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Stay at Home Moms
gbaby26
member
Are you just making it?
gbaby26
member
What are you doing financially to just make being a SAHM work? Are you late paying certain bills like cable, ect??? I feel like we are just getting by but its worth it being home with my LO....
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Re: Are you just making it?
necessity. Perhaps it is time to to cut cable if staying home is more important than cable.
If you can't afford to pay your bills on time, you should probably cut the cable.
We have made sacrifices to SAH like having no cable, driving older cars, and living in a small home, but we are financially stable because of those cut backs. It's important to me to be able to pay my bills on time and build a savings. If I couldn't do that, I wouldn't SAH.
I've never once been late paying a bill. Growing up my parents were horrible with money, even thoug my dad mae decent money we still were always strapped and would pay bills super late. They admited they were just not wis spenders and I think seeing the stress and hearing about late fees made me VERY aware of budgeting and due date.
DH actully does not make tons of money he really does not make excess money at all. We may even be considered low income or just over it? BUT I never feel we are behind and we have zero debt. We don't have cable, we are a one car family since we live in an urban neiborhood with awesome bike/walking trails and a bus, our one car was paid with cash and is in no way new, we buy our clothes used or I make them, cell phones are SUPER basic, etc...
Honestly though I think with planning ahead, not having credit cards, budgeting every penny, using an envelope system for cash, and paying ourselves (savings) first we hasve made ourselves very stable! I've seen pepole who make twice (or more) what we make who are very behind, I think a budget and never using credit is what makes us set, not nessarily the money we bring in.
Honestly though if we were not getting bills paid I would go back to work. Have you considered giving stuff up, if that cable bill is late why do you have it? It is not a necessity! Maybe work part time?
Some months have been a little tight, but we're ok. We don't have cable - we do have netflix, though, and I watch a lot of TV that way. We're paying off student loans, one car, and the house, but other than that no debt (i.e., no credit card debt). Our house is dated and there are a lot of things we want to update in it, but it's painstakingly "one bit at a time" because the last thing we want is to get over our heads.
We make sure to pay off more debt than required each month and we always put in to savings.
Other things that help save money: cooking a lot more often - big batches, then freeze the leftovers for later meals, cloth diapering, and breastfeeding.
DD#1~8/17/96------DS~10/24/05
"Just making it" means different things to different people. We pay all of our bills on time, and we are still putting 10% of DH's salary into savings through payroll deduction each month. We save for DD's education, retirement, etc. We refinanced our mortgage in December last year at a great rate, and that freed up over 300/month for us. We paid off all our cc debt (around $5k) before I stopped working. We don't use our cc's any more - debit cards and cash only.
But we don't have as much "extra" money any more. I can't just go drop $100 on new shoes without first looking at our budget. We don't go out to eat for dinner as much as we used to. We live on a pretty tight budget when it comes to buying things we don't need, and there are some months where we blow through our fun money early and I think that it's not much fun to be broke, but we're not really broke. It's different to not have enough money for bills than to not have the money to buy tickets to a sporting event, go out to dinner, and pay for a baby sitter.
Do you meal plan? Do you cut coupons? Do you buy used for children's clothes? I only buy DD's clothes if they are on sale or at used baby sales. Her grandparents spoil her with expensive, new stuff. I have started couponing and pretty much don't pay anything (or only pennies on the dollar) for things like toothpaste, shampoo, tampons, etc. I use sites like couponmom.com and hip2save.com for deal match ups. We buy 2 Sunday newspapers, and my mom gives us her inserts. I use groupon for all kinds of things - shoes for DD, dinners out, social events.
If we got to the point where we couldn't pay bills, I'd go back to work or get a part-time job. It's more important that I have that sense of security/stability than being at home with dd. Sometimes its hard when I see my child-free friends and family members drop ridiculous amounts of cash on frivolous items (well, to me, at least).
I just landed a part-time job teaching at the University where we live because I miss the spending money! Fortunately, it pays enough to cover babysitter expenses and still make it worth my while, but I know that not all part time jobs are that way. Do you have family who could watch your LO a couple times/week while you work retail or something? A friend of mine works retail 2 days/week, and her mom and sister watch her child while she works.
Good luck to you. I suggest posting a budget on the Money Matters board. They give great advice and can tell you where to cut. Be prepared, though! If you're not paying bills, they're probably going to tell you to go back to work.
This exactly. I grew up and my parents had a very tight budget (family of 6 on a teacher's salary). They made ever dollar count but it was very stressful on not just the parents but the kids as well. Having been through that situation I couldn't justify doing it with my children. If we had to penny-pinch or worry I would go back to work.
I've learned that no matter how much you try to hide your financial worries from your kids they will pick up on the stress. My parents never talked "money" in front of us but we could tell it wasn't a good situation.
I agree with this.
We are "just" making it, but we are not paying bills late, or missing bills. Never have, and never will. If it comes to that I will be going back to work. We gave a lot up when we found out we were pregnant since we planned on me being a SAHM before we ever had kids. My husband sold his "dream" truck so we could buy a family car. We sold our house, paid off all our debt with the money we made on selling our house, and moved closer to family. Although moving closer to family really doesn't matter cause it's not like they have anything to do with us finacially. I sometimes wish we had more money to go around, but doesn't everyone? We don't have extra money for a savings, but my husband does have a 401k through his work. We cut out eating out so much, and we also cut out our weekend get-aways we used to do once a month. You learn to live within your means, and you learn to cut what you don't need. We still have cable, but if it came down to it, that would be first to go. I had to give up my proactiv for the extra 60 bucks a month, but oh well.
