BTDT

The problem when going from a two income family to a one income family is the amount of cutbacks that are required. Generally those cutbacks include eating out and non-essentials. This means I have to cook most every meal which is a royal pain in the ass on the days I end up working late or am the most stressed.

No buying new clothes to replace worn out or out of style clothing. No "dates" to movies, and cutting back (r cutting out) on other fun stuff, which in my case are coaster events and trips to CP--even with a season pass, there is still the cost of gas.

When one sees all of the money going towards bills, and credit card balances are getting higher and higher, it's easy to get stressed, and sadly, to feel resentful. I deal with that daily.

On the other hand, Gordon is doing something he absolutely loves now. His stress levels have dropped dramatically, so even though his paycheck is small, the mood change has helped a great deal.

I guess it comes down to who can best handle the stress. In our case, it's me.

I really wish you could stay home. I feel bad even mentioning it.

Perhaps we can make cuts elsewhere, like CPLady recommends. We should sit down and analyze.

The thing is, I want to make more money not because of debt, but because I like living the J-Pizzie lifestyle.

Amen to that last comment. My wife and I are starting to spend more than we should, but it's just that we've become too accustomed to living well - two vacations a year, staying at the Westin instead of Ramada, eating out 4-5 times a week, buying what we want when we want it.

I'm just now realizing that it's only going to get worse, unless one of us gets a major promotion (not going to happen), new job (unlikely) or wins the lottery (lol).

I vote for the Lottery!!!

I hear the Mega Millions is up to $96 million