Extra Money Blues

When we started thinking about our wedding, G and I decided that instead of taking out a loan or taking money from savings, we were going to pay for our wedding out of extra money that we made. I was able to get a job teaching private music lessons and between that and google adsense and EQII. we were pulling in some extra money. Somehow, though, along the way, we've managed to spend it. Every month there's been some extra expense like a cousin's wedding or a trip home or... for example, Christmas (which is insanely expensive these days). You would think that after being engaged for a year and a half, we would have managed to save thousands by now, but that just isn't the case. Not after RWA conference and birthdays and trips to the local Sanrio store.

So now we are just four months away from our wedding and still needing to make some "extra" money. I got a second job and thought that would do it, but they promised me 8-10 hours a week, but have so far given me less than 2 a week. There's just no way we can put this wedding off again and push it back, because we really have to get married before the end of 2009. Plus, I'm so ready to be married to him. In some ways, the marriage is just a piece of paper... a legal document. We're already fully committed to each other. But I still want to be able to call him husband and to change my name to match his and to go through that ceremony that binds us together.

Over the next few months, we're going to have to stay super focused on two things: (1) Saving money wherever possible; and (2) Making extra money wherever possible. We are going to have to stop going to the movies and eating out so much. We need to cut back on random purchases (me). And then we have to find new ways, even in this crazy bad economy where everyone is scared to spend what little money they do have, to make more money. We've been talking about going to the flea market for forever, so this time we're really going to do it. Not this weekend, but next weekend, labor day weekend. We have already started making a list of what to sell... and it includes a mix of hand-crafted items like painted wooden letters and jewelry, as well as yard-sale type stuff we have around the house such as books and old CD's.

I know that we will find a way to pay for our wedding, simply because we are working together to come up with ideas and to be innovative and creative when it comes to our ideas. "Find a way or make one" - a sign says, hanging up in father's workshop. We're going to do just that.