I’m the Executive Director of a Nonprofit… and a Waitress
The invisible cost of cancer
I’m sitting in the passenger seat of our minivan attempting to keep my four-year-old twins entertained on a long drive home. My face is hot and tingly, my palms slick as I relive an unpleasant encounter at a Cracker Barrel somewhere off I-95. My debit card was declined while trying to pay for my family’s meal. I know that it was not in error; my husband and I have exactly zero dollars to our name.
“I have to get a job,” I say to my husband.
I spend the rest of the drive home swallowing panic, ignoring my kids, and searching for work on my phone.
A few days later, I sit down to take a real look at my family’s finances — something I haven’t done in over four years — and discover a problem. We are spending more money than we are making. Every. Single. Month. I have a background in statistics, so calculating an expense-to-income ratio is simple for me. But it isn’t easy. Since July of 2013, my financial management strategy has been to check our accounts every four to six months while crossing my fingers and grimacing, praying for the number to be above zero. Actually looking at the numbers means owning up to years of bad habits, means feeling the shame of how circumstance and neglect has stripped my family of financial…
