Frugal Friday

Life Insurance. It doesn't seem frugal as it is a lot of money that you don't really get anything for. And in fact you don't want to actually get what you are buying. However, it's necessary. And if in fact it is needed, it then becomes an item for discussion for frugal Friday.

It isn't a happy thing to consider. No one wants to think about it. But find one person who actually needed it and benefited from it, and you will understand. For example, I have three small children, ages 6, 8 and 10. It will be a good 18 years or so before I can really expect them to take care of themselves financially. What if, God forbid, something happens to Jason? Yes, I'm an educated person, and I am intelligent and talented, but could I enter the workplace and make what he makes to keep our household going? No. Plain and simple. No.

Looking at it from the other side, if I kicked the bucket... sure, I have no income, but would it be easy on Jason? He would have to pay for before and after school care for the kids, as well as full time child care for the summer. That adds up. He also pointed out that he won't have the time to shop around to find all the money saving deals that I do. Kids need clothes? He'd go online to Gap and order three jeans for each and a few shirts and fleeces. Then he might even pay extra to overnight them so he wouldn't have to do laundry. So is my "job" actually worth money? Yes.

Both working and at home parents need life insurance. When Noah was born, money was tight and we got the bare bones with a ten year term policy. Our payments were low (mine are $12.99 a month for a $250,000 policy) and we hoped that in ten years we'd be in a better position that we would need more. Noah is now ten, and we need to re-think things. We are now blessed and have so much more in our lives. A beautiful home.... mortgage, insurance, maintenance. Three beautiful children... clothes, activities, COLLEGE. Time to rethink our financial needs.

A few weeks ago we set in motion applications for increasing our life insurance. I had my phone interview today, and happily I said "no" over and over. I guess I'm pretty healthy. Yes, $35, $55 or $100 or more a month is a ton of money, and it adds up to nothing Insha'Allah (that's God willing in Arabic, and a favorite phrase of Jason and I) but in the end, it's the right thing to do. We love our kids too much not to.