I've mentioned before how I do most of my best thinking during my lunchtime walks. Today was no exception, in fact I got so lost in thought that I went an extra half lap (half mile) before I realized what I was doing!
We recently had our loan modification application approved (as I mentioned that before also) and just received our new "trial period" payment plan. It is great, in fact, our payments are about as low as when we first purchased our home 5 years ago. So when I received this paperwork, I immediately started to work on a new budget for my family to start following. I crunched numbers, and crunched them some more. I spent the good part of Saturday afternoon working on this budget and I was ready to pull my hair out of my head. I have yet to show Corey this budget, but I know he isn't going to like what I will have to tell him.
Back when we bought our house, he was making quite a bit more than he does now, but he works a lot more hours than he did then. His job doesn't pay by the hour, it pays by the job. I make a little more now than I did then. But man, prices sure have gone up since then! We used to have plenty of money to pay all of our bills (on time, and sometimes I even made double payments). After bills were paid, we still had plenty leftover to go grocery shopping (without worrying too much about how much stuff cost) and even a little extra to enjoy a few finer things in life-like going out to eat, taking the kids to the zoo, those sort of things. We were even able to spend a week in Tennessee in 2009 right after he was laid off! But after working this budget, we are left with just over $100 a week to use towards gas and groceries (and anything else that comes up that isn't a monthly bill). Needless to say, we are going to have to make some serious cuts to try to save a little.
After much debating within myself and talking it over with Corey and a few close friends, I have decided that my days in Direct Sales are coming to an end. It just isn't proving to be profitable, in fact I have lost several hundred dollars trying to make it work. So, that is a minimum of $30 a month I will save. Now I need to talk him into quitting smoking-a task that is going to prove to be much easier said than done. But it needs to be done whether he likes it or not, we just have to make sacrifices to benefit our family as a whole.
So during my walk today, I was thinking how is it that 40, 50 years ago families had the father working while the mother stayed home and took care of the house and kids. Wow, look at us today. If you are part of a family that is fortunate enough to have both parents there, chances are they are both working. Some may even have one (or both) parents working more than one job, and still struggle to make ends meet. I think we are kind of at that point now. As much as I hated it years ago when I was younger and my body could actually tolerate it, I am putting some serious thought into getting a second job. In two years things SHOULDN'T be as tight as they are now, but who's to say. We are going through a debt management plan to get our credit card debt paid off, which is our second largest monthly bill. This is going to be paid off in 22 months, and that will definitely free up some cash. But we have to do something in the meantime, and I am not sure what that is other than one of us getting a second job. He can't because of his schedule, he doesn't have "set hours" like I do. Sounds like once again I will be overworked and driving myself into an early grave. What a depressing thought.
So I wonder when did things get so bad? When will the get better? WILL they get better? I think I will end it on this note, because I will just get more depressing and angry as I go on...
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