--Feigning Middle Class in Suburbia--
My Dear Husband (from here on referred to as my DH) is a public servant. Maybe not by official definition, but he works in the public sector and his job is financed by tax-payers so he doesn’t make a ton of money but it is consistent and his job pays all of our budgeted essentials (shelter, food, insurance, utilities, iphones, etc).
Ever since college I have worked to varying degrees in a field that has nothing to do with my major and with somewhat limited hours and huge flexibility. Officially my job title is “project manager”. Although in this case the company is small and “project manager” ranges from all sorts of streamlining systems to problem solving, software development, price checking, report creating, liaison between production and sales, and general level headedness. Thanks to a booming (inflated) economy there was always more than enough work, it was me who limited my hours so that I could spend time with my kiddos x2.
Since I could ALWAYS work, and my money paid for the extra stuff (vacations, dining out, gifts, clothes, cable, house projects, a cleaning lady, the bug guy, etc.), I took advantage of those luxuries and would rather spend a bit more time working then let’s say, tearing ivy off the house. As the economy crumbled, my job continued to get busier. People were laid-off and I was left to pick up their work. There was more than I could possibly handle. Now, years into the “recession” (or economic leveling-off, depending on your political views – but this isn’t a political rant, so read on), the work has now dried up. When formerly I struggled to keep under 30 hours a week, I now barely work 10. In short, the fun money is gone.
As expected, we now need to reconsider how we spend our luxury money. We already cut down our cable plan, got an Ooma for our home phone and shaved our extra bills as much as we can. A couple of months in, we are now realizing there are a lot more corners that must be cut. I decided that since I wasn’t bringing in much money, I needed to bring something else to the table. We thought about a job switch but that doesn't really work well:
As expected, we now need to reconsider how we spend our luxury money. We already cut down our cable plan, got an Ooma for our home phone and shaved our extra bills as much as we can. A couple of months in, we are now realizing there are a lot more corners that must be cut. I decided that since I wasn’t bringing in much money, I needed to bring something else to the table. We thought about a job switch but that doesn't really work well:
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| So until work picks up… |
2 - Even fewer jobs would let me work from home and make my own hours
3 - I love my boss and would feel like I was letting him down
After reflection, I decided to use my skills and extra time to make our household as financially and environmentally efficient as I possibly can. I research everything like crazy (always have), I glean wisdom from an Unofficial Cohort of Frugal Mentors (UCofFM), and now I am going to share some of my random tips, experiences, and mistakes so that you too can feign to still fit into middle class suburbia.
