How do you keep yourself from getting financially frustrated?

Carolinabuckeye · December 2014

I tend to have the snowball effect thinking when it comes to finances....especially now that we want to have another baby!!!

At one point we hit hard times (had been hard times I guess) and I wasn't working and we received food stamps in medicaid. Hubs got a good job over a year ago and lost food stampe and received transitional medicaid for 1 year. I was able to stay at home for a little while longer as I was finishing up my bachelors degree and received money from school to help with "living expenses" granted by a scholarship I won.

So now I got a good job about 2 months ago....heres where im getting really stressed out. Our daycare is $520 a month...medical coverage for our family is $350 (they told us it was gonna go up to $400) witha $1,000 deductible. My odest daughter is sick constantly with terrible allergies and medical costs are crazy along with out prescription no0name brand costs. We also take evry possible mesasure at home to ensure her allergies are under control. Our car died to so we had to take out a loan for a very dependable car because hubs job is extremley strict on attendence.

After daycare, car payment, gas, medical coverage, deductible, presciptions etc....im left with $150 a week extra. This is with my hubs paycheck covering everything else. Not to mention student loans that they want me to pay $750 a month. which I LITERALLY cannot pay without going into debt. SO they want to take the $150 I have left over.

We also got pushed into the next tax bracket so we've already lost $3,000 in income tax which i have defiantley will not have made up by the end of the year.

Maybe im getting a nasty taste of what real middle class is....maybe im hyperventialting unnecessarilly....all I keep thinking how I wont be able to afford anything else that comes up!

bmo88 · December 2014

Carolinabuckeye I know the pang of being bumped up an income bracket. While the extra income is awesome, the sting on higher taxes sucks.

Anyway, I deal with financial stress, by finding ways to cut back when possible. Do you have unnecessary expenditures? This could be cable, cell phone data plans, purchasing toys, etc. Sometimes there are small areas that can add up very quickly.

Also, have you applied for income adjusted student loan payments? Something seems off. Either you are living well beyond your means if you only have $150 left and can't make the $750 a month payment or you haven't applied for income adjusted payments. I would suggest you look into that ASAP if you haven't already. If you are on income adjusted, then you need to seriously look at your expenditures and make some adjustments.

Carolinabuckeye · December 2014

We got rejected for income based loans...we are over the "poverty level." I try to call all the time but i work 8-5 and they're open 7-5. Being on hold for ever and it turns into 2 hrs

Ugh Im gonna call again tomorrow and harass them again for options.

Our cells are $95 a month and we have no cable. I make a pie chart every month with our expenditures. I feel like we cant cut back on anything else. Thats whats so stressfull.

Think, just for mortgage, daycare, cars and food we are already at $2000 a month
mortgage $520
Daycare $520
Cars = $440
Food = $500

I tried finding cheaper childcare but so far im out of luck.

lifeonthehill · December 2014

I suggest going to the Money Matters board over on thenest.com. They are great and gave me tips that really got H and I on track two years back.

katieteacher123 · December 2014

Big saver-

I take an hour on Sundays to sort coupons and then use those coupons to create a meal plan for the week which takes about another 30 minutes. This doesn't seem like much, but it has really helped us save on the grocery bill.

Little Savers-

With the holidays coming up, I have been saving some money by making home-made gifts. An easy/cheap idea is cookies in a mason jar. You layer all the ingredients in the jar and then attach directions for baking and a ribbon.

I sell my used clothes instead of donating. We have a store called "Plato's Closet" that buys used clothing and handbags. (What they don't buy I still donate, but keep the receipt for taxes.)

I shop at the Dollar Tree for things I used to buy for a lot more. They sells things like hangers, tupperwear, ziplocks, that I used to buy for more at bigger name places.

JennyH81 · December 2014

You'll want to double check the loans - one reduction is tied to poverty level but another is tied only to the ratio of you student loans to disposable income - I qualified for that even though I am well above the poverty line. Also ditto on the selling old clothes - back in my single days I worked a high-paying job in NYC and have a ton of nice clothes that no longer fit me in my 30s (and would never be appropriate to wear in my new city and at this age). I'm selling them (along with some wedding items) on a website called Tradesy and I've made several hundred dollars off of only a half-dozen items already. Coupons and store brands (I love Target Up & Up things, except for their cling wrap, which is terrible) can also help you save way more than you'd expect.

Obviously I can't speak for you and would not want to give advice in this arena (so feel free to think I'm a jerk, no offense will be taken), but for me under those circumstances I would probably wait to have another child. I think everyone always stresses about the financial strain of a child, but you seem to have really looked at it down to the dollar and it seems as though things are tough as it is already. Factoring in time off of work for you, child care for another baby, food, diapers, clothes, and more medical bills will really increase your cost of living. When I first got married I started a savings account - I make a monthly deposit that is not that much per month but by the time a baby would come along I should have a fairly good bumper to help with the added expenses. Perhaps that is something you could consider, even if it's only $25/month?

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