Family Finances From aFar

Man, this is tough. Since 2005, Rachel and I have been budgeting almost every expense from every month. Some months are better than others and sometimes that bottom line is not where we would prefer it - but it should go without saying that we have definitely become more disciplined in our spending and more open in our communication regarding money. I count that as a success, considering so many (who are deceived) fault finances/money as the biggest area of marital strife. The fact that money management is more a symptom of a bigger problem than the problem itself is another blog entry altogether, which I'll save for a later date.

What is interesting, though is how much difficulty the current separation has added to managing our money. Today we spent a few minutes on the phone trying to work through the December budget and it was anything but painless! I'm thankful for an understanding and intelligent wife who can manage the task of stopping her day to work with me over the phone while keeping the kids from destroying the house in the background. Still, it wasn't easy! More than ever, we need a common operating picture and more than ever, we need a strict zero-based budget that anticipates all of the expenses for the next 31 days. Lord willing, we'll get both of those, but it will take regular communication and a large amount of foresight.

This is just one element of deploying that makes life harder on families. What's amazing though, is how resilient God made us. Even though it feels like we are pushing a steamroller uphill, I know that we are being made much stronger individually and as a couple through this process. The last deployment was easy - we just spent what we needed to and used the card for anything else that wasn't covered with cash in the bank. And guess what - afterwards, we were still in debt and we had not grown at all to speak of financially. This deployment is different. We have been debt-free (except for the mortgage) for over 2 years now and we have a chance to accumulate a decent sum for savings. I pray that I don't let my selfish desires get in the way.