Fly Away Home

So we now have memories of flying.

Today as we were driving to the HR department at my new job (yes, I got a new job! Full time school position!), looking up at the clouds from our car as we inched through traffic, I said to Flannery,

"Remember how yesterday we were above the clouds?"

"Yeah. I remember that," she said.

"That was really cool."

"Yeah. Because I like to look out the window and see the roads all tiny," she laughs.

"Yeah, me too."



This has been a hard day.

A day of figuring out hard things.

Hard things like, how leaving my flexible part-time job for a non-flexible full-time job that pays more money is really going to be tough. Not seeing my daughter when she wakes up in the morning tough. Heart wrenching, maybe I need a valium to get through the first few weeks, tough.

Hard things like, crunching numbers and realizing that quality day care is ridiculously expensive, twice our rent expensive. So expensive that I should really keep my part-time flexible job AND my new full time non-flexible job if I want to ever end up with, oh, say, an extra few bucks to go for ice cream. I mean, an acceptance fee, one month's tuition as a deposit, and a first month's tuition, all due next week? This is where I begin to get high blood pressure.

Sigh.

But then I remember us flying in that plane, high above the clouds, with the tiny roads snaking their way across the South. Patches of earth glide by underneath, lush forests, and thirsty fields. Green, brown, green.

And those tiny fingers stuck to the glass of the airplane window, peering down at a world larger than she can understand. Larger than any of us can understand, really.

And I try to remind myself.

This too shall pass.

Bounty will come again.

Green, brown, green.




What hard patch in your life did you think might never end? Money problems? Sadness, loss? What helped you through?

Be a Cheap Date

I've recently discovered something rather shocking about myself.

I. like. being. thrifty.

There, I said it.

It's hard to believe. I haven't always been this way.

But since this most recent phase of our marriage has consisted of us making way less money and having way more expenses than we ever have before, I've really had to develop the thrifty side of myself. (Apparently the down side of closing your own business is that the business stops actually bringing in any profit for you. Who woulda thunk it?)

Date night for us these days is Lost and a bowl of popcorn in the living room. (See, I really am a cheap date!) Family fun is a trip to the local park or to Duke Gardens. I've actually started using coupons. (Did you know Kroger has a cool online coupon feature that's simple to search for things you use regularly?) I plan my meals for each week, and only buy exactly what I will need for those meals. I make my own coffee in the morning and take it to work in a thermos. We haven't eaten out in eons, and have figured out pretty thrifty ways to eat fresh and wonderful foods. I plan meals that use my leftovers in creative ways throughout the week so that I won't waste food. I pack my lunch on days that I work a long day. I haven't wandered aimlessly through Target in months. Months! (And those of you who read this blog regularly know that that's one of my favorite hobbies!)

Yup, I have become frugal.

And it's actually not so bad. It even kinda makes me happy to have control over my spending, and to be a little bit disciplined in limiting my consumption of stuff. Money can't buy happiness. But maybe saving money can?
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By the way, here's a cool personal finance blog I like. I get his daily updates, and they really help me stay focused in my thrifty ways!

P.S. The toy pictured above is one of my all time favorites for speech therapy fun! More about that in a post to come this weekend!



What are your favorite ways to save money? Do you get a strange (sort of embarrassing) thrill out of finding the best deal on a purchase before you make it? What are your favorite personal finance secrets?