work more hours...but I probably should.

Right now I work 3 days/week with a 35 minute commute.
Mon 7:30-4:30
Tues 9:30-9:30
Thurs 9:30-9:30
plus 1 Saturday per month 9-4

Since Tuesdays and Thursdays are such long days, I really like having Wednesdays off. I have been kicking around the idea of picking up another job on Fridays but I originally put it off until I felt more settled into working in a "real" dental office. I am feeling fairly confident now in what is expected of me and have a pretty good "flow" with what I do at work now, so I guess it is finally time to really start looking for that Friday job.

Also, I have been budgeting the last 2 months with just the wages from the 3 day/week job so I should *hopefully* be able to save all the money from the Friday job toward our EF and my Roth account.

I will let you all know how the job search works out.

It has been very difficult and frustrating starting over, knowing exactly where we need to be as far as saving, giving, and spending having studied financial books, websites and these boards for years, and realizing how very S-L-O-W it will be to get to that place we want to be.

On that note, as I look over our finances and all of the many directions our spending plan is pulling us, I am seriously considering splitting my monthly EF money (that currently goes to ING) so that 50% of it will go to my Roth IRA. The poor Roth has not had a penny added for the last 3 years while I was in school, and I am not getting any younger. My husband does not even have a retirement account of any kind so I am definitely feeling like I better get started saving something.

If worst case came about I could always take out my contributions from the Roth without penalty, but I would never do that unless it was the absolute last option. I would still be contributing half of the EF money to my ING that is available more easily if it is ever needed so I feel like this is a good plan. Hopefully, both the ING EF and the Roth will continue to grow with no misfortunes befalling us!

It's been awhile since I last posted, and I am very happy to say that I have *finally* graduated from my dental hygiene program, passed my board exams, received my license and am happily working at my first job as a Dental Hygienist!!!

I have set up our new budget in Jesse's YNAB system (which I LOVE - Thanks Jesse!), and am diligently tracking our income and expenses as best I can. Never can get all the receipts from my dear husband, but we are working on it.

We are essentially starting from scratch since we depleted nearly all our savings while I was waiting for my license/finding a job. My success right now is that, as of January 1, we have surpassed the $1,000 mark in our Emergency Fund. I just wish it was going faster. It never seems fast enough, but we are on the best path. We just need to stay the course.