The B word

OK, I know I'm not the only lady out there that has a major problem with the B-word.  It gets bandies about like it's no big deal, has no major significance.  You hear it everywhere nowadays.  And, I tell you, when it escapes my husband's lips there is palpable tension in the room.  I can't help it.  It's visceral.  Obviously, I'm talking about the word, Budget.

It's something that I have personally struggled with my entire adult life, and something the Brett and I have fretted over for years.  It's hard!  Especially when you understand my physical aversion to anything math related.  I literally break out in hives.  It's not that I have issues watching my spending, I get it, but the constant monitoring, tracking and MATH!  Is what kills me.

You know, it's hard enough to build and maintain a budget as a single person, then you add a second person and open a joint account.  There's money going in, and you know how much.  There's money going out, and that gets a little muddier.  When there are two hands dipping in the community pot to buy groceries and toothpaste and coffee, it's really hard to keep track.  Or maybe it's just me...

Anyway, now we have upped the ante and there are three people in the family finances.  It's insane.  So there was a round table, and a talk of concrete numbers, and lots and lots of math.  And now we emerge on the other end with a clear picture of what comes in and what goes out, as well as the realization that there is A LOT going out.

Cue the cold sweats.

But, we have to understand where the money goes in order to control where it ends up, right?  So, we have enlisted the help on an online service called Budget Simple.  It does not require master-level Xcel skills, nor does it make me feel like a 1st grader trying to tackle Algebra II.  It lives up to its name.  It's simple.  Brett and I sat down and recorded all of our incoming funds and our proposed expenditures, and the rest is just logging on periodically and recording our actual spending.  It's exactly what we need.  Both Brett and I can access it and record all of our pennies that fly in and out of our pockets.  We can track our spending patterns and really understand what is happening.  This is an eye-opening and scary path we are venturing down, but we really do know it's good for us.  I mean, I learned how to love lima beans and beets, I can do this.

I think.

Just don't utter that word in my presence unless it's followed by "simple.com".

You know the one...

Son of a Budget!