May Challanges

This month will be very interesting for me and my husband. Last week I was sitting at church before it began and I suddenly remembered something my dad said right before my husband and I got married.

 

I told him that we were planning to live off my husband’s salary, and put my entire salary towards getting out of debt, and after the debt is gone, my salary will go towards savings. This is, of course, until the Lord blesses us with children and I become a stay-at-home mom.

 

My dad said “If I were you, I’d reverse that and live off of your income and put your husband’s toward debt and savings.”

 

My husband makes about 1.5 times what I make in base salary, but with overtime, etc. he ends up making more than twice what I make. So essentially, we have been living off of 2/3 of our income and putting 1/3 to debt and savings. My dad’s suggestion to do the inverse of that seemed crazy.

 

But last week I suddenly was inspired to do what my dad had recommended. I mentioned it to my husband and he decided it would be a great idea to at least try it. So for the month of May we will be living off my little salary, and putting my husband’s to work getting out of debt.

 

This will not be easy. First of all, my husband has taken over our budget in order to keep us on track. I tend to be a little “looser” with our budget, so it is probably a good idea he is taking it over. I think I will have more of an incentive to stick to our budget if I know he is watching it like a hawk.

 

So what does this all entail? First of all, we have to tithe on my salary, so that will take away a few hundred dollars. Then a little less than half of what is remaining will go towards our rent. About 2/3 of what is left after that will go towards groceries and gas. My husband and I each get $50 per month to cover unnecessary things, but otherwise there is no wiggle room.

 

The other thing which I am doing this month for a change is taking the Purse-onality challenge. The challenge requires no complaining, criticizing, sarcasm, or gossip for the entire month. I am only on day 5 and let me tell you, I never realized how much I complain! I never realized that sarcasm is one of my languages of fluency! And let's not even talk about how many times I've caught myself swallowing criticism or gossip this week. If anything, I've become aware of how big of a problem these areas are for me.

 

If you are interested in joining the Purse-onality challenge, which has the goal of replacing “baditude” with God’s grace and gratitude, check out my post from last week on it.