We can never get ahead! :(

[Jennilyn]

Every time DHs pay day comes up I hope it'll get better, but every time he gets paid, I buy groceries and pay one of the big bills, then it's all gone! Just enough to pay the mortgage and that's it. I can't work right now because if I paid for day care, I wouldn't be bringing home any income! Ugh!!

[Traci Reed]

I've so BTDT, big hugs to you Jen!

[Megan Turnidge]

Yeah, I definitely feel your pain. Best of luck to you. I hope things start looking up soon.

[tlcaudle]

I know what it's like to be in that boat. We were like that a little more than a year ago, but I decided it was time for me to go back to work. I was able to get a good paying job though, so it was actually worth it for me to go back to work, except for the first two and a half months. I was only working Part time and making just enough to pay for daycare, but then, thank the Lord, another opportunity opened up for me and I was lucky enough to land that job.

I know it's hard, but if you look hard enough, I would hope you could find something. Of course it helped that I had a college degree, but you never know what you can find if you look hard enough.

I really wish you the best, it's tough, I know.

[Jennilyn]

I have a diploma in computer support and networking but I haven't done anything in the field since '98 so it's pretty much useless now. Maybe I should resubmit some stuff to Kijiji and try to sell it again. Anyone want a camcorder or a 35mm Minolta? LOL

[LibbysMommy]

Awww I'm so sorry, Jennifer. I'm planning on quitting next year when my now 3 year old gets ready to start pre-school. That's my biggest worry is living on one income with the economy the way that it is...I hope things get better soon!! Big hugs!!

[Shawna]

We're pretty much in the same situation and it definitely sucks! But we're trying to cut things down as much as we can - eating out way less, not buying as much stuff for ourselves & the kids, couponing to make the grocery & household budget go further, and staying home most of the time since gas prices are so high right now and we just keep plugging away on the bills. We've paid of a few smaller bills and credit cards and we just have a few larger ones to pay down so I think we're finally starting to make some progress!

I worked up until just over a year ago and daycare for my 3 would have been way more than half of my income so it really doesn't make sense for me to work either.

Hopefully things will get better for you guys soon!!

[tlcaudle]

Originally Posted by Jennilyn

I have a diploma in computer support and networking but I haven't done anything in the field since '98 so it's pretty much useless now. Maybe I should resubmit some stuff to Kijiji and try to sell it again. Anyone want a camcorder or a 35mm Minolta? LOL

That is when I graduated from college, I really didn't use my degree either, I went in to the Marines, then worked in an environmental lab. I guess I kind of used my degree to some extent, but after that I hadn't worked for almost two and a half years. YOu never know, it is worth a shot,

[KristinCB]

*huge hugs*

[rochelle789]

I'm sorry to hear things are so tight. I'm sure that's stressful. Have you considered any type of work from home, maybe taking care of a child or two? A childhood friend of mine runs a licensed daycare in her home (of course you wouldn't have to go that far), and she makes a very good salary doing that.

Good luck! I hope things turn around soon.

[Voodoo_Bryn]

I know exactly what you mean. Everytime we think we're going to catch up, a big surprise bill lands on our doorstep. =(
This time it was a $250 speeding ticket.

[newfiemountiewife]

Awww Jen, I'm so sorry. I think almost all of us have been there at one point or another. Sending huge hugs your way.

[Jennilyn]

I consider my designing "working from home" (I have my own site but don't put blinkage in here...dunno if it's allowed) but I haven't been designing much lately and my income has gone down. I have considered childcare and even tried to do it once, but our car doesn't have any more room for anyone else, unless they can sit in the front seat. Once Kaylee gets into school (2 years from now) I might be a lunch monitor at their school. It pays a bit over $10 an hour for 1-2 hours a day. So that would be $200-400 a month. Then I could still design (if I'm still doing it then LOL) and make more income that way.

[Shawna]

Originally Posted by rochelle789

A childhood friend of mine runs a licensed daycare in her home (of course you wouldn't have to go that far), and she makes a very good salary doing that.

