APPLICANT #21: Nichole Solie

Nichole Solie is a mother of three from Mill Creek, Washington.

Here is Nichole's video application:

Here is Nichole's current situation:

"School started this week I have just finished helping my 7-year-old daughter fill out a “getting to know you survey” for her class. On it she wrote she wants to grow up to be a mom just like me. My heart swells that she feels that way but it also makes me a little anxious that she hasn’t had the time or experience to think about her options. I’m caught between knowing that motherhood is a wonderful job and wondering if there is something more I can do. I wonder if her answer would be different if I was still working.

Before having kids, I worked for US Bank in the Business Banking department down in Portland. It was great helping people navigate the account products and finding solutions to their problems. Trevor was born while working for the bank and I continued working. But keeping Trevor in daycare for 10 hours a day got to me and so I followed another career path, working in a local school with shorter hours. I was placed in a full-contained resource room as a para educator, which turned out to be fortuitous because not long afterward my son was diagnosed with autism and a significant speech delay. Also during that time, our daughter Taryn was born. A job opportunity in Seattle came up for Jason four years ago and we moved. Ethan was born a year and a half ago and I got to experience motherhood all over again but this time without the stress of a job outside the home. I fill my days with taking care of the family, stepping in and helping out friends with their daycare emergencies and volunteering in Trevor’s and Taryn’s classrooms. The decision for me to stay home was an easy one to make and has been the best decision for our family.

It doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about living on a single income and, though I’m not bringing money in, I do my part in making sure every penny spent is accounted for. Which leads me to what I’m doing right now and everyday and that is looking for ways to save money and making sure money spent will have value for the family now and down the road. It’s not just clipping coupons and walking around the house flipping lights off. I reduce the amount of driving by combining errands or riding my bike instead.

I tend our garden, which has produced a bounty of carrots, lettuce and tomatoes. I maintain the house finances by keeping a house budget and the accounts balanced. It’s not easy and the tricky part is to prioritize paying ourselves and sticking with it. It’s also not easy understanding all the investment and retirement options but I’m not giving up. Not having a regular paycheck with the option of contributing to a 401K has left me feeling slightly vulnerable. My goal is to continue down a path to achieve financial stability.

And then there are the kids. Between back to school supplies, therapies for Trevor and other activities, kids are expensive. The back to school list went on forever and that was just for a 4th and 2nd grader. And teaching the kids about money and saving a part of their allowance has been a work in progress. But to hear Trevor’s soft voice forming his short sentences and to see Taryn’s excitement when running around with her brownie troop; that is priceless. So maybe my daughter has thought it through and has come to the conclusion faster than I have about what makes an exciting and rewarding career choice."

Here is Nichole's blog post:

"After a busy week, I look forward to the early Sunday mornings, sneaking out in my PJs to grab the paper and sitting down with my tea (gasp! I drink coffee with my milk too.) Under the guise of ‘weekly planning’ where I look busy by clipping coupons and coordinating the weekly schedule I also jump on the computer for ideas and entertainment. After an especially hard week with no thanks and little appreciation my mind wanders to “what they would do without me” and for a second I’m ready to declare “you couldn’t pay me enough.” So to prove my point, I hop over to salary.com to see what I’m worth, though mostly it’s for my own ego boost. I figure out the hours spent doing the top 10 jobs I do the most, like housekeeper, teacher, and cook. For the more commonly picked occupations, hours spent on the chore are already suggested. I try to be conservative my first time, I mean do I really spend 16.5 hours on housework not including laundry? And I cook, but not every night because I rely on leftovers. The result for a total of 84 hours worked is $110,899. That’s not a salary I can really complain about, but I feel I’m worth more.

Time to go back to the program to really examine my options and decide about my occupations. A facilities manager makes three times the salary of housekeeper and essentially does housekeeping and more. I allocated only 5 hours to the job of psychologist, but my daughter is seven and already showing her sassy side and my son is only a few years off from puberty, somaybe I should cushion that field a bit. I like the salary of event planner and really, maintaining a calendar for a family of five is an event between birthdays, weekly activities and planning weekend family fun time. I also think there is a future for me in the nursing profession as my toddler proved with a recent trip to the emergency room to get stitches. The wonderful staff instructed me on caring for the wound and provided extra ointment. If only real degrees could be so easy. After working 100 hours I am now worth $139,698. But honestly, who wants to work 100 hrs a week. I’m ready to advance myself to CEO, hire the necessary help and call it a day. I’ll take my paycheck in hugs, kisses and tickle fights and join the rest of the family relaxing on a Sunday morning and think about clipping more coupons. It might only yield $30 in savings at my next shopping trip but at least that is real cash and that’s money I can put in the bank.

Nichole"

The Verity Mom Team