About six weeks ago, a sweet gal from Spouse in Sports contacted me and asked if I would be willing to write a piece for their website. I'm not really sure how you just say 'no,' to that! I was pumped! I'm absolutely honored to share that Spouses in Sports published my article on their webpage last night. Unfortunately, it's only accessible to members of Spouses in Sports. If you're reading this and you have not joined, please do so, it's a fabulous resource. Otherwise, you're in luck because I am posting an identical copy of the article here. I never dreamed my first publication would be something like this, but I feel so blessed to be able to share about our baseball journey. Thank you Spouses in Sports for allowing me this opportunity to represent your incredible organization.
Baseball Life on a Shoestring and a Prayer
by Susan Johnson, wife of Kyle Johnson, outfielder in the NY Mets organization
My husband and I still distinctly remember the day he was drafted. We
had graduated from Washington State University about a month before,
and he managed to take the day off from his new job as the picks were
being made. I, on the other hand, was at work in a court room when he
was picked in the 25
th round of the 2012 draft. When my phone
buzzed with the news, I had to swallow my squeals and sit on my shaking
hands through the rest of the hearings that day. Kyle distinctly
remembers the ‘phone call’ and seeing his name on our little lap top
screen when he was selected. I remember the celebratory dinner out, and
feeling incredibly proud of him, but I also vividly remember my silent
heart ache that I wasn’t by his side for that call. I missed one of the
most exciting moments of his life while I was working.
By the following morning, I firmly had made up my mind that I was
going to travel with him and support his baseball journey. I was
planning to quit my job and live on the road as a free spirited woman of
baseball! Then the shocker: His very first pay check as a professional
baseball player. I thought they had accidently left off a zero on the
end of his check, no joke. We were unprepared for minor league baseball
pay, and as reality sank in, my plans to travel deflated. In a last
ditch attempt, I casually mentioned his pay to close friends. They
advised me that his signing bonus was what funded a traveling lifestyle.
The grand total of his signing bonus was less than a third of what I
paid for my used car. If traveling together for baseball was going to
work, we were destined to do it differently.
I stayed home for the remainder of his rookie season. I continued to
work, full time for one agency and part time for another, saving every
scrap I could. Kyle stayed with a host family, people we are blessed to
still call friends, who provided him with a car, meals and housing.
Without knowing it at the time, they played a huge role in our ability
to save more funds for the following season. Kyle trained and took a
part time job through the off season. By the time Spring Training rolled
around, we were ready to tackle the traveling lifestyle with our
savings from the past six months. I put in my two weeks’ notice at my
full time position and sold all of my professional outfits at a
consignment store for about six hundred bucks. (Insert a tearful melt
down here). I then listed our garage hoardings and furniture on
Craigslist, and with the help of dear friends, packed the remainder of
our three bedroom-two bath apartment into a storage unit. Professional
baseball is so glamorous, right?
Facing reality is how we are able to pull off traveling. Glitz and
sparkle aren’t really in our cards for the time being. However, our deck
is stacked with praying, budgeting and living in moderation. Traveling
during the baseball season for us means that we have to carefully
analyze our finances and live with-in our means at all times. This is
much easier said than done, but a few things we have embraced in this
process that I would like to share:
- First and foremost, we rededicate our lives to Christ. It is
through Him and our faith that we’ve found a sense of calm in managing
baseball life, along with all of the other areas of our lives and
marriage. In times of both blessing and challenge, I turn to scripture
and prayer, and it has not failed me yet. In fact, when we face a
challenge it seems that a viable solution presents itself more quickly
than we could have ever planned on our own. That’s a God thing, His hand
guides our journey.
- We sat down, went through our incomes and our expenses and made a
bon-a-fide budget. Our primary goal as a married couple is to be debt
free, so our budget accommodates payments on our student loans and other
debts. We both agreed not to make financial choices that would increase
our debt. Budgeting allowed us to look where we could make cuts in our
expenses, and determine what we really need for income to survive while
traveling. PS: The income we would need to travel was less than I had
thought it would be.
