Money Matters: Past and Present

Mike and I are currently in the process of saving money. Which is really hard to do. Especially because currently it seems like we have an excess of it. I know what you're thinking: wah, wah, boo hoo. And, after your fake tears for us, I imagine that you'll do a double take and think - what? it's hard to save money because you have too much of it? Please explain.

Certainly, I will.

You see, it seems as though currently money is just pouring in. We received a down payment on the car we're selling, we finally received the money the marine corps has owed us for the past 8 months, Mike is scheduled to receive a bonus for extending his contract with the marine corps for an extra 2 years, and due to the extra money we made while Mike was deployed we paid off some bills so our monthly income stretches farther than it used to. Having access to all that extra money naturally makes it a little bit difficult for us not to consider ourselves RICH.

The truth of the matter is, though, that we certainly are not rich. Not even close. Our bank account might currently feel a bit bloated, but there are certain things looming in our future that require that we have a sizeable chunk of change put away for worst-case-scenerios.

So looking at the bank account and seeing unheard of numbers in there is almost like playing with monopoly money. It's there, but it's not really there. We can't use it.

During my commute to work this morning I was thinking about what Sarah-of-five-years-ago would think about my current money situation.

I very clearly remember getting my first credit card. It was my senior year in college, and my first ever purchase on it was a $100 bathing suit. It was the first and last time I ever spent that kind of money on a bathing suit; because, on my drive back to my dorm I nearly threw up from the buyer's remorse that rushed over me. Of course, I paid off that bill as soon as I possibly could because that $100 was haunting me. I could not stand the idea of such debt.

I also remember when Mike bought his first car. We were engaged at the time and he dropped a whopping $12,000 on a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I was too scared to tell my family how much he spent because I believed that to be an ungodly amount of money to spend on a car. I remember telling my brother-in-law, bracing for his reaction, and then being shocked that he didn't really seem to think it was that big of a deal. How strange.

And, of course, there was the night I found out how much I was going to owe on student loans when I graduated. I pretty much freaked out. It's pretty funny actually to look back on that night when I broke out into a coldsweat because of my student loans. Especially considering that currently my student loan payment is by far the lowest payment I make every month. I actually pay that bill with joy every month. It is not painful like the rest.

I grimace to think how much smaller that measly payment is compared to seriously ungodly house payment I make every month now.

If I told the Sarah-of-five-years-ago the kind of bills she would be paying five years down the road, I seriously believe she would have keeled over and died of shock.

Which brings me back to my first point. Though the bloated bank account might currently make me feel rich, it's extremely important for me to remember that I am not. And, if ever I have any doubt of that, I will just take a walk down memory lane and remind myself of the days when I thought it was absolutely disgusting to owe $12,000 on a Jeep Grand Cherokee.