To catch you up...
Babies first birthday was Fun! Losts of presents, cake, and mess!
Christmas was Great! More present, less cake, and huge mess!
New Years was okay. We went to Josh's Parents for soup and then home for pork tacos (awesome).
I have thus far refused to get on the scale. I'm sure it's a ginormous amount that I would rather not deal with, nor would I like the hit to my self esteem so I refuse to see how much I gained. (Probably about 4-5 lbs.) So Josh and I have been talking about the fact that I would very much like to quit my job. I'm having a hard time with this because flying for free is amazing, the fact that usually I only end up working about 10 hours a week and it's in my house is really nice. But since Christmas I have been working an extreme amount of overtime plus my normal hours. While I appreciate that my paycheck is more than the .69 cents it was the week before Christmas, it just plain sucks. I hate it. My kids hate it (at least I think they do) and I have been so grumpy. Such a crappy way to end the year.
So the reason I'm spilling all of this info is because although the flight benefits are awesome and you cant beat working in the basement we've made a Unofficial New Years Resolution. If I can make the budget work with just him income and still live life then I can quit.
First place I look for extra money is in our food budget. Let me just say HUGE! Although I love to cook sometimes it's tough and we end up going out, more than we should, like 2-3 times a week. To add to that Josh stinks at packing a lunch, if I don't make it and pack it he doesn't take it and then he goes out to lunch. Let's just say the majority of our extra money goes to food.
Don't think that we don't save though. Josh is all about the budget, has been since we got married. It's just the "fun" money usually ends up in the "food" money.
So I've made a promise to myself that we cut back on eating out to once a week. Week one is going well. So far... no eating out for dinner; although we plan to on Saturday since we're going to Logan for the night.
To help me keep my plans to quit in order I've decided that I just need to cook everynight. I'm still giving myself the one night a week lee-way (I don't know how to spell that). The 10 gift cards we got for Christmas will help in this area (horray for Cafe Rio). The other thing is that my friend Brittney did these posts on her blog last year where she had a monthly email with pictures and recipes of some of the things that she cooked that month. I loved that post every month. So I will be attempting do something similar and post every month. Hopefully I can make it work and by the end of the year not have to have this job anymore.
Wish me luck....
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4 comments:
Best of luck.
I don't want to sound overly opinionated or preachy, but it seems that when you're trying to work out a budget so that you can quit a job and be a full-time mom, it will always appear like it's not going to work. Whenever the money goes down on paper, you will think you can't make it. I truly believe that this is Satan trying to keep mothers away from the home and distracted from their children. I promise that if you turn it over to the Lord and have complete faith that He will take care of you, you will be able to quit your job. If you wait until the numbers work, you will never be able to leave your job. There are unexplainable blessings that will come when you put your trust in God that you can't figure into your budget - you just have to try it.
I hope I don't sound like a Nazi SAHM, but when I chose to stay home with Callaway, I never thought it would work. The budget NEVER worked on paper, and I thought for sure that I would end up getting a job again within three months, but I've never had to. The blessings are incredible. I wish all mothers could have the choice to stay home. I realize that many of them don't, but it seems like you have the desire to make it work. You can do it!
And just to make this post even longer...
I'm excited for you to post your cooking adventures. I had a lot of fun when I did it, and I learned a lot.
I have to agree with your friedns comment, fluentbrittish. To me it is kind of a bit how tithing looks on paper at times. Some people think that it doesn't fit in sometimes (not all but some do and that is why it's not something everyone does 100% I'm sure) but then you pay it and it works out. When the boys came we knew I was not going back to work. That was just how it was and it was hard not just because of the pretty big cut in money but also because I LOVED my job. I don't know if it will work but maybe it might (I always try this when I am dieting and sometimes it works...others not so good lol) anytime you are thinking of spending some unnecessary money (or like when I AM dieting...eating/or more like drinkin...ahhhh LOVE my soda! something I just don't need) I try to remember just how crappy and down I feel when I am thinking about my weight or in this instance having a job you hate and having to spend time away from your kids. MAYBE it might help, I don't know (hopefully it works better for this than for my diets LOL!). I will tell you it is a different world BUT not is such a bad way I PROMISE! We don't do as much or go out of town as much but we actually don't mind it either. Game nights with friends and family can be SOOOO fun and you only have either the hassle of driving from here to there OR having a bit to clean up at home after the gettogether :) And depending on where you are when the girls go to kindergarten (hopefully you will have another little one by then hehehe) but you can maybe pick up a small job for a couple hours every other day for when they are in school if needs be. WOW now my comment is a book. I promise I'm not preeching either...just trying to be a support and let you know IT CAN BE DONE. I didn't make a huge amount of money when I left AMEX but a
$34K cut per year bhy losing my income and with 2 new kids to take care of (and we had a mortgage BUT we had one the entire time we lived w/the Gublers plus the rent we paid them so the mortgage part was not new) was something to get use to thats for sure! YOU CAN DO IT and I know that Heavenly Father can help you ;)
and once you are all done doing cooking segments in your blogs I will have a cookbook that I can follow for my meal plan!
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