I watch my 4yo niece during the school year to make extra money, she and Kelsie are the same age and go to the same preschool. Plus it gives Kelsie someone to play with when they're home from preschool in the afternoons! I wouldn't want to run a full time daycare but it's a nice way for me to generate a little income & still get to stay home.

[snappy2003]

I'm right there with you! 'Specially now with the cost of living/fuel etc rising. I went to a 36 hr work wk to save money, kind of sounds weird doesn't it?! But it knocks off some on the gas bill, I work 4-9hr days instead of 5-8hr ones. DH went to 4-10hr days, course he rides a motorcycle, but still, LOL. We both work 55 mile round trip away, adds up.

I feel your pain .

[Jennilyn]

My DH works 5 (sometimes 6) 10 hours days a week. There's not much more he can do except get a raise. He just got a $1 an hour more, but he said he might be getting more soon. I hope so!

[MelindaH]

I hear you. I just started tracking our expenses to see where we can cut back. And I just read in the newspaper that our natural gas heating bill is expected to be 30%-50% higher this winter. Our electricity bill is already over $200 and we're not using A/C... I shudder to think of what will happen come winter. Hugs and please know you aren't alone!

[Paula]

I've BTDT. It just irritates me that when anyone gets a raise, the stupid prices for everything have to raise too. It's amazing how anyone can get ahead in this economy.

[stayawake]

I'm so sorry to hear your struggle. *HUGS* I really hope things move in a better direction and you can look back on these days and wonder how you did it but be in a much better place.
As above posters have mentioned, maybe taking in one child for home daycare could be helpful. I did that for a year - just one other child - when the opportunity came up and the extra cash was great AND I could spend all day with my kids.

[ajf9597]

I've been there too! It really stinks, right know we are in the same boat. Seems like everytime we get extra $$, something comes up and out it goes.

[tuneskids]

sooooo BTDT

I really lucked out with my new job, as it's mornings only, which works with my hubby's work schedule (since he works afternoon/evenings 6-7 days a week). I was home, and things were tight, but every job out there would have required daycare, which actually was costing more than me working would have brought in, so I just gave up trying when this one came along.

We are just finally caught up on bills, and even have money put aside for our trip, although we have had to dip into that more times than we have wanted to this past week (hubby just plunked down $200 for a part for the truck that was needed).

huge ((hugs)) Jen

[crystalbella77]

Oh Sweetie I know exactly what you mean. I have no money...we don't even have enough to pay all the bills. But we pay what we can when we can and we are survivin'....for now.

[lizzyfizzy]

i hate money issues...dh and i went through that for such a looooong time! it's so hard when you have little ones and so many bills and the never ending cycle is soo hard to break! i feel your pain! hopefully it will get better soon!!

[AmyM]

I never would have guessed that at 30 yrs old I'd be talking about how things "used to be" like the elderly people do. 7 years ago when my daughter was born, I could fill up my car and buy groceries for the week for the three of us (including diapers and formula at that time!) for well under 100 bucks. Now it takes almost 50 just to fill up the car. The price of everything has doubled but nobody's salary has. Kinda depressing, but I guess we just can't lose hope. Maybe things will get better eventually. Jennilyn, we've been there so many times. I know how you feel and it's not fun but someday you will crawl out of that hole. Hang in there girl!

[EveRecinella]

*huggs* chika!

[my3hens]

Im so sorry that things are hard right now, we have been there more times then I would even like to imagine and totally can relate, big hugs honey!!!

[schock77]

I feel ya! DH is in sales and his pay keeps going down as he's expected to book more and more ridiculous amounts of $ for his corporation... I'm a teacher, so very little $ there. To make things worse about a year and half ago my ILs gave us 10k- HUGE right? Want to guess how much is left in savings after bills? 1200. I thought wow I can get our floors redone or something for us with that $, but no.

Hoping things improve, but for now I think we're all stuck in this yucky economy.

[~Julie~]

I so know how you feel. Right now I have $6.00 in my wallet right now and I don't get paid till next Friday. We hardly have any food in the house. I do work but its only two days a week (when my SO has off)and my second DD doesn't start school until Fall 2009. Two of my credit cards are way past due and I just don't have the extra money to pay them.

