4:40 Mid Saturday Afternoon (6 August 2011)

Plans Change.

It's true that a Dec 2013 baby would make more sense than a Dec 2012 baby. One year later, no big deal. At that point maybe we'll have a better idea of where our lives are headed. One year older, one year wiser, no longer in grad school purgatory. Probably with actual jobs and benefits and legitimate salaries (grad student TA stipends are not the same as a proper salary). Hopefully with more expendable income and a nice place to live. Yeah, it makes a lot more sense.

at 25 years old and 4 years of marriage, it sounds a lot more reasonable to become parents than 24 years old and 3 years of marriage. But if I'm asked to wait longer than that, I don't know what I'll do.

In other news I lost my credit card (again) and have decided, after compiling all of the income/expenditures of last month, that I spend a lot more money than I intend to. I was in range for how much I wanted to spend in general for random crap like clothes and goodies...but totally over the limit when it came to eating out! I decided we need a better system for controlling our finances. So I've decided to give myself a weekly allowance. Once the new credit card comes, instead of putting it in my wallet, I will keep it in a drawer...and instead of his debit card Caleb will use his copy of our credit card on our groceries, etc (for the rewards points and fraud protection). For nonessentials I will start having cash on hand instead. I will have Caleb give me a $20 once a week, so that I force myself to stay accountable to my plan.

It seems unfeminist at a glance; the wife's credit card being taken away in favor of a weekly cash allowance while the husband does what he wants. However, it is my plan and I know that he is the far more frugal one of our happy pair and it's high time I taught myself to pay attention to my money.