Monday, May 08, 2006

Cold Feet

It just hit me today, as I was talking to our mechanic who so kindly is charging me $869 to fix my car that I only have one more paycheck coming. WOW. I am "retiring" from teaching to stay home with or child(ren)--whenever they may come. We will only have one income. #%&*()*@^#&^*&^#%...Insane. How will we do it? We have been a two income family for so long and we still struggle. Okay--so we have expensive tastes. Hubby plays golf nearly every weekend. I shop at a high end grocery store. I have a personal trainer. We have some debt (the curse of the middle class). There are some sacrifices we can make. We switched to prepaid cell phones... I know its a small concession, but is one just the same. I will not rehire my personal trainer when my 6 months is up--I will keep my gym membership--it is a must. We plan to scale back our directv--maybe. It is hard to imagine what life will be like.

How do you change so radically in such a short amount of time? I can't begin to imagine how different everything will be. I know that I will adapt but how will my hubby deal with giving up golf? or lunches out at work? How will I give up protein shakes at the gym and personalized attention?

Okay, now I sound like a whiny little baby. I have slowly been prepping myself. I haven't had a manicure or a pedicure in nearly a year. I only shop at Old Navy or Target. Shopping is a must, as I continue to lose weight. I love old navy because it is so inexpensive. I know that I might be a little old to shop there (34) but I lived in coastal Southern California for a long time and I have a true California sense of style. Jeans and t-shirts are appropriate for almost every occasion. Anyway. I am sure that I will figure it all out. We are not paupers and hubby makes a pretty living, I just know that so much is going to change and it will be hard. I must learn to be thrifty. Oh what a task that will be...

I refuse to return my latest purchases...I still have one more pay check!

2 comments:

writex3 said...

Dawn - Congratulations on your big step. Its hard at first, I know - we did this 6 years ago. And have never regretted it. You'll look back and wonder what you ever spent the $ on. You can challenge yourself now on ways to be thrifty, which can actually be way more fun anyway. We have found that as long as we are making choices that are good for our family relationships, the money has always worked itself out. I'm so excited for you - as you can see, I'm checking every day for news on The Big R!

sarah said...

I have to say, I stopped working when our daughter was born and never regretted it!!! Of course, we learned to have no money but I was so much happier than I ever could have imagined. And, by the way, I am checking my email everyday waiting to get one from you with the big news! I am so excited for you and just know it will be coming so soon. Hope to here from you soon!
Sarah