down by the river

Apparently it requires TWO interviews to get a $9.50 an hour job at Target.  I must have done ok in my first as I have a second one tomorrow. 

 

This is leading me to question if this makes any sense at all.  I'm starting to think of things in terms of how many hours i'd have to work to pay for them.  The shirt and khakis I'll have to buy to work there will cost me 3-5 hours.  The employee discount is 10%, so if I spend $500 on xmas there I'll save 5 hours worth of work at Target. 

 

I started thinking about how many hours I'll put in and how little I'll actually make.  And I started wondering if I am retarded.  (Admittedly, something I wonder on a semi-regular basis and try not to do; the goal is to be as understanding and considerate of myself as i would be of my friends)

 

Then I realized - I'm not doing this to get rich.  I'm not doing this to get out of debt.  I'm not even doing this to have a better xmas for the kids.  I'm doing this to shore up a levee that I know is at flood stage.  I'm not preventing a flood, I'm mitigating flood damage.  I'll still be in debt, and more debt than I am today.  But less than I would be if I didn't get a part time job.  I'm going to have to resist the urge to splurge because of a false sense of 'I've got extra income'.  Because it isn't really extra income.  It is sanity.  It is what is keeping me from completely freaking out over the cost of a Christmas tree, and lights, and decorations, and stockings, and candy, and toys.  It is what is keeping me from panicking over having spent $127 at the grocery store tonight and being wholly sticker shocked (in an attempt to be thrifty I even skipped olive oil for veg oil and bought green can abomination kraft parmesan cheese. srsly). 

 

so a few random thoughts: