It's time for the annual update. We have officially hit 7 years on one income. Woohoo!

This was my update last year. Long but historical:

http://monkeymama.savingadvice.com/2008/09/06/six-years-and-...

Every year this anniversary carries less bravado. IT's less novelty and more "way of life," any more.

Plus, in less than a year, both kids will be in school for 6 hours a day. Working a job without never seeing each other and/or paying an arm and a leg for daycare will no longer be the obstacles to more income. IT will be like crossing the finish line!!!

The future brings many unknowns, so I am very glad that this is the case. I will feel much financial relief when dh is readily employable again.

I was discussing the FREE health insurance we just barely don't qualify for, for the kids, to dh. I mentioned how 2 $35k incomes hardly seemed a fair comparison to one $70k income and a choice for a spouse not to work. The two and black and white almost in comparison. Dh said, "Why? What difference does it make?" I said, "Um, because you could double our income very quicly, by returning to the workforce?" Duh!

Of course, I said many times, even in good times, dh has not been considered employable material. He applied for a slew of minimum wage jobs in 2005 and wasn't even considered for most. Which has been one big black cloud over what we thought was a very temporary situation. I can't imagine how the job market would treat him today!!!

SO I Wanted to post about 2 things. Where we were and where we are. & what dh's future plans are as we face both kids in school VERY soon. (I can't believe how fast this school year is flying by. I often catch myself saying, "Can you believe LM will be a Kindergartener, like tomorrow???" BEcause that is how it feels all of a sudden).

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I'll try to keep this part short. We are just trying to get back to our savings level at age 25, sad to say!!!

I took home $3400 per month. Dh took home $2500/month and we saved it all. That was 2002, when I first became pregnant.

We had about $30k cash in the bank.

I always put 10% of my pay to retirement. We usually put about 5k, or 10% of dh's pay, to IRAs.

In the grand scheme of things we were probably saving $20k per year, cash. Most of that ended up as a down payment on our current home. The rest to our modest cars, paid for with cash.

Since having kids we have moved backward, and are just trying to get back to this starting point.

This year was very fruitful. We refied our mortgage and now save $200/month on our mortgage payments. I VERY sad that our preschool closed, and that LM is stuck with only about 4 hours a week in schooling this year, but it has saved us TONS this year. We've kind of sped up the benefits I expected to see next year when done with preschool, etc. But it has made the year more trying in non-financial ways.

Today I take home $5500 per month. (Still short $400/month from our 2-income days).

Of course, this year dh had a banner year and will probably take home $1200 from ebay. Which is REALLY nice, I must say!

I save 10% of my pay to retirement.

This year, for the first time ever, we are funding our IRAs with current income. I have funded some with savings and gifts in recent years. This year we will hit $5k, from income, which is amazing.

$22k cash in the bank. GEtting there. Still in "catch up" mode.

We're saving about $5k per year to cash, which is ample going forward. We need to speed this up a bit until we "catch up." Then the excess will probably go to max out a second ROTH. It will be 2010 or 2011 when we are able to do so again, regularly, from income. Well, we have never put more than $5k to our IRAs, so that will be a first, and an improvement. & this year, already, we have exceeded our old retirement savings pace. Which is a nice milestone!

With the house in a very manageable state, retirement is really our priority going forward.

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Dh's plans? The world is his oyster, and as always, he struggles with direction.

However, he is bummed he can not really volunteer in the school this year since he has LM almost every minute of every day.

Next year he would like to volunteer a lot more at the school (which could possibly lead to low paying/flexible job opportunities). Though he'd do it regardless.

He has a minor in TV/film, which is really his "dream." He still feels he should probably update his education and that he should shoot for something higher paying. I don't particularly agree. I wish he would just follow his dream already!!!!

BUT, with the economy and all, and Kinder being such a transition year, he has talked about volunteering a lot more at the public TV station during the week. For now, he gives MANY weekends, and has many contacts there. But he wants to be very high profile and hope that it will help him get a job there eventually, when he is ready for full-time work.

I think he would LOVE working there, and it's very convenient. & I think a busy volunteer schedule would be good use of his newfound free time. Though if he told me he wanted a year to just do nothing, I wouldn't blame him. He has worked HARD the last 8 years.

In the meantime, one reason I Want to go heavy in cash is in case he returns to University. I don't think he will consider that until LM is settled in 1st grade. But better save those pennies just in case. We have a lot of public colleges in the area, so there will be many "affordable" oppurtunities. As the first time around, we have no desire to borrow for college. With any luck, we won't have to. Phew! IT's the kind of thing we are not sure we really want to invest in until the economy turns around. But dh needs any leg up he can.

I would hope that a return to school and/or a slew or volunteer work for his resume, will improve his odds of future employment. If the gap in his resume turned off minimum wage employers, I am not sure it will fare him well in his industries of choice.

Another idea would be do some temp work, etc. Which he will have TIME for. That would be for money only though. Really, a last resort. Though I guess worthwhile for skills and a foot in the door.

All things considered, we are easily looking at 2-3 more years on one income. But this year is nice as more options loom.