Just wanted to let you know you are not alone.

[Jennilyn]

We had our Visa paid off for all of a few days. When DH finished his car accident settlement we bought some things and paid off the Visa, then I bought my laptop and put it on the Visa and was going to pay it off with the rest of the money. We then found out because we sold stocks last year to buy our car, we owed $2300 in taxes. There went the extra money so now our Visa is up to $2000 again. Ugh! I've been paying my student loans with our Visa way too often too. $200 a month adds up! I don't even know if DH knows I've been doing that.

[scrappychic]

I hear ya Jen, the same thing keeps me up at night. We are so dependent on my income since DH is a disabled vet and on fixed income. Putting the kids through preschool, mortgage, and bills really bites us every month. We're always struggling near the end of each pay week. Any little thing like the car needign service burns a hole in our account. Can't help feeling trapped all the time.

I really want to go to school but I keep putting it off since that will be another loan = another payment. I'm waiting till we can pay off our van before adding another bill to our expenses. I'm not getting any younger either! Plus our home is getting way too small for our family and we can't sell because of the bad market. We thought of adding on, but again that means borrowing more from our equity and paying more for out mortgage. It's vicious!

[SaraAmarie]

Sometimes I start feeling down about our situation but I hear about others and I feel so thankful for the little I have!

We are able to live in a home on my inlaw's property and my dh can do any of our own home or vehicle maintenance- without these I know we wouldn't be able to keep up at all!

I try to be careful with our money and do things that cut down costs too. I buy a lot of food in bulk and am in the process of starting to make most of our food from scratch- making our own bread, crackers, sweets, etc and having hot cereals in the morning really helps the grocery bill. I have also looked a little into "the grocery game" that someone at DST posted-that looks like it would save alot. We eat out maybe once a month. Also we are helping my inlaws with a big garden this year and plan to dry/can/freeze extra produce which will also help alot.

I plan on homeschooling my girls and that will cut way down on school/activity costs.

Anyway, I know how hard it can be but looking for little ways to save really does add up. Sending big hugs to everyone!!

[SamaraGugler]

(((((hugs))))) girlie...

Even though I work full-time and make a decent salary I'm really stressed too. We sold our old home at top dollar and purchased a new one about 2 years ago, right before the economy took a dump. Our new neighborhood is filling up fast with foreclosures (fortunately, none are on my street). The house two doors down from us and EXACTLY like ours just sold for.... $150K LESS than what we bought ours for. That's a LOT of money to be upside down on. I'm so stressed out about it.

Not only that the loan that they wrote for us is NOT what we wanted, but we were forced to sign or incur thousands of dollars on penalty. They disclosed the terms of a loan that didn't even exsist. We were really put in a bad place by the mortgage company (Wells Fargo). We had thought that it would be a piece of cake to refinance, we thought wrong!!! We will be ok for about 13 more years.

For those of you that keep saying that daycare is so expensive... you really have to look. I live in Los Angeles and we have some of the highest expenses in the country, yet I only pay $125 in daycare for FULL time all week. You must ask around, call people. Don't just head over to the nearest preschool and expect them to be cheap. The big preschool here charges nearly $1,000 a month....I can't afford that!!!

There are also agencies that will help you out. Here is the one for our area: CCRC. Many preschools and daycares are subsidized by federal, state, and local governments. Some of the agencies allow parents to pay for daycare on a sliding scale.

If you have a college degree you might consider substitute teaching. Subs in my district make anywhere from $110-150 per day. Many states and areas don't even require a degree. You will have to pay for a certificate from your state, ours is about $50 a year. Call your local district to find out the requirements.

Good luck!

[suzyqscraps]

That's so rough! Don't give up. Just keep plugging away. And come up with creative ways to save a few dollars here and there--it adds up. Good luck, sweetie!

[Leila]

Originally Posted by SamaraGugler

If you have a college degree you might consider substitute teaching. Subs in my district make anywhere from $110-150 per day. Many states and areas don't even require a degree. You will have to pay for a certificate from your state, ours is about $50 a year. Call your local district to find out the requirements.

