Thursday, April 16, 2015

Oh dear...

Remember a few weeks ago, when Jake lost his job and almost immediately landed another? And the new job sounded so great, and they wanted him to start immediately?

Yeah. Good times.

Sadly, this turned out to be a job that Jake hated. HATED. He's been completely unhappy. I couldn't understand why he was so miserable until he explained that the safety standards at this company were very lax. That's not something that an electricians' wife wants to hear - I've personally known of 2 people that got badly injured or killed in the past 5 years in our area because of electrical accidents. And apparently when he mentioned his concerns to coworkers and management, he was blown off. There were other issues, like being put in charge of jobs when he didn't feel ready, and when said jobs were already floundering. He said he felt like he was being set up to be the fall guy when the job didn't go well, because the company could say "oh, he's new".

Jake broke down. He told me he couldn't manage one more day in that company. Nothing I could say or do helped. So he quit. Wrote up a resignation letter, detailing all the OSHA violations, handed it in, and walked.

Right away, he seemed happier. Giddy, even. I haven't seen him so relaxed in ages, since he wasn't too happy in his previous job either. When he was stressed and upset about work, he would be crabby and short tempered at home. Last night, for the first time in months, he got down on the floor and played with the boys. No matter what else happens right now, no matter how nervous I may be about having no current income, it's (almost) all worth it to have my husband back.

We have enough savings to keep us afloat for a few months - more if I can get some freelance work and work some side hustles, and if Jake can hustle a little too in the meantime. He has about 45 applications/resumes out right now, so it's not like he's slacking.  :)

Pros - we don't have a mortgage. That was paid off with a small inheritance a few years ago.
Most of our expenses are low already. And we have a little under 8K in available cash.
Cons - we have two car payments, a payment on furniture, a credit card payment, a medical bill, a cell phone bill, internet/cable bill, car insurance, utilities, and food, that totals (currently) around $1600 a month.

Steps I have control over - I can write, both here and to score some freelance gigs.
I can be diligent about conserving what we have - saving on utilities by hanging laundry, turning off lights, etc, riding our bikes and eating out of our food storage to keep from spending our cash.
And I can pray.

1 comment:

  1. My dad, brother and son are all electricians and safety is essential to their job. I think your husband made the right decision. Best wishes to you all!

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