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| JUST REMEMBER YOURE NOT IN IT FOR THE MONEY? ME AND "STARBUCKS "AREN'T FREINDS ANY LONGER. IT'S TRULY HARD AND SOMETIMES YOU LOOSE YOURE SELF IN ALL THE MADNESS.BUT SOME PEOPLE HAVE NO CHOICE. IF I WORK ALONG WITH HUSBAND; I JUST PAY THE DAYCARE. AT LEAST I KNOW WERE AND WHAT MY KIDS ARE DOING. 8,5,10MNTHS. ITS NOT ABOUT ME |
| posted by TABATHA on 11/16/2008 11:27 AM
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I am a single mother of three children and I stay-at-home with them. I was a former legal assistant, so I work part-time in my home whenever work comes my way. I am also divorced so I receive child support from their father so that helps a little bit. I babysit for my friends, family, etc., and I sell Avon. The Avon thing isn’t cracked up to what everyone says it is….you have to be 100% dedicated to it and with three kids I can’t be! I don’t buy “name brand” things anymore. I micro-manage our finances. Our weekly food budget for a family of four is $45, and we do great with that. Before I do my grocery shopping I sit down and write out our weekly menu and sometimes I do this every two weeks. From that menu I pull out the items I need to grocery shop for and make a list….I also stick to the list and not buy anything non-essential (which means if it’s not on the list I’m not buying it)…Breakfast items are easily done because my children love oatmeal, cereal, and eggs….for lunch we do soups and sandwiches (and not canned soups…homemade…I make them ahead of time and freeze them in my deep freeze). For dinner I follow my menu and sometimes (almost always) we have left overs and I use them in the next nights dinner meal. I switched from disposable diapers to cloth diapers. I have 2 children in diapers. When my kids need clothes I only shop if there is a really good sale or I go to a couple of nice consignment shops I found in my area. I only drive my vehicle when it’s necessary. I don’t make “mini” trips out to run errands. I allow myself 1 day a week or sometimes 2 to get my errands done. It’s a hard task to complete and it is slightly different from my situation because there are two parents in the home and not just one, but you can make it work. Have you thought about switching to cloth diapers?
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| posted by Johnnia on 11/16/2008 11:58 AM
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how do i do it? i dont. i have to stay home for now because my daughter has speech and physical therapy 2 times a week and i havent been able to find a job to work around that schedule, give me enough for a good daycare and bills, and also the hours i need to make sure i am home before fiance needs to leave for his job.
once our daughter is 3, she is eligible for daycare help through her early intervention program. less than a year to go. i, however, love being home with her and watching her milestones. |
| posted by ERIN on 11/16/2008 12:10 PM
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Hi Mel,
My husband works seven days a week and he never complains. If he didn't do that we wouldn't make it. If I worked two of my kids would be in daycare, after I would pay a daycare $200 or more, a week, plus gas money, i'd be working for 50-100 a week, if that. It's just not worth it to us, I'd be working just to pay a daycare and put gas in my car, i'd be stressed out, tired, and never get to see my kids, AND, someone else would be raising them. So, in preparation for when they do start school and I can work, i'm finishing up my teaching degree online, from home. I was in the Navy and I get money each month from my g.i.bill, that we use for bills, so we're not rolling in it, but we're doing okay. We're both really stressed out. Taking care of the house, the meals, the bills, the errands, the kids, and trying to keep up on my schoolwork is really really challenging. Some days I don't think I can do it, then I think about my husband working 7 days a week and I get over myself and do what i have to do. When you have children no one tells you that when they are really small, like under the age of 6, you really have to give up your own life almost completely, but it'll be worth it! Chin up and smile, you'll be okay. |
| posted by Crystal on 11/16/2008 12:16 PM
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| i ask myself the same question. we have 2 kids in diapers and just bought a minivan bc our civic broke down. what helps our family w/the groceries is picking recipes out and writing down a menu & have a list to take to the grocery store. my husband and i bought a fixer upper home that we could afford on one paycheck, but also have extra money to save. we save monthly for x-mas. the minivan we bought is a 2000 w/low miles. very nice but we shopped around. so not brand new. we are blessed w/hand-me-downs for both children, but i do shop on craig's list for toys. you can get great deals on there. sometimes things in our home wait..like curtains or fixing a hole in the wall. i'll like to see how other stay-at-home moms are doing it too! |
| posted by Osiris on 11/16/2008 12:20 PM
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| we also have a coal stove in our basement. we could not save any money when we had oil. i make big cheap meals..like lasagna, roast chicken, chili..that will feed my family for a few days. this summer we had a md size vegetable garden that helped us w/food. we're planning on making it bigger so we can freeze more for the winter |
| posted by Osiris on 11/16/2008 01:08 PM
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FORGOT TO ADD COUPONBUG.COM SAVES MONEY WALKING KIDS TO AND FROM SCHOOL. SUNDAY PAPER AND WEEKLY SPECIALS. HUSBAND BUILDS CABNETS SO USE SCRAP WOOD TO HEAT HOUSE (HAVE FIREPLACE WOOD BURNING). LITTLE THINGS HELP. DOLLOR STORE IS AWESOME .CRAIGSLIST CLOTHES SWAP WITH LOCAL MOTHERS.!? JUST IDEAS HOPE TO HELP
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| posted by TABATHA on 11/16/2008 02:19 PM