- With a budget in hand we knew exactly what we needed for income on
the road. We embraced the fact that we would need two incomes to meet
our financial needs and goals. In the off season, I work from home and
usually take on an additional full time job to create a ‘savings
cushion,’ for pre-season training and Spring Training. My husband works a
part time job during the off season in addition to doing private
lessons and training. In season, I continue working from home and
babysit. I frequently receive questions about my work-from-home
position, and my best advice is that you should talk to your supervisor
if you know you can do your job from home. Asking never hurts! I use
Care.com when we travel to find short and long term babysitting jobs for
extra cash. I’ve also made extra money teaching tennis and swim
lessons, pet sitting, or tutoring. I know it may seem daunting to leave
the workforce for babysitting. Trust me, I know. I have a fancy college
degree that I still pay for each month. I compromise by taking
opportunities to stay current in my field with employment in the
off-season.
- We decided to own less stuff. We donated or sold anything we owned
that didn’t serve a clear and reasonable purpose during the last year.
Use it or lose it. We’ve been saving money on oversized storage units
and extra checked bag fees ever since. We’ve also been saving time and
energy with packing and moving items we don’t actually use.
- When we travel, I always bring my favorite outfits and essential
pieces, but I’m sure to keep my belongings to a minimum. If I buy
something new, I donate or sell one item in my closet. When I sell
clothes, I take them to second hand stores that pay me on the spot. If I
think I’m being low balled, I’ll list it on eBay with a “buy it now,”
tag to see if there are any bites. Most of the time I donate items and
take the tax break. Along those same lines, I bargain and thrift shop
like crazy. Hautelook.com and Groop Dealz are among my favorite websites
for new discounted clothing. My favorite second hand shop in our home
town, Beau Monde Exchange, frequently stocks gently used Lululemon,
Seven for all Mankind and Hudsons! Say you need casual sweatshirts for
jogs, lounging around or bike rides? Salvation Army has got your back.
Your husband gained twenty pounds this off-season? Plato’s Closet,
Buffalo Exchange or other consignment type stores typically have very
nice men’s shorts and plain tees. Plus, if your man spills as much as my
husband does when he eats out on the road, I promise that you will
sleep easier at night knowing that stains on second hand clothing are
not the end of the world. I pick up kitchen wares at thrift stores and
things that just need to be new, like bedding, at Ross or TJ Maxx. When
you buy from thrift stores you can write the items off on your taxes for
what you bought them for, as long as they’re still in great condition,
when you re-donate them on the way out of town!
- When I travel, I always use Orbitz, Hotwire or check the Hotel
Tonight app. I will call hotels before booking a room and haggle with
the front desk to see if they’ll give me an even better rate than the
one listed on Orbitz. (Orbitz takes a portion of what you pay for your
room if you book with them, so it’s worth a shot!) Also check the team
rates of the hotels when your man travels, they beat Orbitz deals every
now and then. And never forget to Google "Orbitz promo codes" to get an
extra discount. I usually book my flights with Orbitz, or with frequent
flier miles. I have frequent flier accounts at every airline I fly. If
it’s free to register, why not? If we want to explore the town and eat
out while we travel, we always check Groupon and LivingSocial for deals
and ideas. The first time we used Groupon was during his first Spring
Training in Arizona, and we had a blast capturing the flag and painting
the snot out of some tactically advanced strangers in a paintball park.
We’ve found deals on hot yoga, gym memberships, paddle boarding, boot
camp classes, sushi dinners, historical tours, and museum admissions all
over the country.
As tough as it is, I have learned to bite my tongue when relatives
talk about the things my husband will be buying them with “all of his
money,” or when people jokingly ask me if I’m able to “stay busy,”
during baseball season. There is a financial stereotype that baseball
families have to battle against every day, and I know that challenge. I
used to feel ashamed about our minimalist lifestyle, but as time goes on
I’ve come to realize what a blessing it is to travel together, and how
personally rewarding it is to be practical spenders. As cliché as it may
seem, in thirty years no one will remember our used eco-friendly cars,
or that the dishes in our rental homes are from the Salvation Army, or
that my favorite pair of white designer jeans were bought second hand on
E-Bay. Even more importantly, what I will remember is that I didn’t
miss a single home game, and that I spent every moment of this adventure
with the man I love most in this world. I wouldn’t trade our lifestyle
for anything.
My name is Susan Johnson,
but most folks know me as Sue. I grew up in a small farming community in
Eastern Washington, and I graduated from Washington State University in
2012. I spend half of the year traveling around the country with my
husband while he plays minor league baseball, and the other half in our
off-season home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I currently aspire to
teach English as a second language in Guatemala, buy a house somewhere
to call 'mine' and master the art of making gluten-free cupcakes. In the
meantime, I enjoy every moment of our blissful and blessed baseball
journey.
