The Cost of Working Full Time Part 3

I know I am very late in posting the third and final post in this series of "The Cost of Working Full Time", however this post deals with the issues you can't put a price on, time and my family. The most significant issues to me, and in my opinion the highest price of working full time outside our homes.

If you missed the first two posts in the series, you can read them here and here.

You Can Not Meet The Needs Of Your Home When You Are Not In It

I know this must sound like a no brainer, but it was a revelation to me. I did not realize what 40+ hours away from our home really meant. Believe it or not, I had forgotten. That was 40 hours just at the hospital, that did not count time preparing for work and my commute. Add in another 45 minutes per day. O.K. that's around 45 hours a week now. On average, 8.5-9 hours a day. Whew! That's a lot of hours away from home!

Let me just say here that this was one of my most challenging tasks. Keeping up our home and all that goes with that. Meal preparation, laundry, cleaning, bill paying, grocery shopping...........are just a few of the tasks that quickly became difficult for me to manage. I fell woefully behind in my housekeeping. My husband would not tell you that, but in my heart I knew, and that caused me stress. It might not be the same for you, I am just sharing how it worked for me. Our house is the walls and the shell, but our home is the people inside, and I wasn't there to meet their needs. Things fell quickly behind.

I Was Physically And Emotionally Exhausted

I have mentioned on my blog before that I am a wimp, and I mean it. I require 7-8 hours of sleep. If I consistently get less, I am a mess. Just ask my hubby:) I quickly learned I could not do it all. After 4 years of working per diem, where our home and family was my first priority and my work schedule revolved around home first, working full time again, turned everything around. My job became the first priority and I had to schedule home and family around IT. I felt out of balance. The best hours of my day were given to my employer, not my family. For me, that was difficult.

I am going to jump out on a limb here, and boldly ask, could you please tell me what the feminist agenda liberated us from?........... I believe that movement attempted to remove us from our God ordained roles!! God never intended for us to choose priorities such as these. It was never His intention for us to work 2 full time jobs. He knew being a full time Wife, Mother and Home keeper was a full time job in itself! I believe God allowed this opportunity in my life to remind me just how important my role as Wife, Mother and Homemaker really are, especially to Him. That mommy guilt thing is real, not imagined, because God placed a desire in a married woman's heart to full fill her role. It is in our DNA. Our female nature cannot be molded to the feminist agenda without damage to the original design!

I Was A Stranger In A Foreign Land

I work in a professional environment. For the most part I am not exposed to the worlds harshness. I am however exposed to worldly influence. A few hours a week is a lot different than 40+. I was unequally yolked. My family's goals and priorities are different than most people I work with. Driving One car? UN heard of. Homeschooling? Socially inepting our son? How will he get the education he needs? Will he be accepted at the universities? Asking my husband's permission? Old fashioned. Please don't get me wrong. I like the people I work with. They are kind caring professionals, but we are different. They know I am Christian. I am often not invited or included in extra curricular activities at work. The fancy vacations, two cars, big houses, cell phones etc, etc.... They are influences and you must guard your spirit. This world is not my home. I am a pilgrim in a strange land.

As women we must guard ourselves from the influence of worldly philosophy. Woman today have a harshness to them. They talk like men, work like men, and cuss like men. There is no topic that they will not discuss and blushing is for the weak. I hear woman talk all the time of issues with children, marriages, & finances. Their philosophies could not be more off base. They do not line up with the Word of God. In fact the Bible states, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 1 John2:16

Let me conclude this series, by saying I give all praise to the Lord for the mercy and grace He has given me not to work full-time. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Psalm 66:20 It has not been easy financially, however it has been very,very worth it. In fact the privilege for me has been priceless. I have been on both sides and I can unequivocally say I have been blessed beyond measure as the Keeper of our home. Mere words, truly can not communicate what is in my heart. God has been ever so faithful to us. You can trust Him.

If you are reading this blog and am where I was a few years ago, with a true desire to "come home", don't despair. Pray, pray, and pray some more. Keep reading and looking for ways to reduce your debt. Be prepared to do the hard thing. But above all Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5&6.

I am praying for you,

~Blessings~

Michelle

P.s. If you would like to personally send me an email I will add you to my prayer list!

eehhmmm, Is anybody out there?

Dear Blogging Friends,

Greetings to you all, on this once again snowy day here in upstate N.Y...............

I am sitting here at my dining room table with the sun shining through the window, listening to the music on my site. Praise The Lord.( For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; Job 37:6a)

I hope you are all well and had a wonderful Christmas. We had a blessed Christmas and have hit the floor running in the New Year.

I took December off from couponing and what a blessed time that was! We ate from the pantry and freezer. The additional "extra" time in my schedule was a bountiful blessing in many ways. I truly enjoyed the couple of extra hours gained from not having to shop and prepare. Secondly, we reduced our pantry overload and cleaned out our freezer.Thirdly we saved money to put toward Christmas:)

We have set new financial goals for 2011 as we are getting closer and closer to wiping out all credit card debit. If I was more technical I would try to come up with a fancy graph that I see other bloggers use, but this blogger is technically challenged. You will just have to take my word for it.. God's been good!!!!!!!!!!!