Good luck!

You've got a great point about subbing, Samara! That's one of the things DH did after he was laid off in 2002, he made about $75/day. At the time, all they required was a high school diploma (Texas---looks like it's finally changed) and getting through background/drug checks. Definitely check into the state/district requirements, some are more stringent than others. It's especially helpful if you have a specialty in a subject where they're short on teachers. DH has a degree in German as well as Chemical Engineering, so he got a lot of work at the high schools in our district.

We definitely know how hard it is to get by in this day and age. DH now earns a good salary and we're still barely treading water. We're counting down the days until his yearly raise comes in (20 left...), and hoping that it's almost as good as the raise he got last year. Doubtful though, who gets a 20% pay increase two years in a row, right?

[kscwgirl]

DH has a good job and we're still in that position, Jen. Our problem for the most part is that work for him is dependent on our weather and we've had a very wet summer so far. Rain=no work. He's working overtime for now for them to catch up, so that will be good and hopefully get us through the rain weeks that are coming.

Hope things work out for you guys.. it's so tough living check to check like that. I hate it.

[ColleenSwerb]

Man, I don't know how you all do it. I'm lucky and have a good paying job, but I don't know what i'd do if I were stretched that thin. I get stressed about money as it is (mostly for my total lack of willpower when it comes to scrap and craft shopping!) and we're not tight at all.

I'm so sorry. I hope the economy flips around sometime soon and people can catch a break.

[scrapfor5]

I can relate. Dh has a good job but it's also dependent upon the weather. Rain=no work and he didn't work at all this past winter. Plus, his jobs are anywhere from 30 to 60+ miles away so that's at least $40 a day in fuel! I have a job but I don't get paid near enough. Luckily, it's within a mile of our house.

I just got bounced check notices in the mail today and I'm near my breaking point. Feeding five kids is expensive, no matter what corners I cut. We make "too much" for state aid. I couldn't give my Durango away and I can't afford the loss trading it in now at this point in the economy.

I just don't know if I can do this anymore. My ulcer is not healing because I'm so stressed out, my designs aren't selling enough to keep us afloat, I have no where to turn. My parents are as broke as we are. Right now, we're just trying to keep from drowning let alone get ahead. Please pray nothing breaks!

[kimmerbean]

Jennifer, I'm so sorry to read about your financial struggles. Trying to make ends meet is so stressful, and with the economy being such as it is, things don't seem to be getting any easier. Please find comfort in the fact that you are not alone -- so many of us are in or have been in the situation you are in right now. Have faith. ((HUGS)) to you!

[sugarink]

Originally Posted by Shawna

We're pretty much in the same situation and it definitely sucks! But we're trying to cut things down as much as we can - eating out way less, not buying as much stuff for ourselves & the kids, couponing to make the grocery & household budget go further, and staying home most of the time since gas prices are so high right now and we just keep plugging away on the bills. We've paid of a few smaller bills and credit cards and we just have a few larger ones to pay down so I think we're finally starting to make some progress!

I worked up until just over a year ago and daycare for my 3 would have been way more than half of my income so it really doesn't make sense for me to work either.

Hopefully things will get better for you guys soon!!

Like Shawna, we have had to make some adjustments to our lifestyle and even though it was hard to do, it has definitely helped us not only save money, but be more responsible with how we spend. Making these little sacrifices will eventually pay off in the end. It takes some motivation, but I finally got myself to keep track of our expenses and saw that we spent too much on unnecessary items, like STARBUCKS coffee.. lol! So, just hang in there and hopefully you can come up with a solution that works for you!

[Jennilyn]

Oh I know we spend money on unnecessary stuff, such as toys for the girls (I do that ) and coffee & lunches out (DH does that) Oh, and he takes money out of a bank machine all the time that isn't our bank so it's a $3 fee! He knows we don't have a lot of money but he still spends $10 on lunch and gets coffee a lot of the time. I have been really good at not buying anything for the girls the last few times we've gone out. not only is it good for our bank account, it's good for them because they are/were getting spoiled!