Finances

Sometimes in this day and age I think it can be a bit of a social faux pas to admit it, but I am not ashamed in the slightest to say that my husband and I are broke! We have just a little bit more money coming in over a month than we do going out, which is good, but we don't have any extra and we are living each month by using (then paying off) the credit card, rather than using "real" money.

The thing is, though, that I am okay with that.  Last night hubby and I came up with a plan of action and by wiping out our savings we can start living in the black rather than the red but for the foreseeable future we don't have any spare money floating around, slightly exacerbated, though not caused by a mistake on the part of HRMC which means we are having to pay extra money to the tax people every month.

Thing is though, apart from a stressed day a few nights ago we have not thought about sending me out to work, Naomi being 5 months old now, you might think we should but we have decided that I will be a stay at home Mum and we have decided that Naomi will have everything she needs but not necessarily all the extras that it seems to me that some people see as necessities.

It is important to me that Naomi realises that just having food in her belly and a roof over her head makes her amongst the most well off in the world, the fact that she also has clothes and toys and will have the chance of an education makes her incredibly rich.  It is important that she understands that money is precious and that it should be used responsibly and not just for ourselves.

I have only bought Naomi 3 items of clothes new, it was a 3 pack of vests as she had none in the right size and I was unable to get any in the charity shops.  Other than that every piece of clothing she owns is either a gift, a hand-me-down or a charity shop find (and even then she has very little that fits into this last category).

As for toys, she has many that were given to her and on top of that she has a rattle that I fashioned out of a spice jar and some rice and lentils!  As she gets older I will look out for things on Freecycle and for her birthdays and Christmases she shall receive second hand things because she does not need bigger things.

You might say we are mean, you might say that my husband and I should have saved "more" before we had a child and that we are irresponsible, but actually I see that our responsibility goes further than our immediate family and extends to those throughout the world (who include many people in this country) who do not even have enough to eat, and it is not for us to be extravagant, therefore, my short term inability to go for a coffee or buy some new jeans, is neither here nor there!