The baby situation is completely tied to our money situation, and we're just trying to get it all taken care of. One of the things we're doing right now to save money is a lot of belt tightening. We've ditch cable, and our home phone, and the Internet (thank goodness for cell phones that are also Internet hot spots!) We're going to stop eating out (except for one dinner out a month), and make get back to planning family meals week to week so we don't end up spending more at the grocery store than we absolutely need. We're also going to try and find more family things to do for free. Sadly, we're also going to pull Andie from competitive cheerleading at the end of this season, in favor of something cheaper. I think that we're going to end up doing most of our sports through the YMCA to save money. I would say that we considered dumping our YMCA passes, but we didn't. We may apply for their sliding scale financial assistance, but if we're denied, we're still keeping the pass, because we use it.
For summer fun, we're thinking of taking a little cash off the top of our tax return each year to buy a King's Island family pass... but I'm undecided. I really like to have it, but with the kids still being so young, and me being terrified of roller coasters, it may not be worth it this year. Who knows. We do a lot there when it's not crazy crowded, but when it is, it's very easy to get frustrated. I haven't decided about that yet.
With our annuity ending soon, we will be living on half the money that we have become accustomed to. It's going to be really really hard, but we'll figure it out. In the meantime, we're going to save as much money as we can, and pay off our furniture, and our car. Thankfully, we don't have a mortgage, so our bills are going to be mostly limited to necessities. Hopefully we will be fine on everything else. I would like to see Tony be able to make more money, but it's not looking good for now. We're honestly doing fine, and things would be absolutely easy for us if I was working, but neither one of us wants that right now, with the kids being so young, and wanting to have more. After the holidays, Tony is going to look nation wide for a new job that will allow us more financial freedom, but 'pickens are slim in this economy, and I will take job security over more money any day. Also, he's looking into construction jobs which I'm not overly thrilled about... I would like to see that as a last resort, even after the option of me going back to work. I dealt with one catastrophic injury, and I'm in no hurry to go back there again.
Also, we're kicking around the option to downsize. We have an enormous house, and it's got plenty of room for everyone. This kind of house was our "dream house" and we're very blessed to have it... but I don't want us to have to sacrifice everything to keep this house. A smaller house means cheaper utilities, and less taxes.... so we're looking at that too.
After all of this, I need a vacation! I can't wait to head to Gatlinburg in a few weeks and leave all of this crap in Ohio for a while.
On the baby front, we've put a savings plan into place so that we can get the reversal done by the end of 2011 with any luck. I'm sad about not being able to move forward with the IUI and have that 2011 baby... but I'll live. But, what's worse is I'm embarrassed that I let myself get so excited, start this blog, and then still be so far away from having another child.
So, on to 2012.
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