In September 2019, my husband and I began trying to start a family through in vitro fertilization (IVF). This decision came one year after learning we would not be able to conceive on our own. Unfortunately, IVF is very expensive and is not currently covered by military insurance. In pursuit of having a family, we began putting 7% of our paychecks into a separate account that accrued minimal interest. We also began using cashback credit cards on every purchase and putting that money toward our IVF fund. By the time we received our first bill of $9,500, we had to pay it on two different credit cards. When those credit cards were due, we had saved about $8,000 in our IVF savings account and used $1,500 from our other savings account to pay off the balance. We have decided to not move forward with each step in the IVF process until we have the money to pay for that step in full. Though this is the hardest part of our financial planning, it is also the smartest part because it keeps us on track with our overall budgeting plan and keeps us from going into unnecessary debt while pursuing our dream of a family.