Low on Pennies, Rich in Love

I am not a fan of discussing finances.
It stresses me out.
I think its because I know that my parents struggled financially when we were growing up and I hate that our family is stuck in the "paycheck to paycheck" trap. That trap is such a hard place to dig yourself out of, especially when you have a large family and are existing on one income.

A few years ago Michael and I went through Financial Peace University, a program designed by Dave Ramsey. It was a struggle for me personally because I didn't like to even sit down and work on a budget. It felt like torture for me. However, we found that it worked. And then we got off track. Amazing how that happens, isn't it?

Now that Michael is the only one working outside of the home, I have been feeling the need to explore a new type of frugality. I am not good with coupons, though I am learning. And I have even considered making my own laundry detergent and baby wipes and am hoping to use cloth diapers when Alena is a few months old. There are really easy and amazing things that you can do to save money, regardless of your family financial situation.

Being frugal and creating family budgets are great ways to reduce financial stress in any house.

But I found something this weekend that worked even better.

We were in the vehicle returning home from a Sunday evening family dinner at Pizza Hut. It was an "out to dinner" treat with their daddy and mommy, something that you wouldn't normally expect to be thanked for by a group of kids ages 2 to 6 (Tyler is still out of town). But the vehicle was suddenly full of little voices saying "I love you mommy, I love you daddy". I looked at Michael and honestly had tears in my eyes. I told him that regardless of how long it takes us to get out of debt, build up our savings, and change our paycheck to paycheck lifestyle.... that our kids love us and that matters more.

I am not saying that we can ignore our finances and just "live on love". We are obviously not doing everything "right" when it comes to money but we are certainly doing something right with our chaos and that makes me happy, even if my piggy bank is low on pennies.