We've been talking lately about me getting a p/t job in the AM while DH is home during the holiday season so we can get what we want for DS, but it's just something that comes up every once and awhile in conversation.
Personally being home with DS and seeing every minute of him growing up and raising him with our values, instead of someone else raising mine as theirs is worth every penny we could be making.
to bring in some extra money i started babysitting a friends daughter. she pays me 25 a day for 2 days a week. this way our daughters get to socialize with other babies and my DD gets used to having a baby around b4 i give birth to the new little one.
though with the new baby coming we might wind up canceling cable, and electric if it comes to that, which is no problem since we dont need tv and we have a wood stove for heat and cooking. and i like the natural light from candles and we have so many big windows that we dont need the lights on during the day.
I'm sorry, but this just sounds insane. You are not making it AT ALL if you have to turn off your electricity.
I'm trying really hard not to give the wide eye to this. Oh shoot...
I agree with pp that Dave Ramsey's plan is excellent.
Our problem used to be that we had enough money, just no plan, so there would be "too much month left at the end of the money." I read Dave's Total Money Makeover book and began to use a budget worksheet each month. This helped us a lot. Good luck to you!!
And to the OP if you can't pay the cable bill on time cancel it, if you have cut everything you can and still can't pay your bills you can't afford to SAH which it sounds like you can't
Please don't tell me that you are late paying bills so that you can stay home? I don't give a crap if people stay home and are living paycheck to paycheck - that is none of my business.
BUT, when you are late paying bills, that affects the rest of us (i.e. companies need to increase rates when people do not pay on time to meet their revenue expectations), and I have a huge problem with it.
If you are late paying bills, you cannot afford to stay home.
We are on a very tight budget and barely making it. I've been looking and applying for jobs since October. I went to 2 interviews (after hundreds of apps being filled out) and when they saw I was pregnant, one flat out told me no. The other never called back. I've applied at Walmart and Target multiple times, with no calls back. I make the decision every 2 weeks of 'Do I buy groceries or put gas in DH's truck so he can go to work?" We don't go out to eat, we don't buy anything extra, everything we buy is off brand. We don't use credit cards (altho we do have a cc payment, but it's been turned off, just making payments on it). We have no cable; we have internet and I'm getting ready to turn it off (only reason I havent yet, is because I use it to job search). during the day, I keep the air set on at least 80* so it doesn't kick on till its super hot. It sucks. a lot. I hate living this way.
For the ones that say they'd go back to work if you were "just making it," do you not have childen at home that you'd have to pay child care for? When Ilook for a job, I make sure it pays enough to cover childcare PLUS be able to help pay bills. If it's just enough to cover daycare, there's no point in taking the job.
Yes, I do feel like we're just making it, and we pretty much live paycheck to paycheck.
But, that being said, I wouldn't consider paying bills late as "making it". Paying bills late means late fees and bad credit, not a good idea.
We cut out a lot so I could stay home... no more cable, vacations, eating out, fancy clothes, extras like manicures, or buying whatever I want to at the grocery store. I know where every single dollar is going before it even comes in and DD only gets to do free kids activities (for the most part). If we want to read a book and the library doesn't have it we're out of luck. It's really, REALLY hard living like this. But,with careful and mindful planning we make it work.
Mother of God....please tell me you are joking or Amish - because I can't imagine anyone choosing to stay home over having I don't know - LIGHTS AND HEAT! Please explain how you plan to plug things in. Like the cell phone or computer you are posting from for example.
lights- candles and hurricane lights
Heat- woodstove upstairs and pellet stove downstairs
and honestly i dont need a computer and cell phones can be charged in the car.
furthermore i am not amish nor am i joking. living in the north we have hard winters that can leave us with no electricity so i have lived like that for weeks on end. if you had read my post fully you would have seen my answers to your question... though i would say that was not much of a question as more of an accusation. please dont insult me and say that i am an idiotic hippie. since i obviously i am more ready for a government shut down than most uptight fashionista city slickers.
i apologize to any who read this reply who feel offended by my opinion but there is the right to free speech and though my opinion may be old fashioned at least my heart is in the right place.
I think people are so used to a certain way of life it's hard to see anything different. I am just wondering if you thought about the safety ramifications of using the candles and lamps? Could there be a fire hazard? I am not flaming you at all, but I agree with pp who said since electricity is based on usage, maybe just try to not use it as much? I am a pretty frugal person and we live a more simple life than most of my friends. I just think babies and candles for light = a lot of stress. I would be worrying/following my kid around all the time. Also, what if you really need good light. Like if your child cut themselves and you couldn't see well enough to determine how serious it was. I know it is an extreme example but you never know.
Uh, I never once said my electricity was gonna be turned off. That was some other crazy. No family here other than DH's dad and stepmom. And I don't trust them. I have 2 good girl friends, but they both work during the day and have kids of their own (in school) to take care of. DH's is looking for a job where my family is, so hopefully that will work and I'll have family member that can keep DS and I can go to work. We do get DS' formula from WIC. Don't qualify for medicaid or foodstamps (just barely miss the cut off). If DH does not take the job, I'll be looking for a midnight shift somewhere (gas station or casino).
I'm just lurking, but holy cr*p!!! So true.
My mind is officially blown. I almost have no words - almost. Ok, explain how you plan to keep food from going bad - you know, since your fridge won't work and all. And how about bath time? Just boil some water on the stove and dump that on the kids? Now that is a good financial plan right there! "Hey honey - I don't need to get a job. I found a way to give the kids a nice hot bath! And guess what, afterwards, their skin will probably fall off, so we won't have to pay for clothes anymore, just gauze! Woot!" Idiot.