My new schedule starts tomorrow. I am going to have Sundays and Mondays off from here on out. I am excited and relieved to have the new schedule, but I am worried about my schedule flexibility when I finally get to go back to school. I am afraid that I may have to go part-time.
For the last year and a half I have agonized over my schedule. At first I thought that Wednesdays and Sundays off would be convenient. One day with Casey, one weekday to myself to schedule appointments and accomplish things. Oh, but I am a do-er! I found myself making elaborate to-do lists for each day off. Never able to accomplish it all, having to make the un-done things wait two or three more days was stressful. Especially things that take up lots of time, like driving to Pflugerville to see the horse. Which led to guilt and stress, and in the end, stress leads to exhaustion, exhaustion leads to the inability to finish tasks... and the circle continues. Not anymore! If I don't do something Sunday, I still have one day to accomplish it.
Things are working out for me all over the place! Budget-wise, this past month has been very difficult, but I think I have it figured out now. The beginning of the year is when I normally have my financial melt-down. As soon as I figure out why I have an annual financial melt-down I will have solved 50% of my problems. I recently spoke with the woman who cares for Faux Pas and she came up with an even monthly amount for me after averaging all of Faux Pas' costs for the rest of the year. No more unexpectedly pricey months (February was a doozy for horse costs). In February I also changed a couple of routines that affect my budget. From now on, on pay day I fill my gas tank. Fancy, I know, but before this month I only put $5-$10 in at a time. For a couple of reasons: It was fast, and I was more than likely running late (all of the time), I knew I could afford that amount without it feeling like it was taking a huge chunk out of my account. All it really did was make me run late more often, gunk up my fuel filter, and slowly take chunks out of my account that added up to the same amount. I get paid this coming Wednesday. The last time I filled up was February 24th. It is working well for me. I am going to apply this practice to dog food, too. Mainly, not waiting until the food bag is empty to buy the next one, and to always buy the big bag. I am considering setting up a couple of automatic payments, too, which is something I have never been comfortable with, but I see the value in it. Mr. A and I still need to sit down and budget together, but as far as my personal costs go, I've got it taken care of.
Being a grown up and having to deal with finances sucks, feeling good about figuring out how to handle my few funds is pretty sweet, though.