Giving Up A Like For A Love

I recently made a choice to let go of something I like because it was beginning to strain something I love. I had held on for too long. The thing I had to let go of was my bread business. It was a small but profitable business that I had started up to help supplement the money coming into our home. It wasn’t money that we counted on but every little bit helped.

If you’ve ever made homemade bread before then you’re aware of the time commitment involved. During the winter I baked to order and usually received 8-15 orders per week. In order to simplify, I had everyone pick up their bread at the same time, which also meant I had to bake it all in one day – 8-15 loaves in one day. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal but as many of you know from reading my blog, I also watch my two young nieces full-time along with my own little kiddo. So you see how this is adding up right? 3 children ages 2, almost 3 and 3-1/2, mixing, kneading, rising, baking, slicing, packaging 8-15 loaves of bread (and managing this awesome little blog).

Here’s what began to happen. I started making mistakes, usually fixable ones, but still time-consuming and frustrating. When you leave yourself no room for error the smallest mistake effects everything. Even though I only baked on Friday it effected the rest of the week because I wasn’t able to do anything else that day. So all of my cleaning, laundry, menu planning, grocery shopping, fun things with the kids, blogging, etc. all had to be crammed into Monday-Thursday. I began to dread Fridays. Inevitably, every Friday afternoon once I got all the girls in bed I would call my husband and cry over the phone because I was so exhausted and so behind and I just didn’t have it in me to keep up.

By now you’re probably thinking, why didn’t you just stop? Well, if you read my financial story then you know that I had been working full-time up until a little over a year ago. Right before I stopped working I started up this little business and it went well. Last summer I sold 20-40 loaves per week at the Farmers’ Market. It was a huge blessing to us. It was what I could do so I held onto it. I felt like I wasn’t pulling my weight like I had been when I was working outside my home. I needed to contribute to our income in a positive way. Basically, my hubby makes all the money and I spend it (on groceries and things like that … not shoes and manicures )

There’s a funny thing about blogging – it keeps you accountable. The posts you write will haunt you. I wrote “Can You Afford To Work?“ a while back, challenging people that there’s a cost to working outside your home. Sometimes that cost is your family. The cost of my bread business was becoming the peace in my home. I would become cranky because I felt over-worked, so the girls would become cranky and my husband would come home from a long day of work to a house full of crankiness. Hmmm … this isn’t what I envisioned when I decided to become a stay-at-home mom.

Last Friday I had my breaking point. I called my hubby sobbing again and he said, “Stop selling bread.” I was shocked. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. I told him we needed it. He said we didn’t. It’s done. He was right. I liked selling bread. I thought I was pretty good at it but I love, love, love my family and I wasn’t making my home what I wanted it to be. What I liked was negatively effecting what I loved and it was time to let go.

Have you ever had to let go of something you liked or enjoyed because the cost was too great?

Why I do what I do ~ Those three photos are “the girls” I refer to so often. In the order they are pictured: Jazmyn, Chloe and Aliyah.

If you enjoyed this post you may want to subscribe to free updates by RSS feed or Email.