Life is expensive

Now that T has been with us for about 6 months we are realizing just how expensive life is. Cost for just about everything seems to continue to rise but salaries don't. Over the past few months feeding another person, unexpected dental and car repairs and other incidentals have taken their toll on our budget and our savings account. The past two weeks M and I have been having serious discussions on what we can do to cut corners to put money back in savings. We can make it month to month but we need to have money in savings for the unexpected things. After looking at our budget over and over we realized, there are no corners to cut. We have already made a lot of cuts and the few we have left would not really save us much money and we usually cut those on and off through the year as needed. Therefore the only way to be able to start putting money is savings is for one of us to get a part-time job. With that realization, we had to have another awkward conversation- Who would get the part-time job. We are both willing but at the same time neither one of us really want to. We spent this past week thinking of all the factors we had to look at:

Who has the most flexibility in their schedule?
Who has connections to get a job quickly?
What jobs are available part-time?
Which one of wants to take on more at home while the other works?
Who may be able to handle a part-time job better?

In the end, we decided it is better if I get the part-time job. I have more flexibility in my work schedule which is important since M can't leave before 5:30 and some nights 6:00 depending when others come in. He also has to work one night a week and the occasional weekend. However, I can re-arrange my schedule on some days where I can leave at 4:45 if not 4:30 to head to another job. I have worked more than one job in the past before and I don't mind working more if Matt is willing to do more at home. With all this, it made more sense for me to get the job (M said he would get one too if needed) but I had another reason for stepping up. I would never tell M this because he would argue and disagree but I feel I need to make the sacrifice because it's my family that has cause this. It's my mother that drained most of our savings account the first time and we haven't really recovered. It's my brother that we are using all our extra money to support. Therefore, it's my responsibility to take on more. He would never agree to that but he doesn't have to because it's my burden.

I already went in for a job interview at K-Mart. I have a friend that works there part-time and got me the interview (it was fast). I have to admit though, it was a bit embarrassing. Here I am with a college degree working to build my career and profession and now I am working part-time. I understand that it is honorable to work hard to survive but I am a bit embarrassed that I haven't made more of myself yet to be able to make it. I know I will get over it and I know that working part time will only be temporary (we are looking at 8 months because I don't really want to work in retail over the holidays) but it is still embarrassing and a bit overwhelming.