I also have set a few blogging goals, you ready.... I am hoping posting these will make me more accountable to you all, so here goes......

First I hope to blog at least once a week. More if time allows:)

Post more money saving deals that pertain to our local area. Price Chopper specifically. For those who know me that is where I do the majority of my shopping.

And last but not least, post more content that pertains to homemaking, the ministry of being a wife and mother, and all things feminine. I have such a burden for the state of womanhood in our culture. Stay tuned....

I pray you are all having a blessed day where ever you may be, and remember above all things that Jesus loves you and so do I!!!

~Blessings~

Michelle

P.S. Sorry for the double picture, I can't figure how to get it off. I told you I was tech challenged and my computer time is up!

Vacation

Dear Blog sphere friends,

Hope all is well. Thank you for the recent comments. I have several new readers and your comments are an encouragement to my heart!

I know the next post is due in my series "The Cost of working Full-time", however my family is on a much needed vacation. We just returned from Lancaster County/ Gettysburg Penn. We had a great time and saw many interesting things. We are now packed up and ready for a few days of camping. We have taken a 2 week vacation this year which is new for us. We usually just take one week at a time. We have been saving for a long time, and of course this was a frugal vacation:) We are happy to report that we came home with half of the money we saved for vacation!

My lap top is down so my computer time is back to 30 minutes or less a day. I must say even less than that. We started our home school 3 weeks early to accommodate for our vacation. Sorry no fun pictures either as I am having technical difficulties loading pictures from my digital camera to my computer. You all know that I am technically challenged right?

After we are done camping we are home for a day then my husband and I will be attending a couples retreat with our Church. We love this time of fellowship with other married couples and we always receive sound Biblical teaching on marriage. One of my favorite subjects!! Both my husband and I feel strongly that investing in our marriage is worth every penny.

It has been a busy, crazy, wonderful couple of weeks:) It is definitely Fall here in upstate NY. The leaves are beautiful. Fall is our family's favorite time of year. I bought a new cookbook in Amish Country and look forward to making some new apple recipes.

Hope you all are having a wonderful start to Fall, wherever that might be for you! Look forward to chatting with you all again in the next few weeks!

Blessings,
~Michelle~

The Cost of Working Full Time Part 2

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

The Cost of Working Full Time

It has been a while since we all chatted. I would like to thank all of you who check in here faithfully, even when there is nothing new to read. I've recently received some comments that have been a great encouragement to me. I am humbled you would read this blog.

My last entry was way back in March! I have a good excuse. I have been a little busy....hmmmm, specifically working. Yes you read that correctly, and I am working full-time, well at least I was.

For those who faithfully read this blog, you know this blog was created to help those women who have a desire to leave their full-time jobs, learn frugal skills to help them "come home" . That is exactly what I did 4 years ago. I was a full-time Angiography nurse and I left my full-time job to home school our Son and be a Keeper of our home. You can read that post here.

Fast forward to this Spring. I have always worked per-diem since leaving my full-time position. I am so grateful to have this opportunity as the extra money is a great help to my family. I choose the shifts and the days I want to work. As a Critical Care nurse keeping your skills up to date is very important. In our ever changing environment of health care, as well as technology developing at warp speed, working per-diem has helped me keep my skills at a proficient level.

God really has provided a win win situation for me. Early in the spring I received a call from my boss stating that a colleague of mine had broken her ankle. This nurse is the Procedure nurse for our department and there are just a few of us that are able to cover her position. I was told she would be out for 6 weeks...... Her position is Mon-Fri 7:30 until ?, actually whenever the cases are finished. We do Per cutaneous Biopsies in this area and we work until all cases are done. Usually no later that 4p.m. I was asked if I would consider covering her position. I spoke with my Husband and we decided this was something I could do. The hospital I work at has been very good to me over my career and I wanted to help them out in this area. When I left my full-time job we went down to one vehicle. There would be some challenges, but together my Husband and I decided this was something I could do.

We thought the extra money would be a great help and we were almost finished with school. We thought with a little creative scheduling we would complete school on time. This was going to be a good thing. We were pumped up and ready for the challenge and we thought it's only for six weeks right? ...........................................................

Stay Tuned for the next post in this series

~Blessings~

Michelle

The Set Apart Women

Wow. I just read a great post from Kristy over @ Homemakers Cottage. You can read her post here . I was challenged, exhorted, and yes shamed.

I am very careful not to lead you in wrong paths on this site. This is an excellent post!! As a Teen leader of girls, my heart was stirred. I watched the news this morning (why do I do that?) and the headlines were of a young girl, who took her life after being bullied by several girls over the last 6 months. The News anchor then went on to list several pictures & names of teens who have committed suicide within the past year because of being bullied! Help us! If we Christians don't step up to the plate and lead by example, a life set apart, the kids in our churches will turn to the World for their examples. Many already have.

