Seasons

Sorry I fell off the face of the earth... Work has been crazy busy, as has life, not too mention we are entering the holiday season.

Anyhoo, let's get on with it!

I read an interesting blog post from Dream Beyond Debt today. It was all about seasons to spend and seasons to save. She explained the she is currently in a season of spending. I am right there with her. As much as I wish I wasn't.

We are in a season of spending for many reasons. We are remodeling our kitchen (and I think finally in the home stretch), we have two tweens, life happens, and the holidays are fast approaching.

This season is killing me financially! No matter how hard we try, we are outspending our budget. Our kitchen has been a huge expense causing our credit card bills to be over $5000 every month for the last several month. We have a couple of big expenses left there and then, hopefully, spending will slow down.

We also have two wonderful children. However, they often bleed us dry. They each do extracurricular activities that nickle-and-dime us with a $5 purchase here and a $10 fee there. They are constantly bringing home forms for fundraisers at school. They are also getting to the age where they are doing things with their friends: movies, shopping, ice cream, etc. I understand we could tell them no, and believe me, we sometimes do, but as I've said a million times before, we also don't want to punish them for our financial mistakes. Having said that, there are times we just tell them we can't afford it; and I'm sad about that - not that we are telling them no, but that we are telling them no because we can't afford something.

Let's be real, life happens: dryer's break,, Keurig's need to be replaced, and cars need repairs.  Knowing these things happen, doesn't make them any cheaper.

The last major reason we are in a season of spending right now is, quite literally, because the season of spending is upon us. In addition to Christmas shopping for friends and family, we host a huge Christmas open-house every year. It's the one time of the year where we buy prepared (read expensive) foods and all the finger foods you see at the grocery story. And those aren't cheap. But we love having our party and we love visiting with friends and family, many of which we only see once a year at our gathering. I know I could consider not hosting it one year, but I don't want to. I enjoy it.

This has been a tough season, but so far we have been able to weather it. I'm looking forward to a season of saving and relaxing.