Almost a year ago, I quit my job. My last day of work was May 6th. I haven't regretted that choice at all. Mason has been so much happier with me at home, he has grown a lot, and become less clingy. And I have been happier being at home with him. Being a stay-at-home mom isn't easy, but my stress level dropped significantly because I hated having to leave my child with others to care for him.
There have been setbacks. I tried to set up daycare, but never managed to make it work, so I wasn't able to contribute much to our income. And we have built up a little bit of credit card debt, because I stopped paying it off each month. I decided it would be better to have the available cash, rather than worry about a little bit of interest.
Mike finished his degree in December, and we started job hunting the end of November or the beginning of December. I had been a little spoiled by my experience getting my job, because it had seemed like such a sure thing, and I was in a better situation, financially (I was living with my Dad temporarily, and and was single, much easier to deal with.) But we had applied for so many jobs for Mike and hadn't even heard from half of them.
On a side note, government jobs are annoying to apply for, because you don't hear anything once the application process is complete unless they decide to hire you.
Anyway, back when I quit, we had managed to save enough money to pay for our expenses for 8 months or so. We started running low at the beginning of the year, which was about when I stopped paying off the credit card each month (which we mainly used for gas, but since Mike had an hour drive to and from school everyday, that added up). Then, of course, we could file our taxes, and we did so as soon as possible, expecting to get a good sized tax return, which, thankfully, we did. I had worked long enough, and with child tax credits and everything, we got enough to pay for several more months.
The whole time we had Mike's part time job, and the income from that, which wasn't much, but helped to extend the money some. But we were starting to get worried. We'd been job hunting for at least four months, and hadn't even gotten any nibbles. We extended the search to part time jobs, figuring that he could keep the one he had, and having two might get us enough income, as well as getting a foot in the door for future full-time possibilities. It wouldn't have been ideal, but it would have been better than what we had.
Still nothing. We were running low on savings. We still had enough for a couple months at least, but we decided that if we didn't find something by the beginning of May, we'd have to go to the church to get some help to extend our savings a bit longer.
Then it happened. It was kind of interesting how it worked out. A guy in our ward had known about job openings at his work, and had helped another guy get hired there. The only reason Mike hadn't heard about the job opening was because he had never talked to our ward employment specialist about needing work. He had been working with the stake employment specialist, but it hadn't occurred to him that he should talk to both. Anyway, I had heard from someone about the job openings, but by the time Mike spoke to the guy who worked there, all the openings had been filled. But he said to go ahead and fill out an application online anyway for future openings.
A couple weeks later, a friend of mine in the ward mentioned to me, that she'd been told by the new hire at this company, that they were looking for more people again. This was a Thursday or Friday. I passed the info on to Mike, and he applied for the job Saturday.
The next Tuesday they called him for an interview on Wednesday.
Thursday, they called and offered him a job.
And he starts work next week, two weeks after being called for the interview.
It's a full time job, that pays more than we need to survive, so we can save up for, hopefully, a down payment on a house, and other things. It has benefits for employees and their families, which seem to be fairly competitive. And it starts the first of May. Mike finds it very interesting that the job starts on the day that we set for our cut-off of going to the church for aid. All I can say, is that the Lord has been watching over us.
Not only that, but we have almost enough in savings to pay off our credit card when we get the first paycheck. It all worked out just right.
When I quit my job, it was a gamble. I had a good, secure job, with good benefits, and opportunities to advance, whereas Mike was still a college student. My co-workers thought I was nuts, and I can't blame them: by the world's view, I was. But I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and when Mason was born, that desire was intensified. And Mike and I both felt that Heavenly Father wanted me to be home with our son, no matter what sacrifice was involved. So we took what steps we could to ensure that we wouldn't be a financial burden on anyone, and took the leap. And the net has finally appeared.
