Help with the transition

[rebeccalizzie]

Hi all! Well, after lurking and occasionally posting here, it looks like it's going to happen--I'm going to be a homeschooling SAHM in August. I'm honestly petrified. :o

Financially, we'll be okay. It's going to be a bit of a stretch, but nothing unmanageable. DH and I have also discussed some of the splitting chore and money type issues, and I think we're on the same page. I may be in denial, but I think we'll be okay there too.

So I have 7 months until I'm home. Any suggestions? Anything you wish you would have done to make the transition go more smoothly? I'm trying to declutter a bit so maybe the house will be less of a disaster, and trying to put some of my salary aside...but that isn't really happening. DH really wants us to spend these last few months being able to buy what we want, so he doesn't want us to start living on his salary yet (because it would mean reducing his huge allowance). I understand his point, why go through the pain before we have to?

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I would realy reconsider putting asside some of you salery now. You realy may need to have a buffer if something happens down the road but also, and more important imo, you need to get used to living on a smaller income. it can be a bit of a shock to go from all to nothing. Try putting asside 10% for a few months and then 20% and so on until you are home.

[rebeccalizzie]

Oh, we're putting some aside, and also putting more toward my car so it will be almost paid off when I quit. We just aren't living on solely his income yet. I think we're going to start doing that in June, so we'll have two months of my salary before I quit and then I should be getting 3 months of paid mat leave because I have a lot of time saved up. We're going to try not to use any of that money at all, so we'll be able to put it aside for a cushion.

[RainbowSquidney]

Sounds like you've got a good plan.
We had (still do!) almost $10,000 in cc debt from when dh was laid off when i quit my job. We're struggling, but it's worth it to be with my kids. We homeschool too. We've found very creative ways to learn free/cheap.

Congrats on your new job!
:thumb