We as Christian women saying one thing and do another. Can I just say that the path to the altar at Church, is not the runway. Woe to us who are in leadership positions who spend more time picking out our Sunday best, than we have in daily devotions. That we consult the Martha Stewart magazines for Home designing instead of what Gods Word states about the building and maintaining of a Christian Home. I can promise you that Martha Stewart's home does not have the warmth and splendor of a home where Christ reigns supreme.A Christ honoring, Christ centered, Christian Home. Where children are raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord, Where mothers are the keepers of the home, and Daddy leads the home.

I was not raised in the type of home I just wrote about. In fact quite the opposite. I will not dishonor my parents with details. They loved us and did the best they could. However, I will say that Christ was not the head of our home growing up. But by His grace and for His glory, that is not the case now. Christ is the head of our home!, and I praise God for it. Before you start thinking I have a perfect home, I do not. We are fallen creatures.I fail daily, as does my husband . The difference now, is we serve a mighty God, who promises to help us. To never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) Our desire is to please Him in all that we say or do. If we continue to use the worlds bench mark to guide our homes and child rearing, we will always fall short. You will be left living a defeated life.

Our guide should be the Living Word of God. God did not leave us helpless. He gave us the best Home living guide on the planet! His Holy Word. Recently I have been under great conviction to increase my time in daily devotions. As Christians we do not have to live defeated lives, but we have to make the choice not to do so. If you choose not to spend time reading and meditating on God's Word, then you are choosing to live defeated that day. We can not walk in the Spirit if we have not spent time with the Lord.

I am so passionate about this subject. I know God is still in the business of changing lives. My family and I are living proof. We are not the same as we were 7 years ago when I rededicated my life to the Lord, and my Husband got saved. My husbands Spiritual birthday is April, 17, 2003. We are not the same people. As we celebrate Christ's Resurrection this week, I can't Thanks Jesus enough for all he did for me. The Bible states in John 10:10 "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

All we have to do is look around and see the thief stealing, killing and destroying. As Christians, we do not have to live that way. Make a cup of tea, curl up on the couch, grab your precious children, and read the best book ever written. God's Holy Word.

P.S. I've read the end of the book, We Win!!!!!

May you have life more abundantly today,

~Michelle~


A special thanks to my friend Wanda for the heads up on the post at Homemakers cottage. I feel blessed to share a kindred heart with you friend!

The World's Worst Blogger

All right. It's now out in the open. I confess I am the World's worst blogger! Many of you building successful money making blogs would consider this statement, blog suicide. However, that has never been the intent of this blog.

I have tried to be forth right in many of my posts regarding the frequency of posting on this blog. I am not Superwoman, and have long ago turned in my cape for an apron. While I readily admit that I am the world's worst blogger, I would like to think that I do the important things fairly well. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Phil 4:13)

My number one role is Wife and helpmeet to my Husband. I am also the keeper of our home, which takes a great deal of time. My wonderful Husband and I just celebrated 16 years of marriage, and I can wholeheartedly say, if given the chance I would marry him all over again. You might be thinking, is He perfect? No. Just perfect for me. My Husband and I both share the same values of marriage and we work very diligently in this area of our life. I have often told our Son that if He is blessed with a helpmeet that loves Him, as much as I love His Dad, His heart will be safe. " The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil." Proverbs 31:11

My second priority is that of Mother, to my wonderful 15 year old Son. He's an amazing kid and I love him dearly. I feel privileged to be His Mom and have seen a glimpse of the depth of love that God must feel for His children. If I do nothing else well in this life, but have filled these two roles to the best of my ability, according to the Word of God, then I will have had great success.

Thirdly I am a servant in our Church. First, I am my Husband's assistant in the Teen Sunday school class, He teaches. He is also our Church's Youth Director, and I assist him in many ways in this area of ministry. We have a very active Youth ministry in our Church and I praise the Lord for that, however this could be a full-time position in itself.

We minister to the needs of my aging In-laws who are in poor health and a recently widowed Uncle. This has recently become a much more demanding area of our lives. The needs of our family have increased, and both my Husband and I feel, the best way to share God's love with our family is to show them the love of Christ. Often times that requires sacrifice. When Christ showed God's love for us, His life was sacrificed. Our free time is limited at this point in life. That's o.k. We have been provided a great opportunity to show our family that our faith is real.

I am a nurse. I work on the average of 6-8 shifts a month. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I feel blessed not to have to work full-time. God has showed Himself so real to my family in the area of our finances. He has provided for us above any thing we could ask or think, as we strive to put Him first in our lives. I am a critical care nurse and that does require me to keep up my skills, as well as certifications. I feel blessed that God has given me this talent.

As you can see, I like you, wear many hats. I enjoy blogging. It is fun and I enjoy reading blogs. I have been very encouraged by many bloggers. There are some great Christ honoring sites out there. However my computer time is limited to less than 30 minutes a day. There are some days I never log on to my computer. The needs of my family come first. Hopefully you all understand. So, maybe I am the world's worst blogger, but as you can see I am attempting to do some things well!



Blessings,

~Michelle~