on getting help..

I've had a lot of thoughts this week about getting financial/food/help/assistance.  Randomness.

I paid all our bills, spent $80 on groceries and diapers, $50 on gas and $40 on Svend's gas and $150 for his 14 days expenses (toll tags, gas, food, etc)... after that, we have $70 for the next 10 days.  Cut that nearly in half since I went today to buy some much needed fruit and veggies... and hit a SWEET cereal deal that I couldn't afford to pass up.

Anyway, needless to say I think we'll have another ending with .83 in the bank...or close to it.  My dad sent me $100 to do with what I please. Thank goodness. This will be cashed if we need it...and if we don't it'll go into the jar.  Random things we bought that weren't needed were lunch at Ikea for $10. Truthfully, that was our only out-of-budget-expense this pay period. At least last pay period's deficit included $100 for the kids to play basketball...which starts TOMORROW! WAHOO!

Yesterday I got a note in Tally's mail for her to purchase a $10 school t-shirt. I threw it out before she could see it. THen, I read her assignment packet and it said the shirts were mandatory for fieldtrips/etc.  WHAT?! GRR. But then, HEAVEN SEND was the extension that said if we couldn't afford it to let the teacher know and it would be taken care of. I didn't want to tell Svend, b/c he usually will say "it's just $10" but I decided to. He instantly said "no." When I told him it was required, he was angry and said "there's no way." So he was actually fine with me asking for help :)  I wrote a note saying "we have no wiggle room with our finances right now" and she said they would take care of it :) Talia wears Ambercrombie and Fitch to school by the way... ALL HAND-ME-DOWNS from the woman I used to babysit for. Never judge a book by it's cover.

Bergen ripped the front of his shoes off... if I were going to spend $10 you bet it would be on new shoes.

We decided we'll buy one kid Christmas presents a month... Bergen is paid for...around $25. So now it's Talia. We decided on an Ikea see-saw and train set for the little girls...and some big stuffed dogs. Total around $40.  Talia just wants money and a diary.  Hmm... that's $4.  wow. She has high hopes :(

I e-mailed our siblings and told them we would be dropping out of the sibling swap this year. I said "if we do it, it'll just be something small for each family."  Svends' sister told his mom and she called completely concerned. She said she would search for some Costco giftcards and send them to us :) I'm grateful.


We are set for winter, though I know the big kids will need new snow boots.  Hopefully we can hold off til Christmas when we're in Seattle.

I've been thinking of "bailouts" lately.  We have our parents. I told Svend maybe it was time to consult the Bishop about food. He agreed. We'll see.

Anyway, I was thinking about this and I wondered how my parents did it. They never had bailouts andI'm sure things were just as tight sometimes...if not worse.  I'm grateful for our situation. That we have a security just in case. But it makes me want to try harder to get by without help and to make it work and not complain for worry.

I have been less worried though. Things are good. We have what we need and we can pay our bills. We haven't had to start paying the big bills yet and those will start her next month I guess... so for now our savings is still intact.

We are blessed and we'll get through this. I'm grateful for trials. I'm grateful for blessings.