The Mind of Mr. M

I don't know how it is for anyone else, but the one thing my wife and I really get tense about is money. I think that it is even more compounded as of late with the condition the economy is in and my constantly window shopping HDTV's. Ok, more the latter probably. In all seriousness, I am preparing our taxes and I notice that even with the severe hit on the economy, I made more last year than any year I have worked by nearly 30 percent. Of course, I couldn't tell that by the climate at home as we still seem to have the same discussion we did when I made less.

That just seems to baffle me. I mean, we seem to get by, but it's never enough. We by no stretch of the imagination live lavishly. In fact, my children are convinced we are poor. I know we could probably cut a few corners too...but we still stress about making it. Is this an eternal stress? Is there a specific margin of debt to income that casues someone to not care anymore. This of course is mostly directed at those still growing families, I think I would be less apt to worry if I just had my wife and I to worry about.

My wife has already informed me, here it is January, that this year will be just as stressful. We have a child on the way, my oldest needs braces and we have to pay for EFY, and two girls camps because my second oldest has hit the age to attend. On top of that, our food bill is increasing, the boy has no pants that fit, our second oldest is built different and can't wear her sister's hand me downs for fear they may look *ahem* "Hoochie," we have to figure out how to get the family to Califonia once before the baby, because it will be too much after, and our van won't hold a family of **WOW** nine, we may need to find a bigger house, the couches are falling apart, the washer is making a clicking noise.....

The thing is life continues no matter how much money you have, no matter what things you need and no matter what the economy is doing. I won't pretend that trying to make it all work, isn't stressful...but it's important that we remember why it is stressful. It's not because we like, want or need money...it is because WE HAVE A FAMILY. For me, I would rather stress about providing them than imagine what it would be like to have extra with no one to spend it on but me.

So...for this year, that HDTV can wait.