Dept. of Being An Adult
On Doing Grown-Up Things
(Originally posted 28th April on Dreamwidth. Manually reposted.)
BB and I finally got started on something we've been putting off for some time: true household budgeting. It's something we should have started a long time ago, which would have saved us thousands of dollars, but since one can't go back and correct mistakes in life, one must simply move forward.
We will be giving up some discretionary spending in an effort to keep monthly spending significantly below our monthly income, which is fixed - quel surprise, given our retiree status.
Our goal, if we can manage this, is to obviate the need for me to go back to work, even on a part-time basis.
If I have to do it, I will search out stringer assignments for a couple of the news outlets that were my respected opponents back during my working days. They will remember me, I hope, and be willing to throw stringer assignments my way.
But I really don't want to do that. BB doesn't want me to do that either. So if we're willing to scrape a little close to the bone, budget-wise, that may not be necessary. Cross your fingers on my behalf.
One of the positives of this effort, which is still ongoing, is that "budgeting" is no longer this inchoate ambient horror drifting like a toxic miasma about our brains. We're able to quantify; the results might not be to our liking, but knowing them gives us the ability to start control efforts. That's a good thing.
(Really; should have started proper budgeting when I fully retired, if not well before then. Live and learn, with metaphysical bruises to show for it, I guess.)
(Originally posted 28th April on Dreamwidth. Manually reposted.)
BB and I finally got started on something we've been putting off for some time: true household budgeting. It's something we should have started a long time ago, which would have saved us thousands of dollars, but since one can't go back and correct mistakes in life, one must simply move forward.
We will be giving up some discretionary spending in an effort to keep monthly spending significantly below our monthly income, which is fixed - quel surprise, given our retiree status.
Our goal, if we can manage this, is to obviate the need for me to go back to work, even on a part-time basis.
If I have to do it, I will search out stringer assignments for a couple of the news outlets that were my respected opponents back during my working days. They will remember me, I hope, and be willing to throw stringer assignments my way.
But I really don't want to do that. BB doesn't want me to do that either. So if we're willing to scrape a little close to the bone, budget-wise, that may not be necessary. Cross your fingers on my behalf.
One of the positives of this effort, which is still ongoing, is that "budgeting" is no longer this inchoate ambient horror drifting like a toxic miasma about our brains. We're able to quantify; the results might not be to our liking, but knowing them gives us the ability to start control efforts. That's a good thing.
(Really; should have started proper budgeting when I fully retired, if not well before then. Live and learn, with metaphysical bruises to show for it, I guess.)