They say that money can’t buy happiness. Well, I don’t have enough money to say whether that’s true or not. But I’ll tell you what – there are some non-material things that money can buy.
I received an envelope in the mail Monday from the federal government (along with the 2010 census). It looked an awful lot like the bonds that come for the kids around their birthdays, and since my son is having a birthday soon, I didn’t bother to open it.
On Sunday, I looked at our bills. I paid bills, and looked at what was coming due soon, and I felt The Pinch. The seriously it’s going to hurt soon Pinch. The savings is gone, there’s bills and mortgages coming due, and pretty soon, I’ll be robbing Peter to pay Paul Pinch.
It shouldn’t have worked out like that. I should have received a tax credit related to a home purchase about three months ago. I shouldn’t have had to replace my car so soon. We shouldn’t have had plumbing problems and car problems and all that other crap that creeps up.
But we did, and we dealt with it like a lot of other people do – credit cards, savings when we had to, etc.
So suddenly I’m trying to think of all the possible ways we can squeeze more money out of anything. Where can we earn more money? Where can we save money? What can I sell (without selling the house)?
Tonight I opened the mail a full six days earlier than usual, and along with the census I opened that envelope with the bond. I have never been so happy to not see a bond in my life – it was the tax credit money.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
What can money buy? Money can buy security. I’ve now got the funds to shore up our emergency fund.
Money can buy a clear mind. I don’t need to stay up late sweating over bills and how to pay them.
I’m calmer now, but I need to think a bit. I need to talk with my hubby and probably a couple other someones to get a really good idea of what goes where right now. I may wait to do anything until I see what’s what in terms of taxes.
I really, really need to get a decent budget. But it’s almost midnight, and I won’t get that done tonight. It’s a battle for another day. Wish me luck.





Okay, for a blog that at one point (not too long ago) was supposed to be purely about planning, I’m not a very good planner. Since then (very recently), this has sort of morphed into a personal essay blog. I feel like I’m driving a college student around that wants to try everything out on their way to figuring out what they really want to do with their life. I’m going to let that be okay for now. Eventually it will become something, and right now I’m content to write whatever pleases me and see how things develop.
If you’re searching for a used car right now in the United States, please don’t strangle your car dealer. It’s not his or her fault that there are virtually no cars in your price range ($6K, < 100K miles, < 10 yrs old). It’s the government’s.
Right now I’m going through the process of trying to purchase a used car. I have a time limit which is governed by the inspection sticker in my window (which has most likely expired at this point) and the setting of the sun (if it gets any closer to 6 p.m., I’m toast).
I’m in the market for a used car (I may have mentioned this once or twice), and have been for about a month now. Friday night I wrote about the new motivation I have in my car search.