Today is the first day of my life as a stay at home mom. My daughter Evangeline was born on August 30, 2011 and I have been out on maternity leave since. After doing some numbers crunching, my husband and I decided that it was not really worth it for me to go back towork. All I need to do is put my letter of resignation in the mail tomorrow and it is done.
I am excited. I relish the thought of being the person to see my daughter's first steps and hear her say 'dada'.
Daycare has become an unfortunate necessity for so many and that was our plan. It is going to be unbelievably hard to make it on one salary, but I am determined to hustle to make it work. Tutoring, check; babysitting, check; part time evening work, check. I have an A.A, a B.A., and an M.S. and I will take any part time job to make this work.
I am scared. There is the lingering doubt that money will become too tight, that a bill will come up that we can't pay, that the fights over money will become too nasty. But, we discussed this. We have a sizeable savings that is for a down payment for a home. If we have to dip into that, we will. We hope to not have to, but we will if the need arises.
So, this is my little blog. I hope to learn all about the art of doing things on the cheap. Sundays are now going to be for clipping coupons and checking out sales, our clothes are going to have to last us. See that fancy beer my baby is holding? That will be replaced with Budweiser. Generic all the way, baby. If I learn any cool money saving tips, I will pass it on. If I create yummy recipes using cheapo ingredients, I will pass it on.
You might read me bitching from time to time. A) I like to bitch about things B) I am still trying to figure it all out.
But at the end of the day, Evangeline is what matters and it is more important to us that one of us spends her first year of life with her than the rather extravagent way we have been living.
-Marissa
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