The Hardest Management Position, That Makes No Money
My hubby and I recently made a decision that would allow me to have more flexibility in my schedule to help keep our children alive and thriving.
Ok, that's a little over dramatic. But seriously, I was working a very straight forward 8-5 job (with overtime) that offered no flexibility when it came to the chaos of having 2 small children who have different schedules and need to be picked up and dropped of multiple times a day, in the middle of the day.
Fortunately, we have been very responsible with our money since we got married (8 years ago), and made a couple of good decisions at the right time with the housing market, that also allowed us to pay off all of our debt. Although we have no monthly bills, other than housing and utilities, we still live in one of the most expensive areas in the country (Southern California) so we figured that a part time income from me would be a better financial choice than no income.
Now after a little over a month of this transition, I've come to label myself as part time Research Assistant (my new gig) and full time Homemaker.... but wait, I hate that term.... let's go with Family Manager. I think that's more fitting.
Having more time to focus on the kids and their day to day schedules, as well as, work on things at home that I had put off for months has been absolutely amazing! I've had a list of things that I wanted to start, complete, or take a stab at around the house for so long, I freaked out my first day at home and tried to do everything at once! Since I pulled the reigns in a little, I have come to another perplexing situation that I hadn't thought about until this transition: How am I supposed to 'manage my family' or 'make a home' with less money than we had before? What about keeping our kids involved in activities that I actually have time for now (t-ball, dance, soccer)? Or maybe I want to complete a few home projects (paint shelves, fix sink drains, deep cleaning, reupholster tattered rocking chair seat) with less money than we had before? I'm talking, simple DIY projects in order to prevent our house from looking like squatters live there. And cooking.... I want to cook more since I have more time, but to cook semi-healthy meals is a lot more expensive than buying frozen pizzas and Kraft Mac n' Cheese.
To be more clear, how can I be a Manager without the adequate resources to manage with?
I am new at this and obviously have much to learn, but I've decided on 3 major things I can focus on tweaking for now, that will help cut some extra costs. I'm hoping this will be a good start to transitioning to the hardest position I've ever had that gets paid squat.
I'm also hoping to have a Part II to this later on in the year with a more substantial list... but for now, it's all an experiment.
1) Getting My Thrift On. I've made a conscious effort to stop buying most of my clothes, shoes, kids clothes, kids shoes, kids sporting equipment, small furniture (sometimes big furniture if I'm lucky), decor, etc... full price. Most of the time, thrift and consignment stores only accept 'one time or gently used' items so you can typically find in-style items that will still last awhile. (This can mean Clearance sections too, but sometimes that's slim pickins'). With furniture, throw a coat of paint or fabric on it and you've got a 'trendy, repurposed' piece that all the Hipsters will rave about:)
2) Search Party in My Pantry. There's already been a couple days and nights where I got ready to say "let's just go out to eat" because we didn't really have much in the fridge. But then I got my creativity juices flowing and started searching under and behind things in my pantry and freezer. If you have a few ingredients, all it takes is a little Google-ing for recipes. I'm not even that into cooking, but I always find something easy to put together. (Hint: don't forget to look through those canned goods)
3) Learning to Just Say No. This has been a hard one since we were used to living in a state of mind that we usually could get whatever we wanted when we wanted (within reason... I'm not talking about buying a yacht people). Vacations, the latest Apple products, Disneyland, toys for the kids, etc... we've been pretty free with these things the past several years. I've started to re-condition my brain to really think about the overall cost of something before I start talking about it. If there is a cheaper option for it, or if it's not a necessity, then chances are it should be sidelined.
Here's to hoping my Management skills can at least keep my Direct Reports alive and thriving. Stay tuned.... I'm sure this topic will continue to pop up on here!
Ok, that's a little over dramatic. But seriously, I was working a very straight forward 8-5 job (with overtime) that offered no flexibility when it came to the chaos of having 2 small children who have different schedules and need to be picked up and dropped of multiple times a day, in the middle of the day.
Fortunately, we have been very responsible with our money since we got married (8 years ago), and made a couple of good decisions at the right time with the housing market, that also allowed us to pay off all of our debt. Although we have no monthly bills, other than housing and utilities, we still live in one of the most expensive areas in the country (Southern California) so we figured that a part time income from me would be a better financial choice than no income.
Now after a little over a month of this transition, I've come to label myself as part time Research Assistant (my new gig) and full time Homemaker.... but wait, I hate that term.... let's go with Family Manager. I think that's more fitting.
Having more time to focus on the kids and their day to day schedules, as well as, work on things at home that I had put off for months has been absolutely amazing! I've had a list of things that I wanted to start, complete, or take a stab at around the house for so long, I freaked out my first day at home and tried to do everything at once! Since I pulled the reigns in a little, I have come to another perplexing situation that I hadn't thought about until this transition: How am I supposed to 'manage my family' or 'make a home' with less money than we had before? What about keeping our kids involved in activities that I actually have time for now (t-ball, dance, soccer)? Or maybe I want to complete a few home projects (paint shelves, fix sink drains, deep cleaning, reupholster tattered rocking chair seat) with less money than we had before? I'm talking, simple DIY projects in order to prevent our house from looking like squatters live there. And cooking.... I want to cook more since I have more time, but to cook semi-healthy meals is a lot more expensive than buying frozen pizzas and Kraft Mac n' Cheese.
To be more clear, how can I be a Manager without the adequate resources to manage with?
I am new at this and obviously have much to learn, but I've decided on 3 major things I can focus on tweaking for now, that will help cut some extra costs. I'm hoping this will be a good start to transitioning to the hardest position I've ever had that gets paid squat.
I'm also hoping to have a Part II to this later on in the year with a more substantial list... but for now, it's all an experiment.
1) Getting My Thrift On. I've made a conscious effort to stop buying most of my clothes, shoes, kids clothes, kids shoes, kids sporting equipment, small furniture (sometimes big furniture if I'm lucky), decor, etc... full price. Most of the time, thrift and consignment stores only accept 'one time or gently used' items so you can typically find in-style items that will still last awhile. (This can mean Clearance sections too, but sometimes that's slim pickins'). With furniture, throw a coat of paint or fabric on it and you've got a 'trendy, repurposed' piece that all the Hipsters will rave about:)
2) Search Party in My Pantry. There's already been a couple days and nights where I got ready to say "let's just go out to eat" because we didn't really have much in the fridge. But then I got my creativity juices flowing and started searching under and behind things in my pantry and freezer. If you have a few ingredients, all it takes is a little Google-ing for recipes. I'm not even that into cooking, but I always find something easy to put together. (Hint: don't forget to look through those canned goods)
3) Learning to Just Say No. This has been a hard one since we were used to living in a state of mind that we usually could get whatever we wanted when we wanted (within reason... I'm not talking about buying a yacht people). Vacations, the latest Apple products, Disneyland, toys for the kids, etc... we've been pretty free with these things the past several years. I've started to re-condition my brain to really think about the overall cost of something before I start talking about it. If there is a cheaper option for it, or if it's not a necessity, then chances are it should be sidelined.
Here's to hoping my Management skills can at least keep my Direct Reports alive and thriving. Stay tuned.... I'm sure this topic will continue to pop up on here!
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