One Salary, Three Mouths: How We’re Making it Work Financially

“When do you think I’ll be able to go grocery shopping?” I asked my husband. We weren’t starving, but our food supply was dwindling. “As much as possible, do you think you’d be able to make things work for a week and a half or so…at least until we get paid?” We found out two months prior that the renter at our other property had moved out and wouldn’t be able to pay rent for the full extent of her lease. Thankfully, although she was gone, she was still willing to pay what she could until we made a decision about what our next steps would be. However, two months into that arrangement, she informed us that she would no longer be paying her rent. Disheartened and worried are two words that don’t even begin to describe what we were feeling. How would we be able to cover two mortgages?

We had originally decided to renovate and move into a new property (check out the renovation story here) while I was pregnant and simultaneously getting ready to start residency, with the hope of making it an investment to flip at the end of my program. Needless to say, plans changed. When I decided to stay home, we almost immediately began to feel the strain of our shrinking budget. We were able to make things work, but it was tight. Once our renter bailed, however, we became responsible for two mortgages and we quickly realized something had to change. We could either find another renter to take over the other property and return to our tight budget, or we could sell one of the houses (of course we were hoping it wasn’t the one we just renovated) and free up some room in our budget altogether. So, after praying about it, we put both houses on the market. Whichever one sold first was the one we would go with. And of course, the one we were living in, our newly renovated home, sold first. In fact, the first person who saw it made an offer. We accepted and moved back to our old place.

Was it a difficult decision? Absolutely. Was it the right one for our family? Absolutely. We certainly didn’t make the choice for me to stay at home blindly. We were well aware sacrifices would be involved; but all things considered, I believe those sacrifices will one day manifest themselves in reward, whether in this world or the one to come. And truth be told, there are people who struggle with difficulties and tough decisions on a daily basis, so we really didn’t have much to complain about.

So just how are we making it work? Downsizing was number one. Secondly, my husband is a hustler. He works as a Business Analyst by day and runs an app development firm by night (Check out www.xecuit.com if you need an app developed or logo designed. Yes, I am shamelessly putting in a plug!) Most importantly, we’re trusting God. There are still times when we are unsure about how things will work out financially, and I don’t want to paint the picture otherwise; but we know we’re doing what we’ve been called to do and ultimately, we’ll be just fine. And just in case you were wondering, there were times when I considered doing some “work-from-home jobs” and even looked at applying to a few. However, the reason I decided to stay home in the first place was to focus on our family and raise our son, and I didn’t want to put myself in a place where I was distracted when I was with him, otherwise, I might as well have stayed at work. So each day, I work by supporting my husband and giving Micah all the love, care and attention that he needs. The hope is that one day the reason for the struggle will all come together to make perfect sense and maybe one day money won’t be a worry of ours, but for now, we’ll continue to trust and know that everything will be more than okay!