Cheese With Your Whine?
9.23.2005
Money ventSo, over on Sticking to the Point, Ms. K was talking about how hard it must be to be a single mom. Honestly, it's okay. I just do it. But it got me thinking about what IS hard.
The one thing that I have the hardest time with is the money side of single parenthood. I despise the stress of being fully responsible for every dollar that comes into my little family. The really sucky thing right now is that I get paid once a week. That means that most months I bring in 4X dollars, but some months I bring in 5X. Well, in the 4X months, I just don't make it. When I set my budget I based it on being paid 12 equal amounts - not this bullshit. So most months, I'm ending up short by about .5X. It stresses me out, man. Then the other months (only one of which I've seen since I started this job) I'm up. That month, I had some medical things I had to take care of.
The other thing that bites about already being down almost every month is that there's not reserve for things like, oh, brakes! I'm just sick of worrying. I really thought that when I started here, things would be better and for a while it would be, but now that I'm seeing the pattern and how the cash actually flows, it bites - big time.
I really need to find another solution for Rylee. She loves where she is and I really don't want to move her, but $900/month is killing me. And that's about the norm around here. The cheapest other place I found was $650 and I wouldn't leave a dead dog there. Besides that, the best solution was $750 and I had to pack lunches. I know me and having to do that every day would just add stress. I do well to get us both out of the house, dressed and awake by 6:30, without having to remember a lunch - even if I became organized enough to pack it the night before. And it would cost something. Maybe not all of that $150 I'd save, but something.
I'm just stressed out. And that I hate. So I pay all that so that I can leave her somewhere while I'm gone for 11 hours at job with a boss who's a flake and that's not really paying me what I need how I need it in order to make it. And all that bonus money he promised me??? He now says he's not paying it for a year. Well, I sure as hell counted on the number he told me I'd make in bonuses to really be okay. A year, my ass.
So, yes, I'm still on the hunt for another job. I've actually thought about getting my teaching certification and teaching HS English or math. The hours are great, you get awesome vacations. They are paid well in TX. I've actually done the math and because the schools have child care centers there that charge $150 a month, I could take a $10K annual paycut and be UP $300 a month, if I'm not making bonuses here. How screwed up is that?
Money sucks.
