I have been at my new job for a little over a month now – and I’m loving it. As I mentioned in my last post, I am working with a group of very dedicated folks, starting a new church in our area. I have been extremely busy – getting to know everyone at the new church, figuring out how to best allocate our resources, and working hard to share our message with the community.
Today, I took (most) of the day off, so that I could work on getting a bit more organized, at home. It’s amazing how quickly bills can pile up, emails can go unanswered, (and blog posts can go unwritten…)
This morning, I focused on updating our inventory of financial accounts. It’s easy for me to focus on “one thing” – like the new job – and forget about other things. The inventory lets me, quickly, see our financial situation.
I also worked my way through what felt like a ton of bills. Most of our regular bills are automated – and take just a few minutes per month to deal with. However, over the past couple of months, we’ve had some work done on our van, had a couple of trips to the doctor, and we had the house treated for pests. Dealing with these (and similar) bills took an hour or so – and it feels good to see that big, blank, empty spot on the kitchen counter.
After taking a break for lunch, I spent the majority of the afternoon outside, cleaning out our two-car garage and my beloved shed. When I left my last job, I lost some office-space. I needed to clean up the shed so that I would have some place to put several boxes of old cassette tapes and books. The garage, which we always keep pretty neat and clean, needed to be power-washed. While I was at it, I power washed the back porch – and the grates on the grill.
Over the past several weeks, my family and I have begun to adjust to a slightly slower pace-of-life. Practically speaking, our financial situation has changed, and we have to be wiser than ever about how we spend our money. So far, God has blessed us abundantly, both spiritually and financially. Taking on this new job has been extremely rewarding – and I honestly can’t wait to see what the future holds.
I am still working on our new budget. The first month, we were just fine on my new salary, but we had very little “extra” for savings, and none for debt reduction (on the mortgage). I did have a pretty good month with side-projects, including the websites and some eBay sales, but that money is irregular income – and is a bit more difficult to manage. Hopefully, over the course of the next few months, we’ll get everything in tip-top-shape, and be ready to really re-focus on mortgage reduction. Until then, we’re going to enjoy the process – and our new journey.
(Thanks so much to all who contacted via email or Twitter. You guys rock.)
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