Is being your own Boss better?

My love, Mr. Clean, had the good fortune of "inheriting" his father's cleaning business and so, became self-employed almost by accident. Even though it's something he's always aspired to, it has it's downfalls too (as we're finding out). 

Here's what I mean:

Pro: He gets paid every day!

Con: He gets paid every day

Pro: He makes his own schedule

Con: There's NO "back-up", NO calling in, NO vacations

Pro: He's making more money than ever before

Con: We'll be  paying more in taxes than ever before

Pro: He's usually home by 5 and doesn't work on weekends, unless he wants to.

Con: He's cleaning OTHER peoples houses all day, every day and is therefore completely exempt from any form of cleaning  at home. 

You get my drift...It's a lot more WORK to work for yourself; you have to actually go out & find work, create new clients, make a schedule and stick to it, charge what your services are worth (or you can let someone else tell you what to do, when & where to show up and how much he thinks you're worth). And then there's budgeting...

Now, you're not just supporting your family, you're supporting your BUSINESS. That means your business needs to be SUCCESSFUL. Remember how I listed getting paid every day as a pro & a con? That's because as nice as it is to see yourself get a check every day, it's one that spends very quickly. You have to become miserly, to be blunt about it. Yes, you're making enough to pay the bills but you actually have to SAVE to do so. Don't act like you're getting paid every day; act like Scrooge. Pretend like it's already gone. HOARD IT! Then things like groceries, SUPPLIES, gas, utilities, RENT , will be easier to budget for.

That's the theory anyways. Let's see if it's that easy to put into practice...

I know it's possible to make Mr. Clean a complete success; he already is. It's just a matter of fine tuning, tweaking &; tightening the belt to get this machine running -- ahem -- tits.  No more unnecessary purchases, e.i. Starbucks, beer, Snickers; no more fast food!; shopping list and menus instead of shopping for dinner EVERY NIGHT; COUPONS! -- I'll admit right here, I HATE clipping coupons. I WANT to like it, I really, really do but I find my anxiety growing with every, single clip of the scissors: Do I really needs this one? Can I find it cheaper? Will I use it before it expires? Why is there never coupons for stuff I actually buy? WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? 

I have to try though. Any advice for HOW to shop smarter & healthier? WHERE do you get your coupons? Do you even use them?? I sometimes wonder if they are there JUST to create a sense of savings that inspires more spending...

I've already started on my journey to Organized Housewife in my attempts to A.) Become a cleaner, more organized (and therefore less anxious/stressed in general) mom.
B.) Teach Things 1 & 2, by example, how to have a clean space.
C.) Give Mr. Clean a calm, uncluttered place to come home to & relax.

Honestly, it's all relatively selfish of me. If I do all the purging and organizing, I decide what stays & what goes AND I know where everything is because I put it there! It's a win-win-win-win (add some more wins) situation. With all that said, I should probably DO what I blog about and go clean.

<3