We are so very fortunate and thankful to be in the position that we are today. We are blessed with a growing business and a steady workflow that keeps us busy. My husband is so knowledgeable and talented in his field that word-of-mouth from his past clients brings in as much work as he can handle. Him “hiring” me was the best decision we’ve made!

My W-2 from my old job came in the mail over the weekend. Last year I had worked away from home for exactly one month, my last day at that job was at the end of January. When I first opened the statement I was a little sad to remember that I used to bring home a paycheck that I no longer get. Then Jesse and I got to talking about what we have gained by giving up that paycheck…

First… time. We have more time together now than we ever used to, we’ve had time to take several trips this year that I wouldn’t have been able to take time off for, and we have more time to do fun things because our weekends aren’t packed with errands and such. Time is an extremely valuable resource that can never be replaced once it is spent.

Second… practice. We had hoped and wished that by the time we were ready to have/foster/adopt kids we would be able to afford to live off of one income. There were times, especially when the business first started up, that it seemed like that might never happen. As the right time started to get closer I figured that I might as well keep working right up to the time when we had a child to care for. However, I now believe that this in-between time of practice staying at home has been invaluable. I feel like I’m more prepared to take care of another person after learning how to better juggle my roles as wife and bookkeeper/assistant.

Third… money. As I finish up working on our business taxes for last year, we’ve realized that we really did make up the difference of my missing paycheck (which wasn’t a whole lot). There’s no doubt that some of the increase should be attributed to Jesse’s skills and network improving, but Jesse thinks it proves that I truly am contributing to our bottom line. Projects get done faster without the distractions of things like managing expenses and trips to the post office, not to mention stopping work early to make dinner because I didn’t used to be home in time. Together, we doubled what my salary would have been… that’s a nice feeling!

I know this choice isn’t meant for everyone, but for us it’s made a big difference in our lifestyle. Sometimes it takes a different point of view to evaluate if what you’re giving up is really worth what you get in return.