Murphy's Law of Economics

We are all familiar with "Murhpy's Law" right?  Something along the lines of "as soon as something bad can happen, it will".  This law also has very close ties with the world of economics.  Murphy's Law of Economics goes something like "the moment you have a few extra dollars, something will come along that will steal them".

Here are some examples.  You get a raise at work and then your kid needs braces.  You manage to have a little extra at the end of the month and you think "Yay, I can make an extra car payment this month!".  Not so fast!  Murphy steps in and breaks your alternator.  And then there is Murphy's favorite time of year.  Tax Return Season.  The moment you get that check in your hands, your furnace will need repaired!  He is pure evil I tell you!

You get the point.  It's so frustrating.  Currently my wife and I are pushing super hard to pay off our car.  Its so close and I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We are needing to pay it off before the baby gets here and the ultimate goal is for Breanne to work even less in the future.  Along with paying off the car, we are needing to save up for the upcoming hospital bills.  Since we have a stupidly enormous deductible, it turns out to be a very sizable expense.  They say you can't put a price tag on the joy a child brings to your life, but apparently the hospital can.  The last joy we are saving up for is maternity leave.  Breanne has  great job, however it has zero PTO time.  That's 8 weeks without a pay check!  Ouch.

So we have gone into serious budget lock down mode.  We have a plan-ish and everything is on track.  Then Murphy moved into our house.  On an unfortunate note, Breanne's father is having open heart surgery tomorrow so she is going to be driving down to see him for a week and a half to help him as he recovers.  So now a large portion of what we were planning on using for savings this month is newly being allocated to travel expenses and next months bills as she will not get paid for that time off.  (see above PTO problem)

It's so frustrating to have plans derailed like this.  Grrr!

Ok... so now I am done complaining about it and here is where I count my blessings.  Ready, set, go.  We are making headway on the budget and are blessed enough for it to be possible for her to go.  We have an emergency fund (thanks Dave Ramsey), so this little hiccup is not as much of an "emergency" as it could be.  God provides.  I have always had enough so I can't start complaining now.

so, Breanne... cause I know you are reading this.  An open letter to you.  Don't be stressed.  It will be OK.  God provides.  It will be fine and we will work it out.  We always do.  Let the voice of God be louder in your life than your pregnancy hormones.  He cares about the health of your father.  He cares about the logistics of all of this madness that you are trying to figure out.  The where's, when's, who's, and how questions you are asking are not beyond His control.  Not saying that everything will be perfect and will run according to plan, just that we will figure it all out as it comes.  Just take a breath and handle it all as it comes.

While you are gone I will do my best to find where Murphy is hiding in our house and I will beat the crap out of him for you.  Hopefully he will be gone before you return.

Love,
Michael