The post where dustin's head explodes

I can fully empathize with J.D. in that Scrubs clip. While I'm awfully grateful that God decided to give us a child now (instead of waiting a few months like I proposed to him so that we could get better financial footing), not a day goes by when I don't ask God, "Hey, how about some extra money to take care of this kid?"

It's my wife's dream to be a stay-at-home Mom. It's something I desperately want to provide to her. My heart aches at the idea of her not getting to do this. Yet when I'm only pulling in $24K a year, with a shitload of bills to pay, it seems like a distant fantasy.

Each week, I'm always scratching out expense estimates, that always look something like this:

Rent - $600
Car - $300
Food - $200
Debt - $200


There it is, there's my paycheck. I've left out car insurance, any form of digital media (internet, cell phones, tv, etc), any kind of savings, and gas for the car. And in Harrisburg, good luck finding a place under $600 where you won't get mugged daily. Yet, that small little budget you see exceeds my take-home pay (don't get me started on the stuff they withdraw. Why do I have to pay union fees when I don't belong to a stupid union??).

I love God for so many reasons, but the one thing that drives me nuts about following Christ is this brain-numbing. And I'm sure you've dealt with it a time or two. Is this rough situation due to the fact that it's not the path God wants me to go down, or is this situation hard because God wants me to have faith and persevere? I honestly have no clue.

We could try cutting down on bills, but the only extravagant thing we have is a DVR on our DirecTV. Do we cut out tv service all together? I know many people do that and rely solely on the internet or dvds, but losing TV service would be extremely due to her love of HGTV and my love of WWE Raw. Besides, it isn't like cutting TV magically puts us in range to be able to pay off everything. We'd still be coming up short.

You might have seen in our bills that only one car was listed. We have two cars, one a 2006 Ford Focus and the other a 1976 beetle. I could sell the Beetle, pay off the loan used to finance the car and pay off a credit card or two with the earnings, and become a one-car family. If Allicia is a stay-at-home mom, this isn't very difficult. But if we both have to work, only having one car seems like a tough thing to live with.

The best solution I can come up with, save for getting a better salary at work, is picking up a part-time job on the weekend. If we could find a lower rent home, trim up expenses to the point of pain, and add $150 to the budget each month, that could help.

Until then, pray for us. God knows we need all the help we can get.