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January 2011 Moms
I thought we were going to be ok...
I am sitting here bawling because DH just called and said that his after school teaching application got denied, along with the other 2 best teachers in the school. Not sure why, but that means $400 less per month that we will have to live on. We literally cannot make ends meet with his regular salary. He has done after school Tuesdays through Thursdays for $30 an hour since he has worked at this school. He works in the summer to make up for that lost income. We go 2 months out of the year (August and December/January) where we don't have that extra income- my financial aid covers us for August and we skip a car loan payment (we have the option twice a year) to make it through December/January. I was in such a great mood finances wise because things were finally looking up- my income waitressing is all being put towards our car loan and we were going to be able to pay it off by the time the baby is born. With out the car payment or TV bill, we would be ok when our insurance hikes up to $300 a month after the first of the year. Now I am terrified because we have a baby on the way and can no longer make ends meet on a regular basis, what happens when the baby comes? Right now we are in a month to month lease with our house, so we are looking at either having some friends of ours move in with us (which is against our lease) or move into a two bedroom apartment- with 2 dogs and a cat. Which sucks because we are really happy right now where we are at- Nice house for the money, big back yard for dogs, plenty of room, nice neighborhood. I'm seriously scared right now and don't know what to do. We are going to cancel our internet ($27 a month) and ask DH's parents to pay half the phone bill since they are on our plan ($50 a month). The rest of our bills are basically mandatory- rent, vehicle insurance, school loan, auto loan, etc. I turned off the A/C.....
Ugh, thanks for letting me vent ladies!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: I thought we were going to be ok...
I'm sorry you're having to go through this. Hang in there and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that things work themselves out soon.
Is there any way that you could ask you landlord to reduce your rent if you sign a long-term (multi year) lease? Sometimes they are willing to do that for the security of knowing that they don't have to worry about renting the place out again for a while.
I literally LOLed at tutoring in this area...and he's a PE teacher....so idk if thats an option or not because he is only certified in PE and health.
As far as my landlord- the month to month lease is his choice. Thats all he does and we've already asked for a reduction in rent. He refused- even when he thought we were going to move out in July.
I can't tell you how many kids fail gym. I am sure he has stories for you.
Blah. Money problems always stink. When I got pregnant with Olivia, hubby was locked out (on strike) at work for 6 months! They dropped our insurance and I had to pay about $300 a month for private insurance to get me through the prenatal care. But, it all worked out in the end. Don't worry, you will find a way, even if its really tight for awhile.
Honestly, babies are not THAT expensive. I was nervous about the added costs we'd have to endure, but diapers and wipes aren't too bad, especially if you find a store brand you like.
I am so, so sorry you are having to deal with this right now.
As a pet owner myself I know the thought of ever having to be without my pets terrifies me, but I can't imagine feeding 2 dogs and a cat is inexpensive. Do you have any friends that would be willing to take care them until you get back on your feet? You might be able to find another place for less without having your pets. If that absolutely is not an option you could always post on craigslist for tutoring. Lots of college kids do this for extra money and many parents don't want to pay the extra money for someone who is certified, just someone to help their kid get back on track.
Well, after a few hours to actually calm down, talk, and crunch some numbers-
I don't **think** we'll have to move. Our basic bills not including gas and food come to just under DH's base salary. He also has the second job that will be Monday's and Fridays that should cover us for gas and food and doggie food. He is also going to look into a soccer coaching job that is open at a high school in his district which would start in the spring. We should be able to pay off the jeep in 4 months max putting all my serving money towards the loan, so that will help. Then in the Spring, we will take out the maximum amount in a grad plus loan. Ugh. What is more debt when you are over $100,000 in the hole to the dept. of education?? That will be able to make up for the jump in insurance and child care, and help out in other places. I was really looking forward to being able to put some money into savings....
Thank you ladies for all the encouraging words! Pregnancy hormones make everything so much worse....
Carina 12.28.2010 | Aurelia 9.23.12 | Chart - Round 3
I'm so sorry to hear this. I know exactly where your coming from though. DH has had a bad year at work and we've had to claim exempt on taxes just to make ends meet. While his office is finally picking up we know we have a big bill coming the beginning of next year. We finally got ahead of all our debt and almost had it paid off and then we go and have a bad year salary wise. I feel like we can never get ahead.
I hope something good comes your way. I know it's stressful dealing with money issues while pregnant. This pregnancy has been so different from my first. I had the money to splurge on DS and now I feel guilty that we are doing the minimum for DD but that's the way it goes. Thankfully my mom and MIL have bought most our stuff for us because they are aware of our situation. We are very fortunate to have them. I hope you guys have someone to lean on as well.
Yeah, this is good too. We looked into this once.
Oh, the $300 is health insurance! We have $133 a month on car insurance for 2 cars- DH's is the minimum and we have to carry full coverage on the jeep because of the loan. When the loan is paid off we will drop it down to the same as the car. We get a group discount from being graduates of Ball State, a good student discount, multi car discount, a college graduate discount, and an educator discount through Liberty Mutual. I've looked at other companies and no one can ever match it!
I didn't think of the refereeing, thanks for the idea ladies!
What about coaching? My sister's husband coaches, he's a PE teacher. Or, he could go to some gyms and see if he could do some personal training after school?
ETA: I didn't see your comment about the soccer coaching but he should look outside the district too for some Fall stuff
If you are currently in school, you should be able to get an in-school forebearance on your student loans. I had one every year I was in college. All that happens is they keep adding on interest but you don't have to pay it until six months after you graduate. And once you have the baby, if you can't get a forebearance, they have different deferrments for when you have a loss of income or additional bills.
I would also shop around for car insurance. Are you able to get car and renters with the same company, which would actually lower your bill? Is your Jeep brand new? If both you and DH's cars are used, there is no way you should be paying $300 a month. DH and I both have used cars and renters insurance through Allstate and we barely pay $200 for everything.
Everything is going to work out for you guys!
MY student loans are in deferment, but DH's aren't. I am very reluctant to change the amount we pay because the Dept. of Educ. does this thing where if you are in a public service job (teaching and the military qualify) and you make "qualifying payments" for 10 years, after that 10 years anything left on the student loans are forgiven. We make qualifying payments now, but not if we lower the payment. And if they change the law and we aren't making qualifying payments at the time, we won't be grandfathered in- meaning if we then started making qualifying payments, we wouldn't be able to do the public service program. After I graduate, I will be working until my Corps training just to save money to pay my loan payment every month.
Insurance is health insurance, not car insurance- see pp!
We do have renter's insurance through them also, and I am going to call them soon to put the motorcycle insurance under it also (thank goodness DH can drive the motorcycle every other week to school and save on gas!) if it is cheaper.