It's easy to think you'll live forever when you're young
We were always kind of organised, but not very - one of us would usually pay the bills or ring credit card companies to apologise and argue about late payment fees (again) but it was only once we had the first of the kids that we realised we had to start preparing for the future like proper grown-ups. Especially now the next one's due in a couple of months, and we're back to one income for a bit.
Your Money in a Nutshell has been brilliant for us as it's made us sit down sensibly to check we've got everything covered and have the best deals for us - a lot of our policies haven't been reviewed forever and we've actually managed to save a bit of money by shopping around now. If nothing else, it's helped us take stock of everything.
More importantly, if one of us were to have an accident or if the birth were to hit any complications and one of us is left running the household for a bit on our own, everything financial and official is in a much better state and easily accessible, so that side of things doesn't have to cause any problems.
With our new 'sensible' heads on, we're also now going to review our Wills, record our last wishes and make sure the kids are well looked after should either of us fall ill. We're also starting a new Nutshell so we can record the baby's entry into the world and the effect it has on the rest of us - it's a shame that so many memories of our daughter's early years were lost when our last house was badly burnt and we lost a lot of photographs and all the video. So we're determined that's not going to happen whatever - this archive and our financial records will all be in a virtual filing cabinet, not a wooden one!
But my grandchildren have been interviewing me on their phones and on video, and now they've recorded my memories in a Nutshell - I can't wait to see it.
Lots of things are hard to talk about - at any age.
But now we've recorded our last wishes we can get on with enjoying retirement together, knowing that those left behind will have greater peace of mind.
