what is “low budget us?”

So, I’m about to become a first-time mother at 40. For the majority of my adult life, I’ve been used to being single, living cheaply, working 2 jobs (like waitressing + non-profit assistant, freelance coach+waitressing, artist +bartender, you get the idea).  Now, I’m married, living pretty simply, but used to splurging on a good coffee now and again (yes, I do go to “fourbucks“), yoga classes, and even an occasional fancy oriental rug once in a while.

Life has gotten a bit easier being married and sharing expenses and incomes, but …..

I’ve had a bad feeling this is going to have to stop…. aren’t babies supposed to cost a lot?

So, here’s my problem: I grew up feeling that having “adventures” were important.  In recent years, this has meant a bit of travel, learning new things and going new places, peppering life with handy gadgets and technology.  In homage to my mother, I think “adventure” used to mean going to the library, checking out new bugs in the woods and identifying the snakes that lived in the swamp behind our row-house in the flats of Dedham, Mass. Perhaps she was better suited to writing this blog than me… but you are stuck with the kid of the original “lowbudgetus” master.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is how am I going to afford to have adventures once I have a kid? How are my husband and I going to get all these kid-things like changing tables, breast pumps, college funds and oh yeah, food and shelter, and still have a little quality of life?

Hence the origin of this blog…. I’ve always heard it is best to teach what you need to learn most. and so I need to learn how to:

1. enjoy lots more adventures more cheaply
2. bring a kid along and
3. afford at least a reasonable standard of living without spending a fortune.

I’m challenging myself– and all of you– to live and share ideas of how to live a rich life on a dwindling discretionary budget. Perhaps this will be handy for those of you who are facing downsizing too…. not just us new parents.

So my little invocation is this: may this website be helpful, inspiring,  entertaining, original and chock full of cheap adventures for my readers and myself.

Bon Voyage to lowbudgetus!!

Tags: adventures, babies, family, introduction, lifestyle