Explanation

At the end of 2010, my husband and I find ourselves in not-quite-dire financial straits. He has a good job; I am a stay-at-home mom. Recently, I had an opportunity to apply for a good job at the agency I worked for before my kids were born. In looking at that, though, we came to the conclusion that two full-time working parents was not the type of family life we were looking to create for our children. We decided not to apply for the job.

That decision led us to some real soul-searching. The status quo of living on credit cards, spending more than we earned, and hoping it would all work out someday was not sustainable over the long term. Now that we are in our late 30s (me) and mid-40s (him), it is time to grow up and start acting like the adults we truly are.

I came to the conclusion that the answer for us was (rather than a faster-paced lifestyle with two jobs, full-time daycare for the kids, never seeing each other, no real family time, etc.) that we had to start living within our means. Could we do it? Could we downsize everything about our lives and live on my husband's salary alone? And not just live paycheck-to-paycheck, but could we really make a life this way, with savings for retirement and college too?

I'm not sure what the answer is yet, but I'll keep you posted!