Introduction

There I was, my feet firmly planted in the lower middle class, living – like many Americans my age, it seems – paycheck to paycheck. We could pay all our bills, put a tiny bit aside for an occasional (close to home) vacation. Suddenly, over the course of two days, everything changed.

Well, okay, not everything. I'm being very dramatic.  What has not changed is that we still live in the same house and pay the same bills. My husband and I are very much in love after six years of marriage and we have two children: Coen, age 6 and Lucy, age 2. What did change was that my husband, Tad, was offered an opportunity to leave his ‘soul sucking’ corporate job. (Which he hated and paid him exactly the same as my do-gooder non-profit job, but with worse benefits, which of course led us to ask 'what is the point of a corporate job anyway?). On Wednesday July 28th, my husband was given the opportunity of a teaching job  for the 2011/2012 school year. This is great news. He’ll have summers off, wonderful benefits and even get to be doing something that MEANS something.

So what? Happy ending-everything’s great, right? What's the point of this silly blog anyway?  Well, things are not totally okay, not in the family bookkeeper’s eyes, anyway. That’s me. Tad, after finding out on Wednesday July 28th about this opportunity, also found out that in order to do this, he needed to go to school. Full time.  Monday through Friday 8-4:30, no room for much else but homework.  So he did what any other sensible sudden graduate student in an intensive program would do--he quit his job on Friday July 30th, reducing us to one, not-that- big, income.   This was a decision that we made together.  It will benefit our whole family in numerous ways.  But one income living isn't going to be easy.   I am nervous, but of course I know that we will do it. We have supportive families who will help us and it is only 10 months. With a very exciting light at the end of the tunnel.

So welcome to my blog. I’m not sure how exactly we’re going to do this. But we’re going to do this. This is my blog to help me pass the time, and having something to occupy my mind that is panicking a bit about the change in income, and the 10 months I shall be going with no shopping, no restaurants, no nothing. That’s how it feels of course, but I know it won’t be all that bad. Or will it? Have fun reading my blog and finding out!