What is my calling?

As the title of this blog states, I am a stay at home mom. Or am I?

I work part time at USPS and have been doing so for a year and a half. That means I work every saturday and when they call me  in to work. So I'm mostly a stay at home mom. Typically that can mean once a week or once every two weeks. It can also mean none. With our new budget in place I've decided I want to get us out of debt faster, afterall, it is mostly my fault. I'd never take out student loans again if I could.

I'd really love to find another part time, very flexible, position to help my family get out of debt. This has proven both difficult and frustrating. I'm sure there are others out there who can relate. Finding a job is both difficult and depressing for me. I hate it, and maybe that's why I'm still a mostly stay at home mom. As USPS decided to cut their saturday mail delivery starting in August of this year, we've decided it would be less stressful if I wait until then to really worry about finding another job. Our budget will not be in the red every month until that day in which we have savings to cover it for a while.

Our budget, oh a thing of wonders. It has become my passion every day. Have any of you ever seen an actual budget? One where every scenario is covered? One that includes Christmas! (who would have thought?!) One that has every daily need for the next twelve months accounted for in some way? Chances are that you have not. I dare you to go and make one. You'd be surprised with how much gets spent on what and what you could save by keeping track of your expenses. I know too many people who either think they have a budget, or don't care and have "too many days left when the money is gone".

I believe that because of this budget, it has made it so much easier to stay at home with my child and not worry so much. We don't spend what is not in the budget and can live more comfortably knowing that we are prepared for most anything. If you're thinking about leaving the workforce, this may be a great first step for you to take.

I'll give a link for those who may be looking for a true budget. Perhaps this may inspire others to join the budget bandwagon!

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/

So it's been a while...

On the encouragement of my husband I have decided to write another post. It's been 10 months and I haven't thought about posting again. In those 10 months not much has really happened, believe it or not. The biggest change is that we now have a 19 month old on our hands who likes to be active and get into everything.

I still coupon, and save money like crazy. I'm still trying to be money savvy. Another change of life we have had is that we now follow Dave Ramsey and his Total Money Makeover. After becoming great with couponing I decided to move on to budgeting. When you're saving hundred's of dollars every month at the grocery store and you don't see where that extra money is going, it really makes you wonder!

We now have a full, working budget in our house. We set limits on what we spend, and we try and stay within them till the following payday. That means we spend less overall. There is no more 'grabbing that candy bar that's tempting you at the end of the cash register', or 'man, we really don't need this, but it would be nice!'. We live within our means, that is a new concept for us, and probably for most of America. I love it, and it gives me something to do instead of twiddling my fingers. We now have a plan of how to pay our debts of years earlier and how to plan for retirement and our children's college. Having a plan is great!

There are a lot of great tools for budgeting out there, I will post a few here for those that are interested. Most important for our journey is having people around us who support our decision and don't think it's 'weird' like some do to be debt free. I can't wait to make a final payment on my student loans in a few years, or pay for a car in cash. I hope you find it as fascinating as I have.

www.whatsthecost.com
www.daveramsey.com
www.mint.com
www.ynab.com