Looking Up

Isn't it amazing how one piece of news can turn things around? I've been very down, as you know, and one of my biggest stressers is money. Because I tend to spend it. Foolishly perhaps. Every month I budget. I budget for all our bills, the groceries, school needs and activities for the kids, entertainment, clothes, Stampin' Up and everything else that we might spend our dollars on. I even budget money to save, and I am always left with about $500 extra each month. But when the month is done there is no 500 extra dollars, there is nothing saved and sometimes I even end up skipping a bill and paying double the next month. Where, or where, does our money go?

So anyway last Thursday evening, I placed my Stampin' Up order knowing that William's cheque would be deposited by the morning. Morning comes, I check the bank balance and was shocked. There was so little in there! William's overtime had come to an end, apparently I hadn't realized how much bigger those hours made his cheques. (Although it actually turns out he didn't get paid for 2 sick days and he still hasn't asked about it. Urgh!) What to do? I tried to adjust my order but it had already been shipped. There was a large cheque for soccer fees for Liam and Saoirse to come out and it was Taylor's birthday in 3 days. We would need groceries and gas and the other odds and ends that come up. Crappers.

So it put me in a bad, stressed out mood all weekend. We gave Taylor some money for her birthday, with promises for the actual requested gifts- knitting needles, wool and Season 3 of the Gilmore Girls- next week. It sucks to have to tell your kids you are broke. We have always pretty much lived paycheque to paycheque but this is the first time since William started working that we have literally had no money.

But then yesterday when William came home for lunch he mentioned that he was talking to the head guy in the installation department and that this guy would love to have him in that department because he has a reputation as a hard worker. He mentioned what the average guy makes and it is more than double William's wages. If he does this it would mean that he would be a sub contractor so he would have to register a GST number and pay his own taxes. It would mean buying a truck and $2000 in tools. We are going to go for it. Once his permanent residency comes in we are going to look into a program run by the government for people starting up their own businesses and programs for new immigrants. If none of those work out we will look into a bank loan.

Knowing that in a year or two he could be making so much more money lifted this huge gigantic weight off my chest. I feel like I can breathe again. Suddenly, I am not stressing about going back to school or having to work full time to make ends meet. I feel good about things for the first time in a long time. Now I just have to hope that this works out.