So in an effort to redirect my energy from all things fertility/infertility and TTC I have been reading a few helpful blogs on money management that has helped me some in dealing with money.
As you know I never had any intention of being a SAHM. I always thought it was ideal to stay home for a few years after you have a baby but I never thought it would be feasible financially and career wise without some big sacrifice that we were not willing to make. But as with most things in life things don't go as planed, circumstances will force you to make some changes to the much thought out road you envisioned for your life.
So it has been over two years that we have been living on one salary. It has been an adjustment but not as difficult as I thought out it would be. However, the loss of my income has a big impact on our retirement funds. The plan was after we bought a home (which we did 2.5 years ago) we were suppose to significantly increase our retirement contribution.
So my hope is that my health will start improving as Menopause approaches. I am betting on the endometriosis pain getting easier and I will be able to go back to work in some form or another in a year or two but that is no guarantee.
The blogs I have been reading on retirement are mostly focused on achieving early retirement. Since I can't make that goal for me right now, I have adjusted my goal to being able to save as much as we can now and may be I will be able to go back to work and be able to save a lot more if we stick to our current life style. The trick is not to maximize our lifestyle as income increases and eliminate excess spending.
My DH laughs at all of my planning. When I tell him about people who have saved enough and are retired in their 30s and 40s he says he is not interested in retiring. Even if that is not the goal wouldn't it be wonderful to not worry about money even if you choose to keep working and knowing that you can walk away from your job when you see fit. That is just liberating.
Any how, everyone can learn from these blogs what ever goals they have financially. If you read this far then you have some interest in early retirement or just saving more for retirement so hope these blogs help you as well. It certainly has helped.
1. Mr Money Mustache : This site has helped me a lot in looking at money as a tool to have a more meaningful life and to really question unnecessary spending.
2. Go Curry Cracker: These couple retired in their 30s and travel around the world.
3. Budgets are Sexy: The blogger quit his job to permanently blog about money.
4. Early Retirement Extreme: for the extreme :)
Hope you enjoy it
Thanks. :) We love Dave Ramsey for getting started, but I need to do more research in other ideas. We have a plan and a budget, and we always feel so poor/restricted because we refuse to deviate from it. LOL. I am going to have to break down and buy some extra things in the next few months though, kids are growing out of their clothes... but mainly we've cut our budget down to the bare minimum in order to save more. It feels so slow, like we'll never reach our goals... but I'm sure we will eventually. LOL. It's just hard to constantly say "no" to all the fun things now. *sigh* I love being a SAHM... yes there is a financial sacrifice, but like you said, it isn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. I hope your health gets better and you can pursue and fulfill your goals.
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