th.  That will be $75 a week.  This includes groceries and gas but does not include any bills.  Make sense?  Sound difficult?  Only time will tell.  What worries me about this is tomorrow, for example, I will have to get gas.  $60 right there!  Ugh!  Then I believe I have a hair appointment on July 18^th.  Dangit.  $120 right there!  Double ugh!  That got me thinking….there is not much I can do on gas.  My commute is like nothing and that will probably last me 2 weeks.  But the hair thing, hmmm.  Maybe I can work on that. 

I have a few reasons for wanting to do this.  For starters, ok I admit it, I have a teensy bit of credit card debt I’m paying off.  Ok maybe more than a teensy bit.  Let me put it this way.  It’s under $5k.  I know, I know, geez I was living on a single income for like ever.  It’s so much harder than living on two incomes.  That being said, with my townhouse being sold (fingers crossed till closing in 2-3 weeks), every cent I earn goes right to paying that off.  So…another two to three months, and that should be gone.   My second reason is, I need a new car.  Ok, I take that back.  I don’t need a new car, I want one.  See my problem here?  (However, the front console of my car is being held together by a rubberband)  The sooner I can pay off that debt, the sooner I can start socking moola away for a slightly used, super chic, SUV.  A white Nissan Rogue is at the top of my list right now.  That may change by the end of the day.    My third reason is, that when we have little Kehrer’s running around (which I hope is sooner than later), I would really like to be able to stay at home with them.  This will entail living off of my husband’s income, which he makes a good living, but that doesn’t mean we will have money for me to spend my days shopping and hitting up the local spa.  Not by a long shot.  So I figure this would be good practice. 

We have SO much food in our pantry and fridge, not to mention about 400 pounds of steak and ribs downstairs in our freezer.  Brian bought a half a cow awhile back.  Great investment if you are thinking about doing it!  We should have enough food to not do much grocery shopping for awhile.  Hamburger helper anyone???

I will post in one week to let you know my status.  Wish me luck!

What to write about. 

Well I started this blog a long time ago…I have wanted to get back at it and now, while I should be “working hard” right now it’s more lie “hardly working”.   I figured it would be a great time to start! 

I have now been married a little over a year.  I think (know) that both my husband and I would agree with the saying of “The First Year being the Hardest”.  We are both two strong willed people that have been used to getting “our way” for a very long time.  We are getting better with this, slowly but surely.   

Some random thoughts about our marriage so far…

1)      Knowing that even though my husband did quite well as a bachelor for almost 38 years, his life is so much more complete with me in it.  We were driving back from a little weekend get a way a few weeks ago and the song came on the radio “I’d be looking for a woman like you” by Lee Brice.  The song has always reminded me of us, and I didn’t even realize my husband listened to words of songs but the second the song came on, his first words were “this song so reminds me of us”.  And yep, from the line of “She knows what a mess I'd be if I didn't have her here” to “And not one throw pillow on the bed”, that song pretty much sums up our marriage.  We have a total of 9 pillows on our bed when completely made, just FYI.  It’s awesome.    

2)     We will make great parents and I think we will have a wonderful family.  I don’t think there are two people in this world that balance each other out the way my husband and I do. 

3)      I have realized that I have a lot of work to do on myself.  Not that I ever thought I was perfect or even close to it.  I think being married makes you realize that your perception of your own strengths and weaknesses are not at all accurate.  I’m not quite who I thought I was.  Before I was married, I used to think I was level headed….after being married for a year I can wholeheartedly say that’s not true, I really need to relax.  I also used to think of myself as kind of a hard ass.  While I know my husband shakes his head, rolls his eyes, etc when I am trying to save every helpless animal that I come in contact with, I know deep down he loves this about me.  Brian makes me feel like I am one of the most caring, sensitive (in a good way), empathetic people in the world.  And that makes me want to be even more “that way”.

4)     I have turned out to be a damn good cook.  More posts on this later…

5)     No matter how big the fight or how frustrated you are…being married is worth it.  As I stated earlier, I think both Brian and I would agree that the first year has been tough.  We have had a lot of adjustments, and still have many more to go.  But, even at the lowest point, I wouldn’t trade him or what we have for a second. 

6)       When people call me Mrs. Kehrer, I still feel the need to do that snort/laugh combo at them.  Sometimes I actually do it.  I don’t know why.  I’m almost 32 and still don’t feel old enough to be a “Mrs”.   

7)     In some alternate universe, if my husband was married to some other woman, I would be painfully jealous of her.   

So there are my random thoughts on our marriage for the day.  I will end with this….

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent unspoken memories?
- George Eliot

…Getting there.  J

Wedding day and one year later!