Uncertainty in the midst of switching roles: Becoming a Housewife…

Being a housewife or stay-at-home Mom was never on my list of dreams.  I have always been a hard worker and have paid my own way through life.  I even worked my way through college as a full-time student and single Mother of two preschoolers…there wasn’t much time for sleep or relaxation.

Obviously, I am not afraid of hard work nor am I lazy.  After all, my last “real” job entailed working at least 45 hours a week in the office.  But due to the nature of the real estate business I was basically on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week taking phone calls while making dinner, grocery shopping, and doing homework with my daughters.  Thank God I am efficient at multi-tasking or it would have been a nightmare!  Keep in mind I did all of this as a single Mother as well.

In 2009 I was laid off, like many of us here in the United States were, and found myself desperately searching for a job, anything to bring home a paycheck.  Well anything within reason that is.  For two and a half years this desperate search continued with me only finding a few very demeaning positions for minimum wage or just barely above.

Then in January 2012 my life, or so it seemed came to a crashing halt when I was diagnosed with a crippling and incurable disease.  Since then I have struggled internally with feelings of helplessness and being helpless in some regards became my new reality.  I hate to admit it but at times I have caught myself feeling damaged and useless in my new physical state.

I am working on changing my way of thinking and as my wedding quickly approaches, only eight days left, I am trying to figure out what my new role as housewife should look like.  I am already pretty thrifty, something I learned from my own Mother, and I’m really good with a budget, although there is always room for improvement.

I have decided that since I am not working outside of the home I need to focus more on things around the house more than I do now (something I have never been very good at).  I have learned that if I research, plan, and price match I can save us a substantial amount of money on our grocery bill.  What I do still struggle with is what else should be in my new job description?  I mean that can’t really be all of it, can it?

I’m open to any and all suggestions to guide me through these uncertain times and learning phase, so to speak.  Also, please feel free to share your own experiences and personal learning experiences!  ( :

©2014 Lysa Wilds