Who, me?

When my mom started to write for MSN Money, I started reading personal finance blogs.  I noticed one chronically underrepresented population: Anyone who isn’t middle class.

If you’re unemployed, underemployed, chronically ill or a member of the working poor, you have fewer financial options. Yet you still have the same obligations as everyone else: food, shelter, clothing, medical care, family, retirement.

I’m on disability for chronic health problems that followed a rare neurological disease that nearly killed me. My husband has several ongoing medical conditions that make it hard to compete in an economy where healthy people line up for entry-level jobs. He was laid off shortly before our May 2008 wedding and hasn’t been able to find a job since.

We’ve never been destitute, but we could wind up that way at any time but things are tight.

That’s why I started this blog: To give a voice to people like us. As my blog evolved, I realized there was something else missing from most of the PF blogosphere:  the notion that most of us are not perfect.

Plenty of blogs that tell you how to be perfectly frugal. Few, if any, address the fact that most of us are imperfect. That is, we’re human. My blog is about coping with the reality of our less-than-perfect lives.

Thanks to chronic fatigue and other health issues, my energy is extremely limited. Yet the demands of daily living can’t be put aside. Thus I have to compromise and/or sacrifice.

Any busy person  — healthy or not, rich or not — can understand this. We have a near-infinite number of things we should do (or want to do), but an all-too-finite amount of time and energy.

In short, this blog is about accepting the fact that you’re human. Every day we make mistakes or take shortcuts due to overcommitment, stress, health issues, or simple exhaustion. That’s not a flaw or personal failing. It’s normal. It’s human.

The sooner we can accept this, the sooner we can find peace and balance in our lives.