Money Woes

Warning - Whining Ahead...

I LOVE my job.  I get to help shape America's future and touch the lives of many children.  I make kids laugh while learning, I help sharpen their reading skills, and I teach them how to problem solve in math, as well as in life.  I work SO hard at my job and it has never been a forty hour a week kind of job.  I constantly take grading home after work and spend hours on the weekends working on report card comments and planning.  I often go in early and stay late.  I do this all, despite the lack of a noticeable raise or full support from the parents.

But sometimes it's hard not to get frustrated with the pay! Once I get my graduate degree in two years, I'll see the biggest pay raise possible in the next several years - before taxes it'll be around $5,000 to $6,000 more a year.  I know that that's still better than some get and I'm not looking for a pity vote here, but I just want to scream sometimes!

It boggles my mind that I have been in this job for five years and I currently only make $3,000 more a year than I did my first year of teaching!! And that's BEFORE taxes.  It makes it really hard to hear friends and family talk about raises of $8,000 or $10,000 raises or bonuses that are even more than that.

I do get an income from Thirty-One, but it's not steady and I can't depend on it.  With my current bills, the random car bills that I've had lately (Tires = $900 ugh!), and graduate school, I'm seriously struggling.  Not to mention the wedding costs!

I feel like I have a personality disorder when it comes to my finances.  Some days I think to myself, "Hey, it's cool.  I'm not like the average American struggling with tens of thousands in debt, and I pay all of my bills on time.  So it's ok."  But then other days I feel like a total failure when I think of the fact that I literally don't have a savings and I have to keep using my credit card to pay for wedding stuff.  I hate having a balance at all on my credit cards, and I know it's not the end of the world, and you only get married once, blah blah...BUT it still bothers me.

So I'm trying my hardest to get more Thirty-One parties, but I don't want to be too pushy about it or too sales-y by asking friends and family to host.  I can't force people to have parties!

I still babysit once a week, but that's only $40 at a time.  So it doesn't go very far at all.  Lately, it hasn't been consistent either.  I just broke down and applied for some tutoring jobs online.  For the past three years my school system gave me a tutoring job twice a week that helped me, but the budget wasn't there for it this year.  So I'm hoping I can find some other ones on my own. We shall see.

Not to get too religious here, but I know things happen for a reason and that I'm being looked after.  I know that I have people around me who care and who are willing to help when needed (and who already have - I know I have the best friends and family!).  I pray and thank God multiple times a day for the blessings I have.

But sometimes I just want to get paid more for what I already do and love, instead of trying to find other odd jobs to pick up the pieces!