Will we ever get ahead?

This blog years ago started off as a money saving blog. I talked about the awesome deals we could grab, as well as our struggles with finances. I’ve since kind of strayed from that topic and it’s more about a Christian, parenting, lifestyle blog. Which is OK. But today I want to talk about finances, and the questions, how do we get ahead?

Have you ever sat down and thought about where we are in life. We are a blue collar working class family. We aren’t poor, we aren’t rich, we live comfortably on very little. Our house is small, but works for us. We don’t buy new cars, we vacation but only when and where we can. We have savings, but make sacrifices.

I think my description fits most of our friends, and probably a lot of the country right now. Now that the school year has started, that’s the mommy new year, I am getting stricter about our budget. As a work from home mom there are days (could possibly be weeks) I don’t leave the house except for school pickups. Thanks to this, I don’t spend much money at all. This is when I start to save the most money, or at least try to.

Another generation, more expenses

But the other day as I was arguing with the car insurance lady because they feel like jacking up prices for new drivers, I thought about my parents, my in-laws and my friends parents. I thought about all the stuff that we as parents in this day in age fork out money for that our parents never had to even think about.

Cell phones! Most of you are my age, we are the middle generation between generation X and millennial. I didn’t get a cell phone until I was in college and that was only for a true, you are dying emergency. I’m a strict parent so my kids don’t get their cell phone until they get to high school, but that’s more money I am forking out a month that my parent’s never had to worry about!

School supplies! We always had a school supply list but it wasn’t pages long today’s lists. My parent’s bought the notebooks and pencils, and one pack of crayons, not 3 per child! When we were in school our supplies were ours; our parents were not buying for the entire class. They didn’t have to buy specific types of notebooks/folders, it was whatever was at the store. Nope I have to drive around town looking for the specific notebook that is required and now costs me an arm and a leg!

Car Insurance! Yes it’s always been known that as we add “new drivers” to car insurance it’s expensive, but I will never forget in all my days how much it increased when we added my daughter. That’s with every discount possible (according to the insurance lady). I asked my parent’s the other day, their comment was. “yes it was increased but not too bad, nothing to remember”. Must be nice!

Let’s not forget all the increases in cost of living! Houses, gas to fill the cars (that cost an arm and a leg to insure), milk and groceries. Everything increases, steadily!

Our salaries don’t match our expenses

Now think about your salary. When I was teaching we got pennies each year’s increase. Nothing to write home about. In fact, I supplemented my teaching salary by coaching 2 different sports. I was also a waitress during breaks and summers and 1 summer I even taught summer school. Have a teaching friend, ask them how they supplement their income, I’m almost positive they do somehow! So when it was time for me to make the decision to stay home, it was easy, in the long run I wasn’t bringing home much income after childcare expenses and everything else.

My husband, as we all know, is an amazing firefighter. We all know they aren’t millionaires. They do the work because they love it! Just like police officers, teachers, nurses and many other professions. My husband loves his job, he loves working and works a second job to supplement the first. He works over time, he takes additional classes for more certifications. He does all this and we don’t see pay increases. It’s a city, government job, pay increases are never in the budget (story of the lives of firefighters, police officers and teachers!)

How do we get ahead?

So how do we get ahead in life when we are never given the opportunity to do it? As more and more are demanded of parents financially for our kids, and salaries are left alone how do we do it? How do we save while we are forking out hundreds a month for car insurance, cell phone bills, more school supplies (because it’s the middle of the year and one of the kids in the class ate all the crayons so we need to buy another 3 boxes!). What is the answer?

My husband will never leave his job, that’s not an option in our house. He loves what he does and I am happy with that. I am happy with the sacrifices we make. But should that be a lifestyle? I highly doubt any city manager has thought about this option when they get that wonderful pay increase for the 10th year in a row and there’s not enough for the police officers or firefighters. I bet the school superintendent has never sat around the kitchen table wondering if they should take the car away from their teenager cause it would be cheaper then insurance and gas, but many teachers have!

There’s lots of problems with our society these days, but this is a big one. We take classes to learn how to live on budgets, to save extra and never to use credit cards. But is that real life? When Dave Ramsey created his plan (and don’t get me wrong I love his Financial Peace and recommend it to everyone) but he wasn’t paying for Racheal’s cell phone or car insurance or travel sports or school supplies up the you know what. (Oh and don’t get me started on the hundreds of birthday parties our kids get invited to now! That’s for another blog post!)

Is there any solution?

There is no solution to this problem, society will never change their ways. Teachers will continue to teach the future and watch their students become successful doctors and lawyers and move on in life while they continue teaching more future minds. And firefighters will go and save the city manager from their burning house at 2 in the morning in the freezing cold, with nothing more then a thank you.

But there is one thing, our kids, you know the ones who know what it’s like to make sacrifices will appreciate all their teachers, all the police officers and firefighters who keep them safe. That is one thing I know for sure!

For all those with young kids, or no kids yet, SAVE NOW!!! Save for the teen years, save for the elementary school supplies, save now! Take my warning! SAVE!

And before I end, I want to thank all blue collar workers! I know I only mentioned a few, but there are so many who keep our lives running everyday, so thank you!