The good news and the bad news

  Looking ahead at finances I became a bit alarmed when I realized that although we had three paychecks in January one of them would be for ZERO dollars. Ugh. My job has been hourly, only paying me for the hours I worked, for the 36 weeks of the school year only. Having been receiving social security death benefits until my youngest graduated this had not been a problem before. Knowing last year these would end we've been making adjustments to the budget and last year I picked up additional hours at school by working as one of the aftercare assistants. It makes for a long 11 hour workday but it also made me eligible for health insurance and gave us the much needed addition to the finances. And since I was already on location it didn't mean additional driving or gas useage to get to a second job. Which are very good things.
On the downside I still have a ridiculous car payment. A decision totally on me I understand but now one I regret. After much discussion with the GF who is something of a 'car guy' I agreed that the smartest move is to tighten the belt for the remaining 18 payments and hang on to this vehicle. It has been reliable, not bad on gasoline, and roomy enough to take additional family members when needed. Once paid for I can conceivably drive this for a few more years without payments, then switch to a small sedan.
A chance conversation with my aftercare director led me to a meeting with the parish business manager. I requested and was delighted to receive a change to my pay. From here on out I will be on salary for both my cafeteria job and my aftercare job!! This is the good news since it means a steady paycheck through the summer and those months when we have breaks. It also means I will continue to get paid on snow days, something that really hit us hard last winter.
The bad news: it means a smaller amount in each paycheck since instead of being spread out over 36 weeks it is spread out over 52. After crunching the numbers at home (estimating the tax taken out ) and discussing a small increase in the amount middle son contributes to the household budget I decided that we can do this. The relief at knowing that in January the pay will be steady and bills will be met is too big a plus not to take this offer.
It will mean strict spending limits since the 'disposable' part of what is coming in is very tiny but it should still allow me to put a small amount of money in savings. I will have to adjust my food budget downwards as well. Since college age daughter rarely eats at home these days and adult son eats at home even less than she does I am going to start out with a budget of $300. $250 of this will come out of my cleaning earnings (job number 3) and the remaining $50 out of the 'disposable' part of the work pay. I made a few calls yesterday and got my internet bill lowered by $13. Not a lot but every bit helps. I will be negotiating with our satellite tv provider this week to do the same thing (however since I took the 'free' upgrade on the dvr we are locked into this company for 2 years so that limits my  options when speaking with them). I am also going to be cancelling (must be done in person of course) my gym membership since I haven't used it in forever due to work hours (instead I 've been going to work 30 minutes earlier and power walking in the gym with two other staff members). When Amazon Prime becomes due I will not renew. I am also considering dropping a few magazine subscriptions as well. And I am getting stricter on utility bills . After temps dropped to the teens the last two weeks we discovered that 60 degrees is too cold for the house during the day when we are all gone and when we sleep at night because it takes the furnace a very long time (2 hours) to reach back up to 68 degrees on the main floor. Instead we tweaked the settings, going down to 63 degrees for away/sleep time and then up to only 66 degrees for when we are home. Our furnace seems grateful not to have to work as hard. Window coverings, draft dodgers, and using our fireplace to heat the living room plus lots of throw blankets and sweaters to help keep warm are in play as well (  I even hung up a polar fleece blanket over the French doors in the dining room to minimize drafts towards the thermostat). Nagging about turning off lights when leaving rooms, putting a living room light on a timer so college son and I don't come home to darkness each night (and doggies and the cat have some light), and unplugging unused appliances and chargers is being done. Short, five minute or less showers, turning off the water when brushing teeth, once a day or less running the dishwasher, and limiting use of the washer to one or two large loads is on the schedule for reducing the water bill.
But there was more good news to follow during this meeting. I was approached a few weeks ago by a parish staff member about the possibility of them hiring me to run the parish Fish Fries. These have been the bane of my job existence since it meant a lot of concessions on my part as to space, time, and also generosity in not complaining when items purchased by my cafeteria budget got used and not replaced by the FF staff. This means I can control and limit these types of irritations. And I will be receiving a generous salary for running the 6 fish fry dinners. Lots of volunteer staff is staying on so I will have help in the areas I am not familiar with and all the cooking will be done by volunteers. I will be there to manage only. It did mean missing my aftercare job on those 6 Fridays but now being salaried for that job means I won't miss out on that pay either. A win-win for me.
And money in the savings!