When I received a call from my sister, Kim, this afternoon asking if I was OK, I immediately realized that my previous post had been sent to most of your emails-unfinished. I know this little mistake sounded pretty desperate, but I promise, I had a (self-proclaimed) fantastic idea for that post. It went a little something like this...
My failure to get a job, despite all of the letters after my name has inspired me to really focus on being a great mom and wife.
{Sidebar-please refrain from sending me emails or comments stating the following or some modification of the following, "Amy, you have the most important job in the world." I already know this and as I watch with amazement as Hayden grows and changes by the day, I am so incredibly grateful to be unemployed. The problem is, I would like to have a PAYING job. A job that allows me to do what I have been studying to do for the past 10 years. So please, Save it!}
As most of you know, the duties of the mom and wife are often mundane and typically go unnoticed by the rest of the family. Although they would notice if you didn't do the dishes for 24 hours, no one really compliments you on what a great job of dishwashing you did (but Matt often thanks me for doing them, which I really appreciate). No one really cares when you clean out the closets or organize the tupperware cabinet or make up the bed every day. These types of tasks don't make you a more interesting person or make you feel rewarded at the end of the day, but they are necessary to make the household run properly. Besides, when Matt comes home at the end of the day and asks me, "what did you do today?" I can't just run through what happened on the Today show, The View, Oprah, Ellen and Animal Cops Houston (please don't ask about my love of animal cops). Instead, I can proudly reply, "I cleaned out Hayden's closet" or "I organized my office" or "I went to Anthropologie"-oops, that one slipped out by mistake.
One of my newfound wifely obsessions is saving money. This was inspired by last month's horrifying $1000.00 grocery bill, which I was determined to decrease significantly. Another inspiration was the depressing amount of food I was throwing away each week. So I started doing a few things like planning the weekly meals on Sunday, clipping coupons and shopping sales. I have to say that saving $40.00 a week on groceries might seem like nothing to some people, but it equates to $160.00 a month or $1920.00 per year! Giving up the Starbucks habit, probably another $50.00 a month ($600.00 a year); Changing my gym membership from family to single (no one else in the family uses it) saves us $360.00 a year. Although this is exhilarating for me, I think I am secretly driving Matt a little crazy. At first, the prospect of saving all of this money was exciting to him, but now I think he'd rather listen to Hayden cry than me saying. "today I found a coupon for $1.25 off a 12 pack of LaCroix" or "If you mix water with this remnant dishsoap, I think we can get another week out of it", or the worst of the worst, "I am re-instating meatless mondays".
The truth is, everyone needs a job. That's why retired people volunteer, kids sell lemonade and mow lawns and moms cut coupons and work to save money-it gives you purpose, it makes you feel like you contribute and it gives you something (really boring) to talk about besides your children. So for now, my job is supermom and superwife. I will quietly go about my organizing, cleaning and clipping coupons while Hayden sleeps and give him my undivided attention when he is awake. And even though I don't get paycheck or a raise or a Christmas bonus (but let's face it, no one gets Christmas bonuses anymore), I know that I am doing my job.
