Mom's Entry

This honorable mention fiction piece reflects how a mother of nine might deal with budgetary constraints:

The Budget

Look here, Honey, I finally fixed the budget so we can skim by till next payday.  You know how we’re 75 bucks short and we still got 2 weeks to go before you get money again? Here’s what I’m gonna do. Now don’t you worry; I got it all figured out.  We still have the $80 in the savings account. If I transfer it tomorrow, we’ll break even. I know, I know; we gotta eat. Look, we still got enough food in the fridge to last till Thursday; it won’t be steaks, but we won’t go hungry. Anyway, on Friday I’ll write a check to Lucky’s for next week’s chow.  The check won’t clear the bank till the 20^th. Of course I’m sure! The weekend checks never get to the bank till Wednesday; you know that. Here, look at the returned checks from last month. You can see the dates for yourself. I know Wednesday is still 5 days short of pay day; but don’t you remember that the payroll savings deduction goes in that day. No! It’s not for the new paycheck. The deduction from the 10^th gets held back till the 20^th. So we can do 80 bucks worth of shopping. No, I won’t forget to transfer right away. I know the weekend check will cash in that day. Doggone, don’t worry about the bills! Of course I know the second on the house is due tomorrow; but there’s no penalty till the 25^th. We can even wait till pay day. We’ll just have to tighten our belts a little after that, so’s we can meet the regular mortgage. Mr. Simmons? Oh, I forgot. Hey, we can tell him Megan’s sick and can’t have her lesson this time. We’ll pay him in 2 weeks. I know we still have to worry about the utilities, but the telephone bill only got in today. I’ll just wait till the gas and electric bills get here and pay them all at Lucky’s again. It’ll give us the extra time we need. I’ve done it before. Don’t worry, they won’t cut us off. They’ll send a reminder first. By then we’re bound to have the money. You’ll see. It’ll all work out.

Entries on this site will alternate between fiction and non-fiction. Future endeavors will include astronomy, domiciles, stories from Inside the Gospel, and stories for children.