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I have been a stay at home mom for 6 months now. We have been living off my husbands income and saved money. Well the saved money is gone. So I made a budget. After all the VERY bare essentials we are left with $13 bucks. We never eat out. I cook all meals from scratch. I conserve gas. And use freecycle web site all the time. I really dont want my son to go to daycare. And I went back to work after daycare ect. I wouldnt even be making that much. Please if anyone has ideas I would love to hear them.
Brandy
Thank for your reply. I do alot of those things. I sell at the farmers market and sell plants from home. I havent thought about house cleaning. I forgot to include. I cant get a "real" job because my son has alot of health problems and he is on CHIPS insurance. If I make to much we will lose the insurance and no insurance will take him with a preexisting condition. I had a wonderful job as at a pond store. I got to take him to work with me. It was great but the store closed. Are you a stay at home mom?
No, my kids are grown and we have many grandchildren now. But we do the farmers' market as our source of income. My family (not including me) was involved in a car wreck about 8 years ago and my DH had to give up his job as a truck driver. We now do the farm as our sole source of income and we are paying the bills.
But I used to be a single Mom, was going to college and worked, both full-time, then had to come home and clean and cook, etc. I look back and know it was a hard time, but we made it through.
Is CHIPS part of the military? Years ago, I worked at Ft. Knox and I enrolled over 10,000 people into the CHIPS program there.
I was thinking that if you knew other mothers in your predictament, maybe you could all watch each other's children so that you could each have a day off a week. Then maybe you could find something, even if it is working at the local burger joint for a day...and perhaps some hours when your DH gets home from work.
Oh girl I can sympathize! We've enjoyed a nice 2 job income here for several years and with each year we've been married (going on 6) we've made more money. We put off being parents until we got "settled" and now that we are we have found out we WILL be parents the end of this year (Oct or Nov) and I had to redo our budget again. We want for me to be a SAHM and can live on my husbands salary but literally we will be stretching the dollars. We each have cell phones but don't carry long distance on the house phone we just use for faxing and the computer line. This is about the only thing we could cut but I kinda figure it in as an insurance policy, I mean, you have to pay these every month whether you use them or not and if something were to happen to either of us a cell is the best way away from home to find each other! So I don't want to nix those. We had a gym membership which I was really looking forward to using (they offer free daycare while you are there) so I thought I could get back in shape and get a break from the baby each day, but at a little over 40 bucks a month we decided it could be nixed and we'll just have to take walks around the neighborhood instead. We don't eat out either (unless currently we have to on the road when we travel for work but we even try to get hotel rooms with the microfridge so we can nuke TV dinners or stuff from home). We don't have cable TV. We only splurge on things to improve this new house we have! But since finding ourselves soon to be parents we've cut the spending on this too.
I did our budget and we'll be in about the same bind as you once I quit working and even if I were to work it wouldn't be a whole lot more than the taxes and daycare and gas costs. A neighbor who sends their baby out to daycare ($480 a month) was wondering if I'd babysit for a little less. It's an option but even at less it's like making $15 a day. And you can never call in sick, know what I mean!
I used to clean houses and offices with a friend. The offices are easier to do because you can schedule to do them at night and no one gets in your way. And homeowners can tend to be very picky. We billed it so we'd earn $8 an hour but that was 6 years ago so I guess it depends on your market.
I've been trying to think of a business idea I can do from home but I did crafts a couple years ago and sold at shows and woah, the response at those in Texas was not all that. I couldn't even break even and a lot of vendors were complaining about the same thing. The craft market sure did great up in Michigan where I grew up! I was thinking of getting back into writing and perhaps can sell some pieces to magazines. It would mean no overhead so it'd sure be my best bet.
I do have the perfect book for you to read, it's by a Mom who is a true penny pincher. Her ideas and organization when it comes to saving money for your family, especially on your grocery budget were useful AND so funny.
Being a true penny pincher I borrowed a copy from the library. But so you can read excerpts from the book here is a link:
Misty, CHIPS is what you get when you make to much for medicade. Its a great program that goes off your income. I know farm life is alot of work but I would love to do it. Its my long term dream. You are wise women with alot of great ideas.
Aimee congrats!!! I hope you find a way to stay home with that baby! I have learned from my son and 2 step sons what kids really want is your love and time. We have givin up so much for I can be home. I do not regret it at all. I also see so many spoiled kids out there. I take alot of pride in the fact my son is happy with what he has. I have also learned that if I am positive and happy with what we have the whole family is. Thanks for the book info.
I am really glad I started this thread. I bet we can all help each other.
My DH's dream since he was little was to put his green thumb to work growing things the old-fashioned way (no pesticides, etc). We dream of having some acreage and livestock someday!!! But to fund our dream he'll have to work in his profession and make it big there first I'm afraid. He's an electrician and wants to have his own construction company once he earns his Masters license. It will take years to get this going but then we hope to move to the country and live more off the land. Do you have a family garden now? We were thinking if there was any surplus we could sit on the corner and sell it. I'd like to get into buying seeds and bulbs of flowers and potting those then selling them.
