When it rains, it pours (hopefully).

I don't think I've mentioned much on here about it, because I'm not handling it well, but we've been having some money issues. Last year I taught for 2 months, had a larger contract than I do for this year, and then taught online classes. That basically means I made about $18k more than I am this year. YIKES!!!! We've never been good at budgeting. We've always made enough to not really worry about spending money. If I wanted something that was reasonably priced, I just bought it - hence why the girls had so many clothes.

Now we are living on a VERY tight budget. It's scary to be living that close to the line every month. While we saved up for the months I wouldn't have an income, that money is now gone, so we don't have any extra cash.

We're taking a class right now through church on financial peace. It's proving to be wonderful. We calculated our budget last week and realized that I need to bring in $1500 a month to make ends meet. Most months that's fine because of my contract work, except for Oct, Nov, and Dec.

So, I've been looking for extra things I can do to bring in money. We know we still want me to be home with the girls because when we looked at my full time salary, we'd have less than $1k left over - can we say daycare for two? So, we'd be pretty much in the same place, but have the girls in daycare.

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend at the dept of ed and she asked if I would be available to help with some of her work. This means a new contract to the tune of $5k. YAYAYAYAY! It's work that would start asap and be done by Christmas (yay, we can have Christmas this year j/k). That was a relief to say the least, but not a solution.

So, I went on craigslist last night and looked up local jobs. I saw one ad for an SAT prep tutor. I thought it would be in the afternoon-evenings and pretty flexible, so I sent in my resume. They called me this morning as soon as we walked in the door after our playdate. They explained that although I had applied for a tutor position, they would like me to consider a managerial position instead. Instead of being a tutor, I'd be the coordinator of the tutoring programs in the district here in town. It's 20-30 hours a week. All but the appointments at the schools can be from home on my own hours. It's even better pay than subbing!!!! They even don't mind that there would be weeks that I'm doing my contract work for the state. I'd be making double our deficit each month plus my contract work.

I'm almost in tears right now! I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but this is an amazing opportunity. I could keep doing my contract work, which I love, and still be able to stay home. I wouldn't have to work nights and weekends for minimum wage (which was another thought we were considering). I'm scared to death that this won't work out now that I have the idea in my head.

The conversation was great with the woman. She has a 4 1/2 month old and works from home as well. She hires a nanny for a few hours each day so she can do her work. We talked babies for a while as well, so we had a great conversation that lasted about 30 minutes. I have an interview on Monday.

I'm in awe. I saw the job posting, but wasn't sure there would be enough flexibility, so I didn't send my resume in.

We had a wonderful conversation and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Part of me feels like crying because this is so needed and the other part feels sick to my stomach with worry that it won't work out.

Please think good thoughts for me and this situation - it really has the potential to be the answer to a lot of our problems.