Dreaming of a year off

It hit me last night, I deserve a break. I had always sort of planned at the back of my mind that when Violet goes off to college, I'd go back to work full time. Now I'm dreaming of a way to save enough money between now and then to not have to right away.

Straight out of high school I went to college. From there I started working full time. While working full time I went back to school at night. Then it was full time graduate school and at least one part-time job. Out of grad school I went to work full time. For a public accounting firm. The job included travel and 60 hour work weeks.

I did that until 2 days before Violet was born. I was supposed to be taking 3 weeks off, but she had other plans (she still owes me those 3 weeks and I intend to collect them). When she was 6 months old I went back to work part time. I've been working steadily since then. I average 15 hours a week but I have had weeks up to 40 plus hours.

She was home full time until she was 4 and went to preschool 2 afternoons a week. I used that time to work. By the middle of that year we'd decided to homeschool and I began doing some kindergarten work with her because she seemed ready and interested. We've been homeschooling ever since while continuing to work.

And now I'm exhausted. Don't get me wrong, I love homeschooling. I enjoy my volunteer activities. And I like my job well enough and definitely like my paycheck. But I deserve a break after I successfully send her off to college.

I know we'll need extra money for college. We are investing in a college tuition program. That will be paid off when she's 14. So my diabolical plan is to keep setting aside that monthly payment that we will have been used to coming out of checking account every month for 10 years, into a separate college fund. Surely that will be enough extra along with my part-time work, to not have to go back full-time right away. Won't it? Please?

This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep.