One Step at a Time with money

Money has always been something I've struggled with. For years and years I never had enough and had to scrape by on very little. Did I have enough to buy a newspaper? Probably not. Bus fare? Maybe a few days, other days it was stick the thumb out and get to work that way. When I was single I was very good at keeping track of it. I budgeted even when there was not enough to go around. I kept my checkbook up to date, and I was as careful as I could be. Getting married and debit cards changed that. Since there are two of us spending it I can't keep track of it as well, and asking for receipts all the time gets to be a hassle. So slowly money got away from us. For a while though we had enough to buy the extra newspaper, or go out for dinner. It was okay that I wasn't keeping track of every dollar. We weren't in danger of being behind. We had... a disposable income! That was something I never felt I had when I was single. Since we switched daycares though money has gotten tighter. We really haven't adapted to the change, and it's been over a year. For a while we were doing okay, but gradually we slip. With the holidays, my grandmother's death, the added things that go on in life... our finances took a bit of a dive. I've been trying to get things under control for a long time. Another hit that came was health care expenses. Suddenly my daughter and my husband were costing us a lot in prescription copays and doctors visits and trips to the emergency room. This was a wake-up for us. We got one of those health savings cards. Now money is taken out of my paycheck and we have a sort of debit card to use for it. We have to keep track of the receipts and how much we spend. This is one small step toward the big picture. I am seeing that as my husband is aware of the money he is now asking his doctor "what about the generic?" and being mindful of how often we go out to eat etc. In January I had to do some moving of money to cover our property taxes. I communicated this to my husband and told him we'd be okay soon. At the end of February we are still behind, but getting closer. When we finally get our tax refund we might be able to bridge the gap, but that's not the fix we are looking for because there are other places we'd like to spend that refund. So small steps, one step at a time. First the medical bills, and that is working. We are mindful of our utility bills as well. We are constantly examining whether we could cut our tv, electric, and phone bills. We cut our oil bill down by lowering the heat at night. Slowly, slowly, slowly.. one day at a time. In the meantime I know that I need to communicate and share regularly with him so that this isn't on my shoulders alone, and eventually we will get there.