Friday, April 17, 2015

Decisions and Doing the Math



     Have you ever felt like circumstances beyond your control have caused you to look heavenward and reevaluate some things in your life?  Recently I had a nagging feeling that something was coming down the path that would drastically change things for me.  It put me on edge because I had no idea which direction it would come from or what it would be.  I have always had a "sense" of  when good and bad things are about to happen, even when there is no reason to suspect anything.  Well it did, and it shook me to the core and caused me to look deep within myself and have long talks with my husband about what is really important to us both.



   Quality of life is very important to us.  We want to live a life that is personally fulfilling and also enables us to help others.  We want to be healthy.  We do not want to be stressed out emotionally or financially.  Thus running the numbers.




   A couple of weeks ago I spent time putting our budget down on paper and evaluated our income and expenses.  One of the things that kind of shocked me was that it was costing us more money to have me work my part time job than I was actually making.  After taking into account my expenses for working and then coupling that with how much I could save by being home more and doing more cooking from scratch, working my points programs, gardening, and searching out the best deals, we made the decision for me to stay home full time for the rest of this school year and Summer and see how things played out.  





   I will miss the kids I work with as a substitute teacher and I will also miss the staff.  I do love them and this has been a difficult decision to make.  This decision though is a "for now" one.  I am leaving the door open to returning to subbing again next year at this point.  It has taken Jeff and I three weeks of soul searching and weighing out the options to come to the decision that is best for us.  So here's to yet another chapter in our lives.

4 comments:

  1. It's always hard to make tough decisions however once we do it seems to always work out. I remember leaving our beautiful dream Victorian home which we thought we would live in forever and move to our present home. One of the toughest decisions we ever made (took us 3 years) and yet the absolute best one we ever made. I know you will do well. Hugs

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  2. Thanks Carol. You have always been a good friend and an inspiration to me. :)

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  3. Debbie, please join me on my blog. Each week I post my list of 'insourced' tasks, and share lots of ways of living beautifully for less. My friends Annabel at The Bluebirds are Nesting, Wendy at My Abundant Life, Jo at All the Blue Day, Patsy at A Working Pantry, and others all do the same, and they are listed on my blog too. We'd love to have you join our little community. We homemakers can save our families so much money and still live elegant lives. We just need the support and guidance of like minded friends. Mimi xxx
    http://atrayofbliss.blogspot.com.au/

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  4. I have heard more than once of a job costing more than you were making. I know you will miss the job but hope you are able to fill your days with "fun" chores.

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