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| I think part of the reason my husband and I are doing well in this bad economy is that when I was pregnant we were living in a REALLY cheap one bedroom apartment with very limited bills. I didn't work my whole pregnancy so my husband and I would get a feel for what it would be like to only have one income coming in. We didn't buy a house until me son was one and lived very cheaply prior to buying it. The house is only what we were paying in rent and well within our budget. Our cars are small and I walk just about everywhere since I live in the city. It's all about making choices prior to having kids in my opinion. If you already have two lexuses and a huge house; you're stuck with those bills which means you HAVE to have both parents working. It's a very hard financial choice to make and it means you have to live with the Payless Shoes and the do-it-yourself manicures, but in the end it is well worth it to know my son is getting all of me everyday. |
| posted by Heather on 11/16/2008 03:07 PM
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Hey there,
I have something else to add. I make a menu for the week and shop with a list as well. We do cereal, pancakes, french toast, eggs and bacon at breakfast usually. Lunch is usually peanut butter sandwiches, grilled cheese, ramen noodles, mac and chz, peanuts, fruit, fish sticks, chick nuggets, french fries, carrotts, broccolli, and dinner is usually a meat, a vegetable, and a carb like baked potato, or something. You can do all kinds of things with potatoes. And making big homemade things you can eat for a few days really helps. I just noticed a lot of people doing this. We're also going to start a garden this year, I think that will help a lot! |
| posted by Crystal on 11/16/2008 03:07 PM
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| mel, i am a new parent of a toddler boy. i am married,and an unemployed since march. how we get along is, my husband works for walmart and is retired from the service (which pays our mortgage.) i have been on the exstended unemployment for a while, and that is fixing to run out.)i stay home of course, my son has therapies at home twice a week. we tried day care but he stays sick. so thats out! my husband has put in to switch to third shift soon so i can try and find a day job ( instead of the night jobs i have been looking for.) we only have one car, (we can only afford one,) so we take turns with it and hand the baby off, or he goes to the grandparents house, which live right next door. i only drive the car when i absolutely have to,(dr visits etc.)and i dont drive unless i have several things i need to do at one place. my husband does our shopping after he gets off work.when i do get to a store, i dont buy anything i dont need. we can always make toys for our son out of house hold items! and if my husband goes somewhere,we all go,and i get some things done at surrounding busnesses. and if some things can be put off till then, then i do! i also, just signed up to recieve free food from a church,(when my unemployment is gone.)if things get any worse, i do live in a big city where there is a transit bus system,or theres my bike or walking. alot of businesses arent that far away from me. |
| posted by teresa on 11/16/2008 03:52 PM
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| mel, also, i saw christines coment about starting a garden, and i just want to let it be known that food stamps can be used to buy seeds! i found that out a long time ago,but i dont know if that can be bought that way from any food stamp excepting store or not.(?) |
| posted by teresa on 11/16/2008 03:57 PM
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| How we're making it is that we only have one car payment. If my car wasn't paid off, I'd have to work too. So I'm really thankful that I had it paid off before we started our family. We will need a bigger car soon, but won't upgrade until my husband's car is paid off and then we'll trade in mine (as it is the oldest). We also worked very hard to pay off all of our credit cards and are now working down our loans. But we still live paycheck by paycheck and have no extra money for savings. I guess, the biggest thing is to try to live within one's means. If you don't have the cash, don't charge it. (Or better way of saying it, if you can't pay off the credit card within the same month you used it, don't charge it.) That's helped us a lot too because you can easily fall into the compound interest trap... |
| posted by on 11/16/2008 04:22 PM
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| I am a single stay at home mother of 2 toddlers and to be honest with you if it wasnt for my family i don't knwo what i would do. thank god for them |
| posted by JENNIFER on 11/16/2008 06:15 PM
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I thank God that my hubby has a great job that is very busy, he is always working but luckly he works from home, he goes into the office once a month and it is about 26 miles one way so we save a ton in gas. He is paying all of his past debts off and school so it is tight. I plan meals and shop clearance for anything we need other than food. We already put our plastic on our windows because we are on a lake it gets very windy. We have radiant heat so that help because all of our heat doesn't go out the door when it is opened. I just found a part time job that was God sent because it is M-F 3pm-7pm since my hubby is home he can handle 4 hours and it is minimum wage but it will help with the holidays. I start tomorrow and it is seasonal so I am back at home in February. But it is a way to get out for a bit.
He is very aware that he could lose his job at anytime, here in Michigan it is getting tough. He also did a garden this year and we are expanding it next year it helped because we did tomato plants, bell peppers and jalapenos just to see how it would go. WOW the prices on those at the stores are high so that saved us a ton.We haven't bought a house because what if he has to get a job in another state. But I love it at home with my kids and I will enjoy the small break but will be glad to be back full time at home |
| posted by Kristhal on 11/16/2008 09:13 PM
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