Wednesday, April 3, 2013

An experiment in being frugal

When Jackson starts school, at this point Sept 2014, I want to be able to work part time so I can put him on the bus and be there to meet him at the end of it, as well as take time off every summer.  In order to do all that I will take a pay cut.  So in anticipation of it, I am going to try living on what I believe I would be making, and saving the remainder so I have a backup in place. It is going to be very hard, especially with a three year old who wants something every time we go to the store.  To help with that we are implementing an allowance.  I will of course continue to buy his important things, but he will have to save up and buy his toys and DVDs.  He will get $3 every pay day (so two weeks).  It will be interesting to see what he gets right away and what he takes time to decide he wants.  Hopefully it helps teach him some lessons.

I have some debt to pay off as well, so that needs to happen over the next 15 months or so as well, it's not a lot but it needs to go.  We will have to be very strict with what we buy, from groceries to extras.  There isn't a whole lot that either of us needs except that Jackson will need clothes for spring/summer.  My parent's got him some nice shoes for Easter so other than perhaps some new rain boots, he will really only need things like shorts, t-shirts, underwear, socks, lots of stuff.  Swimsuit, pajamas. Oh well, we'll manage to stick to the budget I think, I hope. 

Sleep. Oh my, I enjoyed some nice sleep at my parent's place but that child is terrible to get down at night. I don't understand it at all. He is tired, he has big yawns, dark circles under his eyes, he is obviously tired. He just does not want to sleep. I really wish we lived in a bungalow, I go up and down the stairs to get him to sleep so many times a night, drives me crazy.  I always end up yelling and saying "this is unacceptable".  Which of course just upsets him a little more, and leads to even more fussing.  Every night it's one things after another. I really really hope this doesn't last for too much longer. I am hopeful that once the weather is nicer (where the heck is spring!) we will be able to get out for a walk or to play in the back every night to help him get extra tired. I hope.

We are doing well in the new house, but Jackson still sometimes asks to go back to the old house. He can't give me a real reason why he doesn't like this house, but I think he just doesn't handle big changes very well. He still thinks we should get our old car back, and we've had the new one since August. The commute is not much longer than, thought it adds a few minutes to our morning and the drive home.  Not too bad though.  We are closer to the stores we shop at, so our weekend driving is less, and we are close to more options than before, so that is a good things as well. I am glad we moved, but it was a lot of work, and I know we'll have to do it at least once more.  Hopefully not for awhile though. A long while.

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