August 06, 2002 - 6:42 p.m.

simon and i got thai take-out last night and worked on the budget. i made this fantastic spreadsheet and had entered every receipt and expense for the past two months. well, everything i could find or remember, which was most of it. then we worked it all out and realized some important things:

1) we can afford our current lifestyle with our current incomes. we cannot afford much else. there is room for surprises, but not many surprises, if you catch my drift.

2) the wedding - ha ha ha ha HA HA HA snort HA HA HA! so we're back to the eloping idea, but this time there will be 15-20 people present. let's just hope our parents don't kill us when they find out. oh ho ho ho boy.

3) if we change jobs, we cannot afford to take another paycut. we must find jobs that pay the same or more than what we are currently making.

there are a few little things that will help out, like our fatty tax returns that will be coming in the next month, and extra income for side jobs (computer stuff for simon and a photography job for me).

anyhoo, this eloping thing came about again because we were trying to prioritize what we want to happen when my family and sherry arrive. do we want to pinch pennies and make the zoo wedding happen, with no money for a honeymoon? or do we just have dinner at our favorite restaurant (which was what we wanted anyway) and save our money for a honeymoon and/or plane fare to america? then we can treat everyone while they're here and not feel like we're going to crumble if some unforeseen expense hits us.

another reason this came up is that i had a talk with my boss yesterday. long story short - she's increasing my pay, but the job will finish when i take time off for the wedding. in other words, i won't be returning. this is not because of my work performance but because of the swift company restructure she wasn't planning for. i guess this was the major event that triggered the eloping idea because i realized i have no job security. it's one thing to be eligible for unemployment, but i'm not, and - as mentioned in the above budget notes - simon's salary alone is not going to cut it. so i'm looking for a new job.

fun.