On the Hunt

Since my last blog post, which I am sorry to say was such a long while ago, I've been hunting for some sort of supplemental income. Since I no longer work at my former job we've been struggling a bit more than I originally thought we would. Going from two incomes to one isn't quite as easy as I had thought it would be.

I think I had a slightly romanticized idea of what it would be like to stay at home and get myself and my hubby ready for our baby. Over the last couple weeks I've learned that it is not so easy as I had thought. Baby items cost a lot more than I thought, and cost of living is a bit more than what we had planned. Budgeting has helped us a lot, but it's definitely not always easy.

So taking into account all the difficulties we've run into since my last paycheck came and went, I've decided that I really need to find some source of income to help supplement what my husband makes. At this point in our lives I'm now almost 9 months pregnant and obviously can't go out job hunting. In addition to not really being able to go out to job hunt, I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to have a job outside of my home. I've been finding it extremely difficult to find any income producing jobs that are legitimate and allow me to work from home. However I'm determined to figure it out.

My husband and I decided a long before this baby came around that when we were to have kids I would stay at home to care for them. I don't think either one of us was prepared for the sacrifices and difficulties we would face, but we will make it through together. We are both still very determined to make it happen the way we want it to. I'm not going to give up on my searching for something that I'm really good at that I can do from home, and until I find that something, I'll just continue my blog and hope for God's guidance as we move through this difficult season in our lives.

Budgets???

My husband and I have never really had a "budget". Well not a written one anyway. We decided that in order for us to be able to survive on one income we seriously needed to rethink all our money decisions. This has been a major challenge for both of us; in the past we've been able to spend whatever we wanted and not worry too much about it. Of course our loose living got us in a few tight spots but we always managed to snap back.

We've spent so many years living freely and just purchasing things on a whim that now it feels nearly impossible to limit ourselves. It has to be done, so we sat down at the beginning of this month and discussed how we wanted to go about budgeting. Considering the fact that neither one of us has much experience with budgets we did a little research and a few Google searches as well as reading a few other blogs related to frugal living and budgeting.

I happened across You Need A Budget which is an amazing budgeting software that basically had all the functions we felt that we needed. I tried the demo first because I wasn't sure if it would work for us, and I showed it to my husband who almost immediately wanted to purchase it. So far it has been amazing and shows us when we've overspent on a particular category, or when we have extra to spend.

Despite having set ourselves up with a budget and some software to help us along the way, it has been incredibly difficult to change our mindsets. I think it may take a month or two, or maybe even more, to change ourselves for the better; I  have immense confidence that we have what it takes, we just have to continue learning and adjusting. I'll post links to some of the helpful blogs I've come across in my next post, or once I fully figure out how to format and use this blogger site I may put permanent links somewhere on my page. Can't wait to see how things progress!

First Day

So today was my first official day of unemployment. I didn't think it would feel so strange. I find myself thinking I have work tomorrow or on Monday, when in fact I do not. My last day at work was so difficult thinking about all my coworkers, who are more like best friends, and how I'm going to miss them all so much. I managed to hold myself together until I got home, then I had a long cry.

Working had become such a part of my life that I'm not totally sure that I'm going to know how to go on without it. I know once baby gets here it will be a different story, but for the next 2 months I have to learn to live without an away from home job.

Not working, and letting my mind kind of realize how incredibly different life is going to be now, knocked me back. Just coming to the realization that I'm not just on a short vacation and that I'm now going to have new duties is something I hadn't fully realized. Similar to how I didn't realize that being pregnant was going to be as difficult as it is.

Everything about being unemployed now gives me such mixed feelings. In many ways I am so happy that I now have more freedom and time to take care of all the household chores and other things that usually fall to the back burner. At other times stress seems to be the overriding emotion because now we have to completely change our lifestyle and adjust to one income. Occasionally sadness fills in when I think of all my friends and clients that I left behind at my job. Fortunately, and thankfully, my husband has been so supportive of me and has been helping to keep things on track while we both adjust to this major change.

I can't fathom how much more difficult this would be if my wonderful husband wasn't on board with it. I know he has stresses related to the changes too, but he is one amazing man and surprises me at every turn. Despite all the emotions and changes life goes on and we continue to survive and thrive. We live a truly blessed life.

The First Post

Today I am embarking on a truly grand adventure. Trying to put my life into words and on a public forum is going to be a challenge for me, but I know I'll have fun. I had created a couple of blogs before, but they never took off quite how I'd hoped. I think at this point in my life I'm entering a new chapter and I feel as thought I will have, hopefully, more interesting topics to write about. To begin with there have been several major changes to my husband and I's lives lately.

Beginning in November 2012 we moved to a duplex from an apartment which was quite a change for us. We've lived in apartments forever it seems, but we were always yearning for a more house-like living situation. Though it was smaller than our apartment, we were quite happy.

Then in December 2012 we found out that we are expecting our very first baby! It was definitely planned and exciting but somehow felt slightly unexpected too. Going to our doctor appointments and finding out that it's going to be a girl was probably the most exciting!

Now in June 2013 we are trying to prepare ourselves for even more changes. We had decided long before our bundle of joy was expected that I would become either part time or quit work all together and be a stay at home mom. I switched to part time at work a month or 2 ago and since then, after much discussion, we decided it would be best for all of us that I would become a stay at home mom.

Since we decided that I would quit work we have been struggling with budgeting and changing our lifestyle and habits to accommodate a soon to be one income household plus a new baby. Since neither my husband or myself have any experience in this we are truly "flying by the seat of our pants". We are slowly learning and I would like to think we are catching on quite quickly.

I am sincerely hoping that through this blog I might learn from others, or be a helpful hand to others who are in similar situations. Thank you for your time and hopefully this will become everything I hope it will.