Just stopped in here and was reading...I am a mom of 2 soon to be 3 in 7 more weeks...we try our best to penny pinch but always talk each other into going here or there or getting this for the kids or that...I would love the name of the book you mentioned Aimee as the link isnt working for me...thanks!
Aimee, Hello. :) I wanted to just mention the selling of potted flowers. If you set up on the corner and sell them, depending on where you are, believe it or not you might need to have a sales and use tax permit. Food is not taxable, but flowers are...at least here in KY. I don't do flowers because the paperwork is too much of a pain...but then I sell at the farmers' market though. Just food for thought.
I mentioned house cleaning, because people are always looking for someone to clean their house, even if it's just the dusting and vacuuming and stripping beds each week.
I don't even like to clean my own house, let alone others, but if I had to...I would, ha, ha...I used to clean offices and I hated it! I had one floor with 64 offices that I'd have to clean in 4 hours each night. Ugh! And I especially hated cleaning the restrooms (p.s. men are worse than women!)...LOL
Kathy: Thanks for the sales # tip, yep we don't charge on food here either (unless it's convience or "junk" foods) and getting a sales tax number is easy, I used to have one for crafts. We don't really have farmers markets here in SA. Why? Not sure! Miss them! Ew, men's rooms are actually WORSE!!! I travel a lot with work and use a LOT of different public restrooms and can only say I'm appalled when I walk into the womens. People certainly don't treat them like their own! I have actually seen signs at rest rooms down along the border that say, "Please dispose of toilet paper in the toilet." Luckily for sanitations sake a lot of places are going to the automatic flushing toilets! The cleanest restrooms are the rest stops off the highways in TX. One had a neat sign (can't quite quote it here) that said, "This public rest room was paid for with your money, please keep it clean." =) YES!
Being sick in a first trimester your opinion of a clean toilet DRAMATICALLY changes let me tell ya.
We just lost one of our church member's daughters that lived in San Antonio :( She was only 52 I think and died of cancer.
I can't believe that SA doesn't have a farmers' market. That's amazing with the size it is. Well, Aimee, you're just going to have to start one...hook up with other DG members from SA..
Hehe, if there IS one we haven't seen it in the almost 2 years we've been here. In Bryan they had a WONDERFUL open daily in the warmest months fruit stand. It had huge old fans and it was all open, like a flea market, just with a roof and they had the most variety and best prices in town. Not here. Can't even find too many day old bread stores? The groceries are all dominated by the HEB and Walmart chains. Really! They even ran Albertson's out a few years back I was told. Wish people would demand a farmers market! But am sure it'd be cheaper for us to start out selling for free at the roadside.
Aimee, I looked up the farmers' markets site and they have listed nine (9) farmers' markets in San Antonio. Here is the page and the phone numbers and addresses are listed there...sure hope one of them is still in action. Kathy
My 14 months old daughter's name is Lavender too. She also have a twin brother. I compleately understand how hard it is. Here are some tip:
Sell used baby products online, there is a cool site, the key is, ebay charge fees and shipping adds up, people expect baby product dirt cheap. Borrow a camera to do that.
[HYPERLINK@www.craigslist.com]
2. When your huby or family who can help you baby site the kid, you can work in the weekend like restaurants or Casino. They always needed people and every city have it. Fast cash.
3. Post your available time at local church for helping cleaning people's house or take care of older people.
4. Move to a smaller town of another state where the living standard is cheaper.
5. A handy info here. The company I work for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, they always hire drivers at the airport locations, they open as long as the airport is open, you could work there during the weekend to wash cars or drive cars to the airport, a credit check is required, you could have no credit but not bad credit.
I am definitely going to have to buy that book. I'm not a big spender but I know I could do better.
What I've been mostly doing is in-home babysitting. I babysit for a couple who are both nurses. They both work 12 hour days and the day care centre here doesn't accomodate long days. I like it because it's usually about 2-3 days per week, some are 12 hours others are 8 hours (depending on whether the mom is on nights that week or not - dad is almost always days.) Their oldest is the same age as mine and she'll often come just to play even when I'm not officially sitting. We've budgeted to be able to live on my DH's income and the babysitting money is for guilt-free splurging.
I've also started a business that I can do from home. I don't put a lot of time into it so the returns aren't huge but it does help - and it's very flexible.
Good luck with your budget. I'm so grateful that I've mostly been able to stay at home with my children. I had to work for about 6 months when my DD was two (DH was finishing university). Fortunately my sister was able to babysit for me but I was definitely not happy working when what I wanted was to be at home with her.
