A Lesson in Money Management

So I've decided to start teaching the boys some important life lessons -- one of them being money management. Since money is such an important part of life, I feel like it's time for them to start earning some of their own and understanding some basic principles of good management.

Each morning they are responsible for a few tasks to help us get up and moving, and to school on time: get up and dressed, eat breakfast and put away dishes, feed and water the cat, and brush teeth and hair. All of it must be done without arguing (with me or each other), and JD is also responsible for completing his reading log. He prefers to do his reading before bed at night, then complete the reading log in the morning.

If they complete all of these tasks by 7:10am, they get a sticker for the day. They earn $.50 per day but if they get stickers on all 5 days, they'll earn an extra $.50 and get $3 for the week. Last week, they earned $2 each (no sticker on Friday for arguing). So this morning, I paid them their $2, and attempted to explain some basic money management principles: give the first part to God, you must save some of the money, then you can spend the rest. 

It's really hard to explain 10%, so I just told them $.25 would be about right. Then JD said "It's more important to give to God than to save or spend the money, so I want to give $1.00." A couple minutes later, he changed it to $.50. I explained that once he gives money to God, he can't take it away from God, but since it was his first time and just learning, we'd make an exception this time. Fifty cents is still really awesome --  that's 25% of his money, which is a whole lot more than what the rest of us give. Following big brother's lead, Ryan also gave $.50 to God.

  

I'm very proud of JD and Ryan, and I really hope that these lessons in time management, personal responsibility, and money management are the beginning of some great life principles for them. Too much of today's society is about greed, self-indulgence and materialism. I can't change the world, but hopefully I can influence two little people who will someday impact their small part of this big world.

Week Two - Lovely Week Two

And so I start Week Two of the rest of my new life. And I'm loving today. The kids got off to school, and I sat down with my coffee, toast, box of tissues (can't stop sneezing), Bible and Sunday School book. My desire is to spend more time with God each morning to grow our relationship, and to start my day off on the right foot. And it felt really good to do that today. I'm expanding on yesterday's Sunday School lesson about "The Pressure of Retaliation." I'm really bad about that. I think it's part of being a Libra (and also part of being human) -- the anger I feel from injustice. I always want to get even. I like the feeling of knowing "what goes around comes around." But even though that feels good at first, it doesn't feel good in the long run. And what I learned about (and I guess I already knew) is that ultimately, the only person that attitude really hurts is ME. So while I'm in the "out with the old and in with the new" stage of life, I want this to be one of those things too. Out with that negative frame of mind, and in with a new peaceful, understanding, patient, positive-thinking frame of mind. Thank you to my Sunday School teacher for talking about this yesterday and giving me something for which to really strive.

So my Week Two is off to a great start. I'm still not feeling very good (allergies/sinus) but it feels good to look at my list of "to dos" and know that I have the whole week to do them. I don't need to rush around like a crazy person everyday, trying to fit in one more thing before it becomes too late. I also want to take the pressure off myself a little bit. I am allowed to sit down during the day and focus on myself. I don't have to always be moving, working, cleaning, etc. It's ok to do a little for myself too. A good friend reminded me this weekend that I've earned it. I worked very hard for many years, and I should allow myself to enjoy this stage of my life. Thank you for that Kim.

And so here's to "enjoying" this stage. Let Week Two begin.....

Out with the OLD, and In with the NEW

Yesterday was my first official day in my new job --- Full Time Stay At Home Mom. And it was AWESOME!!! I took the boys to school, went to the gym, went to an appointment with my financial advisor (only to find out once I got there that I wasn't on the calendar), then came home and did some cleaning.

So how did we get to this point?
Let's back up a couple of weeks. On Sept 9, after a long day at work, I called Bud and told him that I really needed to talk to him....about work. And he guessed the reason -- I was ready to quit. I couldn't wait until December like we'd decided. I had been experiencing life as a single working mom for the past 2 weeks and it had just gotten too difficult. Since Bud was leaving at 5:30am and not getting home until after the boys' bedtime most nights, I wasn't getting any help during the day and I was exhausted. Add a full-time job in San Antonio to the equation and it was that much harder. So when Bud got home that night, I brought it up again, and he was 100% on board.....and it was decided. I decided to turn in my 2 week notice on Monday, Sept 16th. (I had to wait a week because I had CIC class that was already scheduled and paid for Sept 11-14.)

So on Monday the 16th, I had a conference call with my manager (not my preference, but since she was getting ready to leave town for the week, I had to do it over the phone), and broke the news. She was surprised but also happy for me as she knew this was something I've wanted for a while, and have always kind of grappled with the challenges and guilt of being a working mom. She asked me to consider staying longer and decided she'd talk with HR to see if they could work on an incentive. I waited for about a week and found out that next Monday that they weren't able to offer anything. What a relief! It made my decision so much easier. I didn't really want to stay longer, but I probably would have. Not because I loved the work, but because I loved my friends and coworkers and I would have done it to help them out. But no offer came through, so it was announced to the office on Monday, Sept 23rd, which also happened to be my 36th birthday! What a WONDERFUL birthday gift!!!

So I set out to finish my last week of work. I wanted to tie up all loose ends and not leave anything backlogged for my coworkers, especially Stephanie, who would be picking up the bulk of the responsibility in my absence. I ended up staying home from work on Wednesday and Thursday because the boys had strep throat, but I went back to work on Friday for my last day. It was a great last day of work too. My coworkers were so sweet, thoughtful and generous. We all went to lunch at Red Robin (yum!) and when we got back, we had ice cream cake, and they gave me a huge poster board card where each person wrote a personal note to me, and a $150 gift card to my favorite store -- Hobby Lobby. I even got a personal song from Sean and Spencer - the Cheers song "Where Everybody Knows Your Name." It was so sweet. I loved it.

And that brings us to today. My 2nd day as a stay at home mom. And I'm loving it. I love focusing on my home, my kids, my husband, and myself. No more rushing around to and from my job, giving 100% of myself to my work and leaving nothing in the tank for my family. Now my family gets a full tank everyday, and that is my most favorite part of all of it.

Here's a picture of me and the boys, yesterday, as I dropped them off at school -- enjoying my first day of my new job as a full-time SAHM!!!