Zen, Is any of the stuff you could craigslist or eBay?

Yay Plei and Jess!

When H and I were discussing the possibility of going from two incomes to one, I sat down and figured out all the money I spent on trying to make myself feel better for staying with the soul-killing job. While I was doing that, I also factored in the "play money" he spent, purely on stuff for himself--lunches, toys, supplies for projects he started and abandoned, etc. Counting gas, wardrobe, and dry cleaning, I was actually losing money by working.

By staying home to write, and take care of my mom, I was able to do a lot of household and family business tasks that had defaulted to him, which gave him more free time when he wasn't at work, which helped cut the amount of money he spent trying to make himself feel better.

The only real downside to the decision was that we gave up my health insurance--he was covered through his employer. I just became proactive about my health, and paid out of pocket for doctor appointments. It worked out. But I was shocked and appalled at the money I spent on weekly and monthly basies for essentially nothing, just to cheer a moment in my bleak workday, or keep me from buying an ouzi, instead.

keep me from buying an ouzi, instead.

Do you mean ouzo as in booze or Uzi as in gun?

I meant uzi, but ouzo would work, too. Both? Yeah, both.

I do the insurance incentive thing because it was easy and I like saving money. Ours is only $25 a month savings, but money is money and I want as much of my money as I can get. I kinda don't care if they get my info.

YAY PLEI!

I have an offer letter in my inbox. Eeeeeeeeeep

Congrats, PMM! Congrats, Jessica!

Hooray Buffista employment!

Yay!!!!!

Beverly, there was recently an article in the paper about the shockingly large number of women who, because of child care costs, are essentially paying to go to work. It was depressing ... and I don't even have a child.

Having gone without a raise for a few years, and a 1% raise last year, I'm trying to cut costs wherever I can. I dropped my at-home broadband WiFi, since I couldn't get a signal most of the time, I bring my lunch as often as possible, rather than buying, ride the bus and rarely take cabs, I've tried to cut my "fun" purchases, get e-books on sale rather than buying paperbacks, or buy them from a used book place (which uses the money for literacy programs, so I can feel good about what I do spend), and just try to keep my spending down.