Here's one a little crazy. My daughter was a surrogate mother about 6 years ago. She made enought for a down payment on her house and got to stay home for 10 months. After that she became a foster parent.
I have an update to my situation. My DH got a great raise. We paid off some of our dept. And I sell on e-bay and clean new houses for my FIL. I will be starting to sell plants soon. Oh.. I also have started clipping coupons and totally saving on grocires. It is hard. We do without alot. But, we are really happy. Thanks for everyones advice. So since I started this post I found out staying at home can be done.
Brandy
Glad to hear your situation is better. No matter how bad things may seem something always comes along to get you by. Good luck on your plant sales, sounds like fun!
Stop thinking about BUYING BOOKS and go to your library. If they don't have it, they may be able to trade with another library for it.
Also, you need a cell phone, but do you need one that costs as much as you are paying? Mine is $15/month. Yes the minutes are limited to about 2 hours -- so, that means I only use it when I need it.
Buy cheaper groceries by cooking meals from bulk products. If you like spaghetti, than make it by the gallon and freeze it. TV dinners are too much money for too little nutrition. Easy, SURE, but not the right thing for our health.
Taking care of someone else's kid is a JOB with no calling in sick, you bet. But $15/day adds up to $75/week or $300+/month -- how much are you paying for rent/mortgage or car payments that $300 wouldn't help? You can't call in sick on your OWN child, so don't think of it as a job, think of it as you having a part-time twin to your own child. You'll make do.
If you have a car payment, look seriously at downgrading your car to a good used one. I know my brother went from $300/month on carpayments for his new truck to $3000 for a very reliable sedan. Not cool, but it was PAID FOR and he doesn't have to worry about payments while he saves up for a new truck he will pay CASH for.
I was laid off my "corporate job" in 1999. You can find all kinds of ways to cut corners on things you have convinced yourself you need. But don't.
Hnag in there, a baby is a blessingm the budget is just a detail you have to deal with.
I just wanted to encourage you and tip my hat that your willing to do whatever it takes to stay home and take care of your child! Have you ever considered getting into a network marketing company? I have my own business with one and it doesn't take much to get started. I don't want to mention the company on this site because I don't know if it's allowed. I'm just glad to hear your making it work... I have four children and home school three and it's been tough at times but I'm so glad I made the choice to stay home with them! Just take it one day at a time!
WOW! I can't believe that I've spent almost the entire night reading your threads regarding finances. I just started listening to Dave Ramsey's FPU cd's and was looking for a copy of his financial software cd when I happened upon this site through Google. I learned a lot just reading what you have all been going through. I can relate to so many things that I read. I hope to talk to some of you guys soon. Thanks for sharing your info. I'm really glad I found this site.
I really admire your desire to stay home with your little ones. My three children are now grown and one my life's worst regrets was working full time, even though it was only for a couple of years, but it was when my two oldest children were 3 and 1.
Another suggestion I didn't see mentioned was making calls from home. Amvets, The Cancer Federation, and Purple Hearts all pay solicitors to schedule picks ups for donations of clothes or household goods. When my youngest son was 16 and getting into some trouble, I decided that as a single parent, I'd better be home as much as possible, no matter what. I worked school hours and then got a job with Purple Hearts and make scheduling calls from my home.
If your husband is supportive of watching the children a couple hours on certain evenings of the week, this might work for you. I have full time job as a sign language interpreter for a deaf high school student, but my PH work from home has helped me stay in my home. Feel free to ask me any questions.
I am in a similar situation, I'm pregnant with my second child and with the cost of daycare for two children you'd have to make $400 a week just to pay for daycare. I used to work at a hair salon, so I had the double problem of daycares not being open when I need them to be for the hours I worked. Well anyway, what I've been doing for the past year is driving a school bus! They paid me while I trained for the special licensing, I had to pay for the test and license at the RMV. I get to bring my daughter with me, and I spoke with my boss and I will be able to bring my newborn as well, some companies policies are different about what age the kids have to be. You get all the school holidays and vacations off so when your kids are old enough to go to school you don't have to worry about that, plus you'll get to drive your kids to school. My favorite part is having the summer off so I can garden as much as I want, but there is some charter work available for people that want/need it. I have to admit I thought about quitting in the beginning - it's not the most glamorous job, and it takes a while to get used to having to keep the kids in line, but I can say a year later I am very settled into the routine. Some places bus drivers actually get paid like $18 an hour, where I live I'm not as lucky, but maybe where you are pays better than here. It is early morning hours, in the morning I have to be there about 6am but I'm home by 9am. Then I go back out about 1:30pm and am back home by 4:15pm, it adds up to 25 hours a week. My 2.5 year old daughter usually sleeps on the bus so it doesn't bother her any she actually looks forward to going on the bus as part of her routine. Some companies will let you park your bus at home, I bring mine home in between to save on gas, otherwise you have to drive back and forth twice, and some people take them home all week.
