I don't want to stay poor my whole life ( I want my children to have opportunities, have a real house, etc.), but I have learned a lot by being so. I know people who's parents have bought them houses (while they were in school), and others who's parents paid for all of their schooling, rent, extra everything and never worked. While my parents were certainly helpful (helped pay for rent when I lived in Corvallis, bought groceries sometimes, loaned us money, helped with car troubles, etc.), they did not do everything for me and I am grateful to them for it.
I worked several jobs through out college. I am grateful I had the opportunity to work, go to school and participate in many extra curricular activities. I had a very busy and fun college life. Tyler and I were married most of our undergrad careers and did struggle finically a bit, but being in school is not quite like the "real world".
We are currently in a sort of waiting place. Tyler needs prereqs and clinical hours before he can apply to PA school. He is busy working full time and taking those prereq classes. While his job pays a decent amount, it is by no means a job we would want to have forever. We often are just scraping along. I am not going to lie, this can be hard. There are so many women who graciously put up with their husbands going through years of school, living in basement apartments, sometimes having over five children before he is done with school. These women should get some sort of award. I met one the other day and all I could think is: this lady is incredible. There have got to be days where she thinks about everything they do not have, but she was so positive about it. I am in/going to be in a similar situation and Elanor will probably be six by the time everything is said and done (and hopefully we will have more kids too!). While this is hard, I am so grateful for this experience.
I have started to learn about money. I am terrible about budgeting and have never done it before. I am starting to and I am trying to find ways to save money. These "skills" I am learning are sure to come in handy. I have also learned how to do so many new things! Such as :
1. I make my own laundry detergent, get recipe here. It works great, by the way!
2. I make my own hot dog buns and they are so worth it and so yummy! Recipe here.
3. I make homemade bread--I'll share the recipe with you sometime!
4. We did cloth diapers, which you all know---and we did have to learn quite a bit about them.
5. I make my own tortillas. This recipe does not call for baking powder, which we did not have at the time and wanted tortillas. We liked the recipe so much that we kept using it even after we bought some baking powder.
I am planning on making my own liquid dish soap and hand soap as well. You can check out my pinterest for some recipes, if you are interested.
I probably would not have made many of these things if necessity did not require it of me. I have learned and am learning so much. While I do look forward to having a house, Tyler having a real job, and some extra cash for trips around the world, I am so glad I have experienced being poor not only to learn new things, but also to better appreciate what I had growing up and what we will have one day.
