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Monday Q&A | Adjusting to an Early Schedule and Going Vegan

Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line.

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My husband, like yours, recently got a promotion. YAY! But with this promotion came new work hours. He was working 9 am until 6 or 7 pm Monday through Friday. He now works 5 am until 3 or 4 pm. I was wondering if you had any tips for us?

When your family was on this type of schedule, did your older kids go to bed earlier as well? My 11 year old son is having trouble with getting in bed at 9:00 pm.

We are very grateful that my husband got his promotion, especially since there are so many in our area without jobs right now. But, I never thought his schedule change would cause this much chaos.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

-Kathy

Ooh! That’s a hard adjustment, considering that he had such a normal schedule before. I sympathize with you, because that’s how it was when my husband started his early hours…he’d had quite a flexible daytime shift before that.

I know just how you feel…being thankful for a promotion or just a job at all, but still feeling a little like, “Ack! What in the world am I supposed to do with these hours???”.

When we were on our early hours, Mr. FG and I headed to bed around 8:30, and Lisey and Joshua put themselves to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 depending on the night. Since they’re 10 and 12 and can be trusted to do what we tell them, that worked out just fine.

My kids sometimes complained about our early schedule (and they sometimes are unhappy with our current late schedule), but I just gently remind them that Mr. FG and I don’t think this is ideal either, and that we’ve all got to just make the best of it. I also remind them of the upsides of whatever schedule we have, and I remind them (and myself!) that we’re really grateful that Mr. FG has a job at all, and we’re even more grateful that he got a promotion.

Hang in there! Hopefully you guys will adjust soon.

My usual grocery bill each week wavers in the $100 range. We also get organic produce from a CSA (local farmers). Last week, trying to tighten our belt and make less of an impact on the environment and the world, we decided to leave out the meat and meat products. I was shocked when our grocery bill was only $54! I had not realized the financial impact of buying meat.

Now, I know you buy beef in bulk to save money and support local ranchers, but have you ever considered going vegan or partially vegan? Maybe one or two weeks a month? Have you done this and how did it work?

For us, if we “went vegan” one week a month, we could save $600 a year, which sounds terrific.

-Millicent

Going vegan wouldn’t work too well for us, mostly because Mr. FG loathes legumes, and those are a large part of a vegan diet. And I personally would be a very sad person without my butter, milk, cheese, and eggs.

We don’t eat a ton of meat, though…generally speaking, our breakfast and lunch meals are vegetarian. Our protein at those meals typically comes from yogurt, cheese, milk, eggs, and nuts.

Though I’m not personally convinced that a vegan diet is the ticket to health, I definitely don’t think that animal products have to be present at each and every meal, and if eating vegan part-time works for you, then go for it!

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Today’s 365 post: Tiny playing cards

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Lara Alami

Tuesday 15th of November 2011

I work, for money, and stay home part time. My parents help with taking care of the kids while I am at work. What's up with the weird comments? Angry much? I hope you feel better after that spelling mess (vomit) of a paragraph. Good luck getting any sort of job with those communication skills, friend.

SandyH

Tuesday 15th of November 2011

Mandy, it's " you're". That is just so sad!

mandy

Tuesday 15th of November 2011

Lara Alami lol your a walking cliche, ofcourse you wouldnt trade it for the world, YOUR DOING NOTHING, working out in the real world is a lot different than being a (boring, dime a dozen) stay at home mom,

Kristen

Tuesday 15th of November 2011

Mandy, I'm so sorry, but you are going to be put on moderation. If you can comment in a polite, kind, constructive way, I'll be happy to approve your comments, but all of your comments thus far have not met those criteria.

Kristen

Tuesday 15th of November 2011

Sorry, guys! I was out running errand with Mr. FG, then I made lunch/dinner/whateverthatmealweeatatnoonis, helped Mr. FG hang up a bracket, cleaned up lunch, and then taught some piano students. So, I haven't been at the computer.

And Mandy's comment wasn't held in moderation, so it just went through without me having to approve it.

Lara Alami

Tuesday 15th of November 2011

In any healthy relationship, it really doesn't matter who spends the most time raising the children hands-on and who brings the most dollars in. I feel that the work I do here at home gives us a sanctuary to come back to, for our kids to grow in. The work I do to bring in money also has value, but I would never trade these amazing moments in our kids' lives I get to witness. It's worth all the sacrifices both my husband and I make for the better of our family. :)

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