Finding Balance in San Francisco

15 Easy Ways We Save Money

It feels like the economy has everyone in a hysteria these days, and there's very little I personally can do about it.  Frustrating, anxiety-producing situation.  One way that I'm dealing with it is to try to shave a few dollars off the outgoing cash flow.  Not going to defrost the credit markets, bail out the ailing auto industry or restore our lost jobs, but these little maneuvers help our little family- if only a bit.

1. We regularly use the library, both for books and kid videos.
2. We've re-discovered the slow cooker (it's been doing it's thing all day, as a matter of fact, making our house smell delicious).
   
3. We regularly bring a nice bottle of wine to dinners out.  The corkage fee is usually between $10 and $30, and often the cheapest bottles of wine start at $30 (and in at least one recent case, the cheapest bottles started at $70).  This way we can go with a higher-end wine at a lower-end price.
4. Speaking of wine, if we're going local (walking), we have our first glass of vino at home.
   
5. We use regular gas instead of premium. 
   
6. We use Diapers.com to lower our per-diaper cost... and we are actively potty training our 2 year old.
7. We're on the verge of getting rid of our home phone.  I rarely check those voicemails anyway, resulting in a scenario where people wonder why I haven't called them back.
   
8. We bring home a doggie bag (or several) when there's food left from a dinner out.  The leftovers can stretch for multiple meals at home, especially when combined with pasta, made into soup, etc.
   
9. We make good use of free playgrounds and parks.
10. We turn the thermostat all the way down when we're going to be out for a few hours or longer.
11. We often save 20% off of our grocery bills by using our Safeway club card.
12. I carpool with friends to girls' dinners.
13. We cheerfully accept second hand clothes from friends with boys slightly older than ours.
14. We take advantage of grandparents' offers to babysit.
15. We vigilantly keep quarters in the car, and when in doubt I always toss an extra quarter or two into the meter.  Better to be out 50 cents than 50 bucks on a parking ticket.  I figure that I could put an extra 50 cents in 99 times in a row and still break even.
    

Finding Balance as a working mom

I've been interviewing for a new job (I hear back Tuesday!), and this has led me to think more deeply about finding balance.  I know that there is a best way to fit it all in, and I keep looking for that sometimes-elusive path.

One of the questions that kept coming up in my 2nd round interviews this week boiled down to how I would counsel female associates to find balance.  I came up with several practical solutions (e.g., hire more help, tap your friends and family network), but one interviewer in particular asked about what happens when your kids don't want a nanny or even a Nana, they want mommy.  There isn't a great solution to that one, unfortunately.  I talked about the difference between quantity and quality of time- a concept I truly believe in- but at the end of the day every working mom (and child thereof) has to do a little compromising.

Of course I didn't point this out in the interviews, but in addition to the kids and spouse, there are friends to keep in touch with, staying in shape, self-care (e.g., manicures, hair cuts), reading non work-related things, pets to tend to, homes to clean... and the list goes on and on.  It's truly no easy balancing act.

As I'm always saying to my kids, it's important to keep trying.  Nobody promised that life was going to be easy or fair or predictable.  And inevitably compromises will come.  But we'll all just have to keep getting back up on that proverbial horse.  After all, what other choice is there?