It is hard for me to even write the title of this post. Now should not be the time to spend money. I am not working, and while job hunting is going quite well, I don’t have an offer on the table, which means no guarantee of any new job, let alone a new job that pays more than the last one (which is the goal). And yet, now is very much the time to spend money.

First, there is SP. Truth is, she doesn’t cost very much, and at least for now, the state will send us a few hundred every month to help defray her costs. But we need to work on making her room her own. We need to let her know we won’t let her go without the things she needs. And the truth is, when are we, as a whole family, all going to have time off together like this again? That means that while there are plenty of free experiences to be had, there are also some we’re going to pay for- like our trip last weekend. There’s the possibility of a Y membership, summer camp, and all sorts of other things.

Our child, like all children, came into our lives when it was her time to do so, not according to any kind of schedule we might wanted to have set. No matter how counter intuitive it is, it is time to spend money.

Next, there’s me. I’ve lost about 60lbs. I still have about 15lbs to go. But I am job hunting. Most of my “old” clothes make me look like I’m a kid playing dress up; they just hang off of me. I need to look professional for my interviews. That means spending money on clothes (though Value Village is a fabulous thrift store for those purposes). It also means spending money on my hair and nails so that I present an overall professional picture.

There’s also the fact that I promised myself a new dress for Faire this year, as a reward for my weight loss. It is time to buy that dress. I did decide I was going to go with the $240 option instead of the $420 option, but I do feel it is important to keep the promises we make, even, or perhaps especially, when we make them to ourselves.

And finally, it is time for C to return to school. We have the money in savings to pay for his summer class and for his classes this fall. In this case, there is a chance we might get some financial assistance. We need to fill out a FAFSA, which will show we make too much money to qualify for aid, but then we can contact his school and find out if there is anything we can do to modify the FAFSA results since I am no longer working. It will be nice if he then qualifies for something, but if he doesn’t, it’s still not a big deal. We planned for this. We saved for this.

Of course, none of this even takes into account the new windows we’re getting for the house. Yes, it is time to spend, even if it does not seem like the ideal time. Because this is why we make budgets. This is why we plan and why we save.