I’m currently 26 years old, working dead end jobs that barely pay the bills and do not fulfill me in any capacity. My partner and I fully intend for me to be a SAHW/SAHM within the next few years, but as he is just starting his career in the next few months we will still need two incomes for at least 1-2 more years.

Timeline-wise, he has a ring (proposal will likely be in August around our anniversary) and we plan to be married within the next 2 years and trying for kids about a year after that. Knowing that, I feel a little bit stuck.

Obviously, I do not want to take on the debt or commitment of going back to school (I don’t currently have a degree completed, and was previously working on a degree that would be pointless to finish as it was a pre-professional track that no longer makes sense to pursue for my current life goals)… but I want to find a way to pay my bills while also having some sort of work-life balance as my partner’s new role will involve working tons of hours and we agree someone needs to be home to keep things in order and avoid having to spend every free moment we’d have together doing chores and errands.

I’m looking into serving/bartending jobs in the location we’re moving to in May, but I’m not entirely sold on returning to that industry as I did it for 10 years previously and know it can be very all-consuming.

Any advice for a gal in my situation? I feel like I’m just waiting for my “real life” to begin and it makes this path feel a bit harder than it should!!