Because it seems that all of my co-workers have. Ok, so I did announce it on Facebook this morning, but that was after getting several messages from different co-workers I hadn't mentioned it to! Anyway, just so you're not left out of the loop in the off chance that you haven't already heard... it's official that I am not returning to work for the upcoming school year.
GASP!
It was a tough call for financial reasons and because I love my career despite all the complaining I've done about it :] But it was easy because daycare would have cost us almost all of my income anyway, and because I love my baby way waaaaaay more than my career. I have a, uhhh, "plan" to make up for lost income which I am in the process of implementing and feel confident about its success. I also feel strongly that this is the best thing for our family and most importantly for our baby, and I trust that God will see us through it.
Because I took a leave of absence instead of quitting outright, I am able to go back to a job teaching in the district, though likely not at the same school :[, as early as the 2011-12 school year. I also have the option of renewing my leave of absence for up to 2 years for each child I have. Therefore, if I have another child before my leave of absence expires, I can go right into another 2 years of leave for that baby. It amounts to a significant period of time that I am not making my way up the pay scale - for those non-teachers, we are paid based on years of service - so if I'm not there for 4 years, I'll be that many steps behind on the pay scale. Additionally, it's a period of time I am not contributing to a retirement account. I can choose to set something up on my own and put money away, but we are (at least at first) going to rely on every dollar I make so I don't think a retirement account will be happening right away.
I've probably mentioned before, but my hope is that we will soon (whatever that realistically means) be sustained on my dear sweet husband's income entirely, and the money I make can just be for savings and fun, or socked away for retirement. But I understand that is going to mean some serious sacrifices for a little while. We're young and fairly early on in our career(s), so I feel like this should work out for us.
Anyone out there ever transitioned to one income? Got any tips? I'm open to anything!
So there is the major news in our lives right now.
Before I depart for this post, I want to shout a huge THANKS to my friend and kindred spirit, Laura, whose blog inspires me every day, for linking to me in a recent post. Check out my traffic! All sorts of new cities popping up over there! I find this incredibly exciting because Laura's blog attracts wild amounts of traffic from around the world and now all of those people have been introduced to my blog too! I'm still working on being as clever and interesting as she is, but hopefully some of those folks will take an interest and keep visiting me! So thanks, Laura, you rule. But you already know that :]
Until next time!
I think it's great that you are going to live off of Josh's income. We basically started off that way so that we wouldn't get used to the double income, so I'm kind of useless in terms of transitioning. I do know that it is a sacrifice and I agree with you that it is much better to make it now while you are young and at the beginning of your careers. It is sad to me that daycare costs so much that it nearly cancels out a second paycheck, that is so crazy to me--how do single mothers survive?? Anyway, congrats on your decision and good luck with your future plans. :)
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