- 4 days old.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Oh, life.
I'm about to admit something that most don't have the guts to do. They go on acting like everything is fine, racking up the credit card bills and closing their eyes.
I'm a pretty positive. Life has been extremely kind to my family and all in all I just don't have a lot to complain about. I am very blessed and haven't forgot that.....HOWEVER, having it all (what it feels like for me) for so long has made me spoiled. I've never gone without since I've been in the working world; things have come easily and I've been completely and utterly spoiled. Not to say that I haven't worked for everything that has come my way, but it's all come and that's what I'm getting at.
I suppose I'm finally getting a little dose of welcome to the real world. I thought having a baby would be a huge change, but it's been more like another re-adjustment period like moving in with Alex, buying a house, getting a new job etc. I mean, life has changed for sure, but for the most part (other than the lack of sleep) it is all pretty doable on a daily basis. Now that the wee man is 11 months (holy crap) he's as easy as pie and it's amazing.
So, for what is going on (and the real meat of this post)....our plan was to live in our old house for 10 years or so. We were going to save up and buy a house on our dream street once we were all set financially. Well, when the dream house came up on our dream street during my maternity leave, we went to the bank and they said we could "afford" (please notice the quotes) it. Of course, we jumped on it perhaps without really looking too far in advance. Looking back at our old life at our previous house, man we had it easy financially (which didn't feel like it was THAT easy at the time). We would've had no problem doing small renos, paying for daycare, going out for dinner here and there or into the city for a dance party night.
Oh, how things have changed.
For the past 6 months or so since we moved into the new house I've been doing my best to go without. I bought some new clothes at Christmas with gift cards and got my hair done (as inexpensively as possible) every 2.5-3 months or so but other than that my spending has been nil. I'm sure you all know Alex is a thrifty shopper to say the least so all was good there. But after 3 weddings in 4 months, a broken fridge, Alex's truck needing new brakes, opening the pool, and a couple of $500 winter gas bills...man, oh man, oh man. The savings are gone. The worst part is that in an old house there is always something....we need our chimney fixed sooner than later, the basement ceiling needs to be dry-walled and a woodstove is also something that in the long run will save us money (see $500 winter gas bill).
Please don't get me wrong, our bills are being paid but that's about as far as our money is going and to top it off daycare will be $700 a month pretty soon and me going back to work isn't going to change our income. BRUTS.
I'll admit that I've been slighty ignoring the situation. I really came to terms with it this week when I needed a couple of new bras because the old bod has made some changes. I honestly couldn't validate spending $50 on TWO bras. This is unheard of for me. Luckly the old girls have gone down a size so the flimsy Joe Fresh bras that were 2 for $20 at the old grocery store seem to be doing the trick (shoot me now).
I also was supposed to be going out this Saturday for a fantastic bachelorette for one of my VERY favourite girls including dinner/drinks, dancing, hotel, and brunch the next day. After figuring the night will cost about $250 and taking into account I couldn't bring myself to spend $50 on bras, I've opted out of the sleepover and am going to just do dinner, a couple of drinks and dancing. It's just about the saddest decision I've had to make in a while but it's the right one and I'll feel a heck of a lot less guilty in the long run.
I wonder how long life will be like this? I'm hoping a higher paying job comes up when I go back to work!
So I guess life is all about choices. We chose to go without now in hopes that in the long run we'd have much more by tackling a big mortgage while we were young. Maybe I wasn't prepared for how "without" it would be. I suppose putting a budget together is in order....
FYI - right now I'm sitting in a pair of shorts that are about 5 years old and they literally hang off of me. I must say, it's a good thing I have a husband who loves me, a baby who doesn't care what I look like and some pretty high self-esteem if I do say so myself!
So, if you don't see my outfit on the latest catwalk (not that you ever would have) - you know why! LOL.
I'm a pretty positive. Life has been extremely kind to my family and all in all I just don't have a lot to complain about. I am very blessed and haven't forgot that.....HOWEVER, having it all (what it feels like for me) for so long has made me spoiled. I've never gone without since I've been in the working world; things have come easily and I've been completely and utterly spoiled. Not to say that I haven't worked for everything that has come my way, but it's all come and that's what I'm getting at.
I suppose I'm finally getting a little dose of welcome to the real world. I thought having a baby would be a huge change, but it's been more like another re-adjustment period like moving in with Alex, buying a house, getting a new job etc. I mean, life has changed for sure, but for the most part (other than the lack of sleep) it is all pretty doable on a daily basis. Now that the wee man is 11 months (holy crap) he's as easy as pie and it's amazing.
So, for what is going on (and the real meat of this post)....our plan was to live in our old house for 10 years or so. We were going to save up and buy a house on our dream street once we were all set financially. Well, when the dream house came up on our dream street during my maternity leave, we went to the bank and they said we could "afford" (please notice the quotes) it. Of course, we jumped on it perhaps without really looking too far in advance. Looking back at our old life at our previous house, man we had it easy financially (which didn't feel like it was THAT easy at the time). We would've had no problem doing small renos, paying for daycare, going out for dinner here and there or into the city for a dance party night.
Oh, how things have changed.
For the past 6 months or so since we moved into the new house I've been doing my best to go without. I bought some new clothes at Christmas with gift cards and got my hair done (as inexpensively as possible) every 2.5-3 months or so but other than that my spending has been nil. I'm sure you all know Alex is a thrifty shopper to say the least so all was good there. But after 3 weddings in 4 months, a broken fridge, Alex's truck needing new brakes, opening the pool, and a couple of $500 winter gas bills...man, oh man, oh man. The savings are gone. The worst part is that in an old house there is always something....we need our chimney fixed sooner than later, the basement ceiling needs to be dry-walled and a woodstove is also something that in the long run will save us money (see $500 winter gas bill).
Please don't get me wrong, our bills are being paid but that's about as far as our money is going and to top it off daycare will be $700 a month pretty soon and me going back to work isn't going to change our income. BRUTS.
I'll admit that I've been slighty ignoring the situation. I really came to terms with it this week when I needed a couple of new bras because the old bod has made some changes. I honestly couldn't validate spending $50 on TWO bras. This is unheard of for me. Luckly the old girls have gone down a size so the flimsy Joe Fresh bras that were 2 for $20 at the old grocery store seem to be doing the trick (shoot me now).
I also was supposed to be going out this Saturday for a fantastic bachelorette for one of my VERY favourite girls including dinner/drinks, dancing, hotel, and brunch the next day. After figuring the night will cost about $250 and taking into account I couldn't bring myself to spend $50 on bras, I've opted out of the sleepover and am going to just do dinner, a couple of drinks and dancing. It's just about the saddest decision I've had to make in a while but it's the right one and I'll feel a heck of a lot less guilty in the long run.
I wonder how long life will be like this? I'm hoping a higher paying job comes up when I go back to work!
So I guess life is all about choices. We chose to go without now in hopes that in the long run we'd have much more by tackling a big mortgage while we were young. Maybe I wasn't prepared for how "without" it would be. I suppose putting a budget together is in order....
FYI - right now I'm sitting in a pair of shorts that are about 5 years old and they literally hang off of me. I must say, it's a good thing I have a husband who loves me, a baby who doesn't care what I look like and some pretty high self-esteem if I do say so myself!
So, if you don't see my outfit on the latest catwalk (not that you ever would have) - you know why! LOL.
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