I’ve been working a lot with our numbers lately. My husband and I don’t make a lot of money, and truthfully I feel we’re paying too much for rent considering the size of our apartment. (2 bedroom for $950 a month. Heat and hot water are included but when you factor in Internet and Electric, we’re paying about 1050.) Even still, all of our bills are paid on time and we’re certainly not suffering. We can afford to go out about once a week if we want to, and we put about $100 a week into our savings.
When I took this new job, I took a pay-cut of about $25 dollars a week, $100 a month. At the time I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, but it’s proven to cause more trouble than I initially thought. $100 is a grocery trip, a payment on my student loan, a random, unexpected bill. Even today, $100 dollars is a lot of money.
I’ve been trying to think of ways to make some extra income. I was considering becoming a consultant for one of the various “party” companies out there. (i,e. Party Lite, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, etc.) The only problem with this idea is that I work second shift, Monday-Friday, so I’d have to schedule parties on my weekends off and I like using that time for my friends and family and getting whatever needs to be done around the house done.
Tim hasn’t heard anything about getting that job in the ER so we’re just assuming at this point that it isn’t happening. He’s considering applying for a Nurses Aide position at the hospital but I hate the idea of him having to do that because I know he really doesn’t want to. Taking this secretary job was supposed to alleviate stress but it seems to have just created a new problem all together. Like I said, we aren’t suffering, but with the baby on the way I just really want to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row. We have to be really aware of what we spend so that we make sure our bills are covered every month, and we’re almost living paycheck to paycheck.
We did, however, make a small step towards smarter spending today. We both made a grocery list last night and made a general list of things we need every week. For a while we were trying to buy organic but the reality of it is that we just don’t make enough money to do that. Our goal today was to spend $100 or less at the grocery store on our food for the week. When we were buying organic, our grocery bill was 150$ a week. Today, we only spent $89.22 on groceries. We bought enough food to get us through to next week and we only bought things we knew we were actually going to eat and enjoy eating. You know you’re an adult when you get excited about your grocery bill.
And I know that we’re doing okay. For a married couple with only one Associates degree between us, we’re fortunate to both have full-time jobs with benefits at a hospital. We’re supporting ourselves more comfortably than a lot of families, even if we don’t make much money. We have a roof over our head and food in our bellies. In retrospect, we’re really doing quite well. I just want to be able to provide for my baby. Tim and I both grew up relatively poor, and I want to be able to give my baby more than I had. I know that material things don’t show love, but it doesn’t stop the desire to provide those things, you know?
Aside from the money worries, I’m having an okay week. Yesterday was absolutely AWFUL because of my trip to the dentist in the morning. The day before I had a cleaning done and at the end of my appointment my hygienist told me that I still had a cavity that needed filling, so I should schedule to have that done. When I was checking out, they offered for me to come in the next day, yesterday, because there was a 10am opening. Begrudgingly, I obliged and made the appointment. So I go in, sit in the chair, they prep me, and the doc comes in. He shoots me up with the special pregnant-lady lidocaine. He waits 10 minutes. I’m not numb, so he shoots me up again and I LOSE it. I can’t control myself and I just start crying and crying. I’m a wicked baby when it comes to mouth pain and I think on top of the anxiety of being at the dentist and my hormones I was just a wreck. So they give me a tissue and he tries to distract me with talk about the baby. He’s a really nice guy and it worked. I started to really feel numb, so I give him the okay to start.
And I feel EVERYTHING. I cried out as soon as I felt the drill inside of my tooth and I started crying all over again. He was absolutely baffled that after several shots I was still feeling anything at all and he gave me a third dose. Finally, after about 10 more minutes, I couldn’t move the left side of my face. I was more numb than I have ever been in my LIFE and he was able to fill the stupid fucking cavity without any more damage being done to my nervous system. The anesthetic didn’t wear off until 5pm. It was unbelievable.
But now I’m DONE. I don’t have to go back to the dentist until after the baby comes and that’s just for a scheduled cleaning. Thank GOD.
So, aside from THAT, my week has been good. Work has been insanely busy, but I’m learning to really love that. I work well under pressure and I really have a lot of fun at my job. I work a lot more directly with the staff on the unit and we all have a good time together. I’m like the unit pet now, too. Everyone keeps bringing me treats. One girl even brought me in my very own jar of pickles that I polished off last night. I feel really appreciated at my job, and I’m developing really good relationships with everyone there, too. It’s a great place to work and it’s proven to be a lot of help to my anxiety and depression. Everyone has openly expressed to me that if I ever need to talk to any of them, they’ll take me into one of the group rooms and we can chat. It’s so refreshing to be surrounded by people like that where you work.
Well, it seems I’ve written a small novel today. I’ve got to go get ready for work in a few. I’m really looking forward to this weekend. I’m catching up with some old friends I haven’t seen in a while and spending Sunday evening with my aunt and uncle and cousins to have dinner and watch the Walking Dead season finale. :] Pumped.
Have a great day, everyone!
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