Fewer Hours @ Work

Well, things have been scary slow at work lately. Lots of grim faces and bad news.

Usually I get avoid the bad news but today was a little different. I still have a job which is good. But, I'm faced with working fewer hours and as a result a decrease in pay.

After my last post of the finances being tight, this feels like a real punch in the gut.

I'm taking this slow because things could turn around quickly at work and my hours could suddenly go back to normal. We'll see...

Middle Class Squeeze

Let me say up front that I feel my life is full and rich. I have a great wife and a bouncing baby boy. I'm blessed with a good job and people that I like working with.

My job pays me a good wage that I am happy with. When both my wife and I were working full time we had plenty of disposable income. Then, we decided she could stop working if she wanted and she did. That meant living on 1 income. We were doing pretty well but we keep getting hit with lots of increases in costs that make our financial life challenging.

Our family medical & dental premiums keep going up each year. Our medical flex plan is used to supplement the co-pays on our medical plan. The medical, dental & flex plan take 15% of my gross pay. And, each year that % goes up. These items are taken out pre-tax which helps some but not a lot.

Our winter heating bills were double the amount we've paid in prior years. We were using less gas and paying much more due to natural gas prices being high. Those higher gas bills take a bite out of the budget. That bill took close to 10% of my take home pay for a couple months this winter.

Thankfully we don't drive much these days. Being pregnant and having a baby slows life down a lot. Here again, the crunch on a budget gets to be substantial when it costs $35.00 to fill up the CRV. Add $100 a month in formula and there's another big bite.

We live in a modest home with a modest mortgage that we got at a kick butt rate a couple years ago. That payment takes out 23% of our take home pay and it also goes up every year.

We've cut back across the board in order to live within our budget. Gone is the Roth IRA contributions, the optional insurances, the newspaper and the fitness club membership. We've made some major cutbacks in personal spending & dining out. We've cut back the amount we're saving for car repairs, house repairs and vacations.

I am aware that our situation is far better than many. Living within these budget constraints makes me appreciate the sacrifice many people make living on less than we do. My wife could always get a job and someday that may happen. But, for now we're going to continue to make sacrifices so we get to spend as much time with our little guy as possible.

Consumed

Wow, I never knew having a young child could be so all consuming. Having him be a part of our lives is a joy. It's a joy that takes just about all my time and energy outside of work right now.

As a result, I find it's really tough to blog. I often think about it but I'm so tired in the evening I usually don't get to it. I'm working on a couple posts right now but I lack the mental coherence to put them together at the moment. Maybe this weekend I can think more coherently.

Good Bye Buck

Buck Owens passed away on March 25, 2006.

The tunes of Buck Owens were the music of my parents, my dad in particular. I sort of absorbed a lot of his music as a child. Then, when I was an adult, I discovered a lost piece of my childhood in his music. I think his music harkens back to a day when my dad was more of a dad.

I remember Buck on the TV show Hee-Haw. When Buck started that show he was a big star. But, wearing overalls and making corny jokes took away from his country music career.

The inside cover on the CD, Buck Owens All-Time Greatest Hits, says: "The Beatles were great fans of Buck and requested that we send them every new record and album when they were released."

His song, "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" spoke to me as I was getting engaged and then married. In the song he sings about it being a negative thing because he couldn't control her. For me it was intriguing to be marrying a lady who was interesting, dynamic and free spirited.

There's a clip of a music video he did with Dwight Yoakam singing "The Streets of Bakersfield" that's pretty good on his web site: http://www.buckowens.com/