Tuesday, March 07, 2006

An ordinary day

I had one of those ordinary days yesterday. It was a day of tedious tasks, the most tedious of all being paying the bills.
I hate to pay bills for many complex reasons.
I remember listening to my parents fight when it was bill paying time. Dad would get mad and storm out of the house. I had a happy childhood, but this is the one consistently unhappy memory.
Math is not my strength. When I was on my own, I never balanced my checkbook; I just had a general idea of how much money was in the account and went from there. My needs were few. I think I was paying $200 a month for my car and $175 for my studio apartment in a remodeled garage.
But I still hated the process of sitting down and writing out the checks.
The process hasn’t become easier. Now I have a little more money to work with, but I have a lot more places for the money to go. A house is more expensive than an apartment. Four people are harder to feed than one single girl.
Bill paying is a remarkably depressing process.
But I did it yesterday, balanced the checkbook and everything. I figured it all out on my own in my kitchen without a husband to fight with or children to listen in on the arguments.
Best of all, when I was done, there was money left over. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to buy some groceries.
I guess that’s progress.

Since I didn’t leave my house yesterday, my Photo of the Day was taken in the kitchen. I have a fondness for black and white dishes. It started with the hexagon set I bought before I married. My mother bought me the black and white mixing bowl set for a wedding present.
I don’t know why they cheer me up, they just do.

9 comments:

Melissa Reid said...

Alleen, I know what you mean. I hate paying bills too. I like the bowls they are almost an abstract...

Adrienne said...

I don't like paying bills either! YUCK! Love the dishes!

Tracy said...

Oh no - thanks for bringing me back to reality. I am totally procrastinating here, avoiding my main priority for this morning; Bills. Guess I should go be a big girl.

Hatter J said...

yeah, yuck--bills.

I have those same black dishes...

Elisa K said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

At least there is money left after the bills are paid. That is always a good thing.

Elisa K said...

Bills I hate paying bills but running a business and hubby being deployed I have no one else to pay the bills for me! Sometimes I would just love for hubby to do it just once so I can ask "so what's left?" lol Love the black and white dishes!!

Susan said...

I'm the bill payer in this house and it is such a stressful job! I do have to admit it's better now than a few yrs ago!

I love how you take such great shots of "ordinary" stuff in your life!

Anonymous said...

I would be fine if I just had about $400.00 more each month. However, when we were going to school with 4 young children I had no debt (except school loans) and I only wished I had $200.00 a month. (Inflation?) I suspect no matter what income I had I'd want about $400.00 more a month. I've always love the black and white dishes. My favorite, still, is the blue bowl with apples in it.