A quick job update: Still waiting...on everything. Waiting on the results of my most recent interview. Waiting to hear from the 2 magazine that I submitted proposals to. Waiting to hear from any of the 6 freelance proposals that I submitted last week. The waiting is not unexpected, but it is not fun. What I really want is a timeline; I want to know when I will start working again. A hard date is something that I can work with and plan around. Starting work in June? Great we'll enjoy the rest of the month until that starts. Starting work in July? Ok. We'll budget our time and money to have a great summer. Starting work in August? Fine. I'll find some seasonal work in order to cover the gap. Any of those will work out, but until we get some solid information, the family is trying to make what we have go as far as it can.
Welcome my friends to the world of simple living. Simple living is a lifestyle of frugality that does not compromise the family's quality of life. The children are well fed and clothed; they play and pursue their interests. However we cut out some of life's extras in order to intentionally apply our time and money other places. Some people choose a simple life because they value quality time with the family or they want to focus their resources on donating to a valued cause. Some people have a simple life chosen for them. They are fired, take a pay cut, have a huge medical expense or some other unforeseen event arise and they have to budget accordingly.
It is always a more secure feeling to choose instead of having it chosen for you. We are somewhere between the choosing and being chosen for. I could have chosen to stay at my previous job longer by simply not telling the Board that I was considering leaving. Then I could have quit one day and started my new job the next day. That did not seem like a decision with integrity so I informed my employers of my intention to move on and they were able to complete their transition without harming the organization or its participants.
So June rolled around and Carina and I decided that we needed to re-evaluate our budget. We have a month worth of savings but that could be extended if we simplified life. I'll get more into what we cut and what we kept later, but here's the big initial take-away: A simple life is not a worse life. There are trade-offs that come with getting a big paycheck. There are trade-offs that come with kids being involved in lots of activities. There are trade-offs that come with eating out and going to movies and having nice stuff. We have the opportunity to decide which trade-offs are worthwhile and which are too costly. Instead of complaining about what we don't have or can't do, we have the opportunity to explore other ways of living so that when we do have money again we can be intentional about pursuing the kind of lifestyle that is in line with what we want our family to value.
This is our summer of simple living. If you are there too, try to not fall into despair. Simple Living. Name it. Claim it. Learn everything that you can from it for it will only be for a season.
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