I decided to clean up my money and consciously accumulate an airbag (and not just put off what I can put off) because financial issues in the first year after marriage caused stress. Due to the specifics of work, my husband and I have unstable incomes, both in size and frequency. All the time it seemed that the money was about to run out, and it was not known when new ones would come. As a result, even when we received a good income, we could not relax, and it seemed that we had to save money, and many purchases caused a feeling of guilt.
We have long accumulated an airbag for one year of basic expenses. And now I can say that it is needed so that there is a feeling that there is money, even if income is received less often or in a smaller amount than usual, and also in case of its loss.
Why else do you need an airbag?
Even before I got pregnant, I was afraid that because of my decree, our income would decrease and we would not be able to afford some of the usual expenses. In my head, I painted a terrible picture of how I have to choose between diapers and delicious food. Or even worse – between necessary and necessary.
The period after the birth of a child scared me the most. Throughout my pregnancy, I planned to work, because I love my job, and then I had a lot of fresh plans and ideas.
The first month was great. I felt the same as before. But exactly one month later, everything changed. And I spent the next couple of months in bed. This came as a complete surprise to me. I couldn’t not only work, I couldn’t even read something longer than a couple of lines: my attention simply dissipated. I could work about an hour a day, and not every day.
It got better, but not by much. As a result, out of nine months of pregnancy, I managed to work more or less productively only two.
Has it affected income? Of course. My personal income was noticeably lower than planned. For me it was quite painful. It is important for me to have a reserve of money and the opportunity to influence the situation, without this I feel defenseless and helpless.
Did it affect my morale? A drop in income might have unsettled me, but thanks to the presence of an airbag, I was able to relatively calmly not work during pregnancy. If it weren’t for the pillow, I would have been much more worried. When I had the strength to work – I worked, when I didn’t have the strength – I could afford to rest calmly without thinking: “Where can I get the money? What are we going to live on?” Rather, they sometimes appeared, but I understood that at the moment they were not justified. And it helped me calm down.
During pregnancy, we did not use the finances from the pillow.
What happened after giving birth?
I returned to work about two months after the baby was born. Because I wanted to do what I love. And because there was still a fear that we would not be able to afford the usual quality of life with increased spending.
I quickly recovered in income. But the child did not allow to work as much as before his appearance. And I decided to create a new educational product, which in the future will require less of my participation. It took me several months to develop it. Thanks to the pillow, I was able to consciously remain without income for this period and not panic at the same time. I was able to safely spend as much time on creating a new product as needed to be completely satisfied with its quality.
Could I afford it if there were no pillows? Definitely not. Perhaps I would not have changed anything and would have spent a huge amount of time and effort on work, which I then had very little. And even if I decided to create something new, a huge amount of energy, time and thoughts would be occupied by fear: “What if there is not enough money?”. And this would have a negative impact on my condition, on the quality of the product and on my income in the future.
Financial airbag is time
First of all, a pillow is not needed in order to spend all the money from it. It is needed to not think about money and instead focus on what is most important to you at this moment, whether it is the birth of a child, taking care of your own health, or what will help you earn new money.
In addition, you have a margin of time and the opportunity to concentrate on solving problems.
The main financial conclusion of my decree is that it is important to always have an airbag. Especially if you are prone to feelings. You never know what lies ahead. You don’t know what kind of health you will have tomorrow, how your pregnancy will go, what circumstances will be in the family. The coronavirus pandemic, which occurred in the first year of my child’s life, was generally not expected by anyone.
The airbag is the time. Time to exhale, come to your senses, figure out how to live on, realize your plans. After all, not only “time is money”, but also “money is time”.
