I know that it’s supposed to be impolite to discuss finances, but, in the interest of frankness, money has been pretty tight here lately. Financially, things should be better here than they were at home, but we weren’t counting on carrying the expense of our condo at home for as long as we have. (In retrospect, I have no idea WHY we weren’t counting on that, but we weren’t.) We’ve burned through our liquid savings and used up the line of credit extended to us by the bank here in Austria. It had gotten to the point where we planning to quit grocery shopping and see if we could live off of just what we had on our kitchen shelves between now and Dan’s next pay day (which only comes once a month).
I am aware that relative to many, we’re still doing fantastically. Our bills are all current, we’re feeding ourselves and our kids good food every day, until recently we went out to eat regularly and we’ve had enough cash on hand for small splurges like the movies and coffee from Starbucks. And, yeah, we’re basically on an extended vacation in Europe. We’re not suffering, by any means. But that doesn’t change the fact that the money flowing out is more than the money flowing in right now. We can’t tweak our budget to cover our enormous house payment/condo fee at home in addition to all of our expenses here. It’s uncomfortable and can be overwhelming.
But, things are changing. For the short term, we’ve been able to get a loan from the bank with very reasonable terms, and for the middle term (do people say that?) we have gotten two offers on the condo in the last couple of days. If those don’t go through, we’re going to give up and rent it.
Hmm.
So, I started writing this still feeling pretty stressed about our financial situation. I guess nothing helps perspective like sharing it: now I feel rather spoiled. “Oh dear, we can’t eat out anymore. We can’t go on vacation elsewhere in Europe! We might have to eat what we have in our kitchen! (Gasp!) I might not be able to go to Starbucks for my coffee!”
Ok. Never mind.