This is the second post in The Cost Of Working full Time series. If you missed the first series in the post you can read it here.
Initially when I was asked to work full-time for 6 weeks, I will be honest, I was quite excited. I thought it would be a huge financial blessing. Please don't mis- understand, we were blessed with financial gain, however not to the degree I had originally thought.
1. Uniforms cost Money
Since I was perdiem working 1-2 shifts
a week, the three uniforms I had was quite sufficient. However I quickly realized that would not suffice working 5 days/week. The cost of new uniforms was $250.00 You might think that is quite steep. Medical Uniforms are expensive. As a professional it is important to be dressed appropriately. The uniforms are an investment and will last me a long time. They are also tax deductible. However I still had to shell out $250.00
2. I did not have time to Coupon
Couponing has saved my family literally hundreds to thousands of dollars. Remember when I mentioned we had one vehicle? That was a choice my Husband and I made when we decided I would leave my full-time job. Most of the time only having one vehicle is of little inconvenience. My husband car pools, except when his boss is on vacation, and if I need the vehicle I just get up at 5:30am and bring him to his car pool stop. Once in a while is not bad, but daily rising at this hour,coupled with working 40+ hours a week, well I was exhausted! I will admit, I am a wimp!!
I had little energy for couponing. I have been couponing 10+ years now and am fairly efficient. However couponing and sale searching still takes about 1 hour of my time each week. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. In the thirteen weeks that I worked full-time(I know it was supposed to be six, I will get to that part later) I went couponing twice. The last time I was not organized and was way over budget! I rationalized, "I am making more money now so it's o.k." I bought more ready made foods than normal and purchased way more treats. I rationalized, "I am working more and well we deserve it." That's stinkin thinkin and that gets you into debt! After paying that high grocery bill (double my my normal) I got my head on straight! I recently went couponing and my subtotal came to $194+change and after coupons and my advantage card I paid $72 Glory to God!!!!
3. We ate out more in thirteen weeks than we have in one year!
I will be honest. This probably was the most discouraging revelation to me. As you know we have worked very, very, very hard on becoming debt free. We have sacrificed, gone without, prayed and then prayed some more and God has been blessing our finances mightily. However, when I started making a little more, became crunched for time, was over tired, well the first thing we started to do was order out, or go out and get something fast food. Eating out that way is very expensive. The integrity of this blog is important to me, and I would love to give you a figure, but honestly after the first $60.00 I stopped counting. That is stinkin thinkin too! Rule #1 of debt management is knowing where your money is going. #2 is sticking to your budget. We use the envelope system and $20.00 every 2 weeks goes into the entertainment envelope. That is what we use for take out, soft ice cream,or whatever we choose. When it is gone we don't eat out anymore. That was not the case with me working full-time. Not only was it expensive, it wasn't all that good and it certainly was not good for us. Physically nor financially. All of my family commented how much they missed daily home cooked meals. I am happy to report we are back on track and my family is once again the recipients of mama's cookin.
The afore mentioned are the tangible, measurable points that I noted regarding the financial aspects of me working full-time, please stay tuned for the Spiritual, and social aspects I noted of me leaving our home to work full-time. Please note these are the express opinions of this writer and I in no way condemn or judge those women who have to work outside the home. Quite the opposite. You are often in my thoughts and prayers.........
~Blessings~
Michelle
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