I don’t want to complain about money, because really, we’re doing pretty good. We’re in no danger of being evicted or having utilities shut off. There are no collections agencies kicking in our doors (well, actually, there’s one, but that’s somewhat unrelated and a long story for another post). I’m still employed full-time with a job I love doing. I’m under no illusions about how well we’re doing, especially as I watch some of our friends struggle with all of those issues.

Still, we haven’t slipped through unscathed. I’m not allowed to give details (it’s stupid, don’t ask), but suffice to say, we’ve had some budget shortfalls, and that was compounded by Sean recently having his hours drastically reduced. We’ve had to find a way to reduce our monthly budget by several hundred dollars.

Frankly, I feel incredibly lucky that I was able to find a way to do just that without any major impacts on our lifestyle. We’re still putting food on the table, and we’ve even still got a bit of spending money. We had to axe some things like cable TV and Annie’s (unused) gym membership, but those didn’t really hurt too badly.

The most frustrating thing, honestly, is that before the recession hit, we had finally gotten to a point where I was making enough money that we could start putting a dent into our debt. We’ve got thousands of dollars in student loans, and two credit cards that are just shy of maxed out from when I was unemployed before I got my current job. But then the economy tanked, and now we’re just getting by. The student loans are going unpaid (in forbearance) and we’re just putting the minimum onto the cards every month.

And I know it’s dumb to feel this way when so many of my friends are losing their jobs, and struggling just to get by, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t driving me crazy to throw $700 down a hole every month, watching it get eaten by interest rates, and knowing that debt wasn’t getting reduced at all.

So here I am, in the middle of “the worst recession since the Great Depression,” and even as I struggle with my own money problems, I’m looking around and realizing I’m one of the lucky ones.

And before you start, this wasn’t a request for financial advice. We’ve got a plan, and we’re making some progress, it’s just painfully slow. This post wasn’t a cry for help, I’m just trying to express how insane it is to be so stressed about money, but also feel like you can’t talk about it to anyone because everyone is in the same boat, and most are sinking faster.