MARCH'S 10 THINGS

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Well March’s 10 things is a little weirder than anticipated, what with the coronavirus and all. Here are some things that are on my mind this month. As always, some personal finance related, and some not.

(1) WE’VE BEEN HIKING EVERYTHING

One of the things that made me the most sad about being on bed rest for January and February was feeling like I was going to miss out on Arizona’s spring with all of it’s good weather and wild flower glory. I got off just in the nick of time to catch all of my favorite hikes, good weather, and glorious wild flowers. Which works out since I can’t go anywhere or do anything else really. Our neighborhood closed our pool mid way through the month and I actually cried. Like real tears. It was the only thing that brought my giant-pregnant-with-twins-body relief from all of the pain I’ve been experiencing. And I know that’s insanely dramatic because most of the world is not swimming right now anyways, even without the coronavirus. Anyway, point being, I’m so so so so thankful I can get out and hike to distract myself!

(2) I’VE BEEN BIKING WITH MY GIANT PREGNANT BELLY

I scooted down the seat on my mountain bike and have been having a grand old time biking around the neighborhood with my 5 year old, M. I have to stick my knees outwards because they don’t fit under my belly, which feels ridiculous. But there is just something so freeing about being on a bike and I swear it’s boosted my mental health immensely during this stay at home time. I have to tell my son to wait up for me because I am so dang slow haha.

(3) THE APP IS 1-2 WEEKS AWAY FROM BETA TESTING

I’m SO excited about our debt payoff app! It is getting really really close to being done. And I think many of us will be facing more debt than ever when all of this coronavirus craziness is said and done. A good chunk of the features on the app will be completely free to use and I’m so excited for it to help you with your financial goals.

(4) NOW’S A GOOD TIME AS ANY TO START A BUSINESS

Speaking of financial goals, if you are out of a job right now and for the foreseeable future, it might be a good time for you to start a business. This has been an extremely hot topic in my DM’s on Instagram. If you have some business venture that you’ve been sitting on for a while, use this weird time at home that we have to get it started! I’m currently working on a “starting a business checklist” so check back in for that later this week.

(5) ALSO A GOOD TIME TO START A BLOG

If you’ve been sitting on the fence about starting a blog and you are just sitting at home twittling your thumbs until social distancing is over, might as well just go ahead and start your blog. It’s insanely cheap and easy to get going. Here is a list of resources to get you started and if you have any questions about blogging, please don’t hesitate to reach out, I’m happy to help!

(6) WE’RE CHANGING OUR BUDGETING STRATEGY.

We are trying something new with our budget for the next few months while things are going to be really tight for us. I am normally not a person who enjoys Excel or getting caught up with tedious little numbers. I know some people live for this stuff. I don’t. We’ve been following a pretty loose budget for the last couple of years. Basically, our approach is just to try to keep our overall spending under $3500 each month following the Easiest Budgeting Method Ever. We’ll eventually get back to that. But for the next foreseeable future, we’ll be meticulously documenting all of our spending in each category of our budget. We’ve cut out anything we could (gym passes because hey it closed, going out to eat, etc). We’re following the approach in YNAB,which I highly recommend if you are into Excel sheets and such. It has almost made me get excited about them.

(7) OUR BABIES ARE GOING TO BE BORN IN THE NEXT 4-6 WEEKS

When you’re pregnant with twins, typically the goal is to make it to 36 weeks. That’s May 1st for me! The risk of preterm labor is high with twins, a lot of women don’t make it that far. And then most twin mamas don’t want to go past 38 weeks because twin pregnancy is like a whole new level of your body feeling like it is actually dying. Truly. I have run marathons, given birth, broken bones, climbed high mountains… no pain has compared to the pain of being hella pregnant with twins. I have no idea what the hospital situation is going to be like when they get here, but it’s looking like they’ll come just as the virus peaks. We’re just trying to take it as it comes and hope there is some tiny corner of the hospital someone will let me give birth in.

(8) I’M OVER THE CORONAVIRUS. HERE’S HELP.

Anyone else just feel completely over the coronavirus?? Like just go away and let me get back to life puh-lease. Or at least go away enough so that I can go back to the pool where I belong haha. But on a serious note, I know this is a very stressful time for a lot of us financially, emotionally, mentally, etc. Here are some resources that may help you depending on what exactly you are dealing with.

(9) OUR INCOME IS ON HOLD

Danny had to close down his dental practice by governor’s orders to conserve PPE (personal protection equipment like face masks) here in Arizona. He can still go in if someone is experiencing an emergency but so far those have been few and far between. So our income has taken a pretty big fat hit. Most of my clients for my extremely part time lawyering are dentists, optometrists, etc who are currently facing financial crises. While it’s definitely stressful that we aren’t really earning money at the moment (especially knowing the twinnies are coming soon), I’m thankful we have at least a little money in savings. I’ve always emphasized that you should save before you start aggressively paying off debt and it’s moments like these that are exactly why. None of us have a crystal ball and know what’s going to happen in the future. And to be honest, even though I preach that, we had literally just spent a good chunk of our savings on the debt payoff app (ironic yeah?) But that’s life. I guess all I’m trying to say is if the coronavirus has left you feeling financially devastated, you aren’t alone.

(10) OUR DEBT REPAYMENT IS ON HOLD

We’re holding off aggressive debt repayment for a while. I can’t say exactly for how long. We will need to build our savings back up (we like to have 6 months in savings) and then we’ll just kind of wait and see what Danny’s business is like when we jump back into things. The app will also for sure need more money thrown at it each month, and it’s just a lot of juggling things at the moment. We’re definitely excited to get back going though and hope that day comes sooner than later!

Whew well that wraps up the exciting month of March. Who knows where April will take us. Hopefully closer to meeting the twinnies!

How was your March? Drop a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

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