Stay at Home Moms
Families with one vehicle?
Hi, I'm currently a SAHW, soon to be a SAHM. DH has worked 3rd shift for the past year, and just switched this month to 1st shift. When he worked 3rd we had no problems b/c the car was still here during the day for me to use. Now that he's on 1st I'm already finding it hard to schedule OB appointments, etc. and I can't help but wonder how it's going to affect us after LO gets here. I keep thinking about how I won't be able to go out and do anything until about 3pm when he gets home everyday. Are there any SAHM's out there in a similar situation?
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Re: Families with one vehicle?
we've had to share one car before and to be honest, it sucks. if i need to go anywhere, i have to get her up and take him to work and then go get him in the afternoon. i feel trapped on days i'm stuck with no car. even if i hadn't made plans, it's nice to know i can leave if i think of something i want to do, kwim?
right now our second car is broke down. to get to the dr the other day i had to borrow mil's car to keep from having to haul both kids (i babysit one) to take dh to work and pick him up.
I'd be getting a second car, even if it's a cheapie. We're about to replace the one that keeps breaking down.
i do know people that are fine sharing though.
We've only done the one vehicle thing when one of ours breaks down. I absolutely take DH to work at those times. I can not imagine the cabin fever I'd have if I couldn't get out of the house. It seriously gives me heeby jeebies just thinking about being stuck here, and we even have a park within easy walking distance but that's not enough for me. A lot of that is my personality, I know some people are more content to be in the house. If I could get to places without a car, that would be a different story.
But, assuming you can't get anywhere by walking, what would you do if your DC spikes a fever and you want to rush to the pedi's office? I've done that at least 2x.
Also, I know that for us, morning is THE time to get out because DD takes one nap a day from about 1-3 (sometimes 12-2, sometimes it's 2-4), but she's grumpy when she wakes up and trying to do anything but cuddle/watch tv/play at home is just a nightmare. So all our outings are in the morning whether we're going to the zoo, playgroup, or just the grocery store.
We had NO car while we lived in Chicago (the first year of DD's life). That was, frankly, how I'd prefer to live. Cars are such a pain, and public transportation was always so fun for DD. We met a lot of nice little old ladies!
Since we moved to New Jersey, we've had one car, and I drive DH to work every day so that I can have the car. He walks home, which is only two miles and a nice walk through a college campus. Since we can't afford to have a home near campus, when we buy we'll probably still work it where I drive him twice a week, he takes the car twice a week, and then he'll work from home on Fridays. We're trying to get a house right in the heart of a smaller town, where services for us (library, pre-school, simple groceries) will still be in walking distance.