A
Aetheria
Guest
I’ve been trying to read up on NFP but don’t really know where to start - so I thought I’d ask for some (name removed by moderator)ut and advice here. 
I am engaged to be married in sixteen months, and have realized I need to start figuring out what to do about NFP. Unfortunately there won’t be any choice but to use it - at the time we get married, both my fiance and I will still be broke grad students with very little ability to support a child. We’re not thrilled about putting off having children, but are convinced it would be the most prudent thing to do - due to a combination of student loan debt and the coursework for two master’s and a doctorate between us, it might be three or four years before I’ll be able to stop working/going to school full-time and still afford to feed everyone.
Which, frankly, sucks. I’d like nothing more than to start increasing the human race straightaway. But since that’s the way it is, we’ve got to use NFP and make it work. So –
Is there any consensus on what the most effective method is, or does anyone here have experience with some methods working better than others? I know different methods monitor temperature, cervical mucus, both and maybe other stuff too (?) so is more better?
Also, how effective have you found NFP to be, in general? Is it very reliable if you’re strict with yourselves, or are you more or less guaranteed to unintentionally get pregnant with any length of using it?
And finally - how hard is it, really? I ask in all sincerity; I haven’t any idea of how much stress periodic abstinence brings about (although I’m hoping that we can stand it for three or four years!).
I am engaged to be married in sixteen months, and have realized I need to start figuring out what to do about NFP. Unfortunately there won’t be any choice but to use it - at the time we get married, both my fiance and I will still be broke grad students with very little ability to support a child. We’re not thrilled about putting off having children, but are convinced it would be the most prudent thing to do - due to a combination of student loan debt and the coursework for two master’s and a doctorate between us, it might be three or four years before I’ll be able to stop working/going to school full-time and still afford to feed everyone.
Which, frankly, sucks. I’d like nothing more than to start increasing the human race straightaway. But since that’s the way it is, we’ve got to use NFP and make it work. So –
Is there any consensus on what the most effective method is, or does anyone here have experience with some methods working better than others? I know different methods monitor temperature, cervical mucus, both and maybe other stuff too (?) so is more better?
Also, how effective have you found NFP to be, in general? Is it very reliable if you’re strict with yourselves, or are you more or less guaranteed to unintentionally get pregnant with any length of using it?
And finally - how hard is it, really? I ask in all sincerity; I haven’t any idea of how much stress periodic abstinence brings about (although I’m hoping that we can stand it for three or four years!).
)… I was still in college and my husband lived 2 hrs away… we saw each other only on weekends that final semester… then started my first job… so in time we felt God calling us to have a child… now we have 3. 
I like the standardized mucus observation. It also is helpful in a variety of situations in which women find themselves having continuous mucus or other hormonal issues.