S.a.h.m.

[KristiLee]

Hello Stay at Home Moms! I have a question for you... How do you survive on one income? What cuts did you have to make? I am currently a teacher, but my school district is making cuts, and I might be one of them... My husband and I are TTC, he has a pretty good job, but with our mortgage, student loans, and some credit card debt, I don't know if we can survive... I guess I am looking for some advice, and prayers Thank you

We haven't really had to make many sacrifices on only one income - we have dsl, unlimited long distance in the state, cable (which we did recently get shut off), a subscription, hospital bills from when we had our daughter, a car payment, and a personal loan. We also have the necessities like electricity, oil, water and of course groceries. We get to enjoy eating out on occasion, visits with relatives and friends, as well as other activities. We also find fun, free (minus the cost of gas and snacks) things to do - like go to the beach, park, go on walks, exploring etc. We have been blessed in the area of clothes, we have a lot of friends who have kids so we save in that area.

For x-mas/birthdays etc. we ask for memberships to museums or what have you instead of a multitude of toys (that the kids always end up choosing one favorite and ditching the rest). This not only helps us to keep me at home - but it also increases the opportunities we have as a family to do stuff together - where it might potentially leave areas for us that we might be more focused on the money (which was a problem in the past).

We have a budget plan that has made all this possible. Also, we add to the principal of our lowest loan as much as possible and work our way up to the higher. With this it looks like we'll be out of debt by the end of next year (we own our home so we don't have a mortgage). If you want some budgeting help, I can send along a sample of what we do! Let me know!

ETA: I'll be praying for God to reveal ways to help your circumstances! God bless!

 

[marezee]

Hello Stay at Home Moms! I have a question for you... How do you survive on one income? What cuts did you have to make? I am currently a teacher, but my school district is making cuts, and I might be one of them... My husband and I are TTC, he has a pretty good job, but with our mortgage, student loans, and some credit card debt, I don't know if we can survive... I guess I am looking for some advice, and prayers Thank you

DH has been blessed with a decent job. We do struggle at times, but we pinch pennies and cut back on eating out, new toys and clothes, and other extraneous things. I like fresh food, so grocery money is at a premium. since gas and fuel have gone up, we might be tighter this winter. We have an online movie rental account, so we get unlimited movies for one price; unlimited phone and DSL for one price; My FIL provides some rent because he lives with us. We do not have a mortgage, but we do have a car loan and credit cards, and my student loans. If I had it to do over, I would have paid off my credit cards b4 becoming a SAHM.
So my advice to you would be to pay off as much debt as possible b4 becoming a SAHM. Then make a budget and stick to it!! Cut out extra spending and superfluous items. You can make it work!! God bless you!

 

[KristiLee]

DH has been blessed with a decent job. We do struggle at times, but we pinch pennies and cut back on eating out, new toys and clothes, and other extraneous things. I like fresh food, so grocery money is at a premium. since gas and fuel have gone up, we might be tighter this winter. We have an online movie rental account, so we get unlimited movies for one price; unlimited phone and DSL for one price; My FIL provides some rent because he lives with us. We do not have a mortgage, but we do have a car loan and credit cards, and my student loans. If I had it to do over, I would have paid off my credit cards b4 becoming a SAHM.
So my advice to you would be to pay off as much debt as possible b4 becoming a SAHM. Then make a budget and stick to it!! Cut out extra spending and superfluous items. You can make it work!! God bless you!

If you do this... Make a budget first and stick to it - then you'll be able pay off the debt and get you home sooner!

 

[~RENEE~]

Hello Stay at Home Moms! I have a question for you... How do you survive on one income? What cuts did you have to make? I am currently a teacher, but my school district is making cuts, and I might be one of them... My husband and I are TTC, he has a pretty good job, but with our mortgage, student loans, and some credit card debt, I don't know if we can survive... I guess I am looking for some advice, and prayers Thank you

Well we are not on one income. I receive disability due to having a few medical problems. A good way to make cuts is. Shop at an inexpensive grocery store. We go to Aldi's. Freeze leftovers.

 

[Leanna]

Hello Stay at Home Moms! I have a question for you... How do you survive on one income? What cuts did you have to make? I am currently a teacher, but my school district is making cuts, and I might be one of them... My husband and I are TTC, he has a pretty good job, but with our mortgage, student loans, and some credit card debt, I don't know if we can survive... I guess I am looking for some advice, and prayers Thank you

We moved 500 miles from the city to a place where we could buy a house for cheap. We never used credit cards, I would advise cutting them up and just saying no to credit. I know that Dave Ramsey has a plan for paying off debt quickly if you have a decent income (won't work for us now that we only have one small income but all we have are school loans and mortgage so oh well). We only buy cars with cash, not credit, so we don't have car payments.

 

[heart of peace]

Hi, I'm popping in on this very long thread. I don't know if I qualify though as I work in the home.

Hello Stay at Home Moms! I have a question for you... How do you survive on one income? What cuts did you have to make? I am currently a teacher, but my school district is making cuts, and I might be one of them... My husband and I are TTC, he has a pretty good job, but with our mortgage, student loans, and some credit card debt, I don't know if we can survive... I guess I am looking for some advice, and prayers Thank you

Hi zoesmomma, I am a teacher by profession as well. There are a couple of online positions geared for teachers (to be done from home) that I can share with you. Let me know if you are at all interested. Praying that you find some way to supplement your husband's income.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

Hi there zoesmamma, I really agree with the budget idea, a budget is essential! My DH earns a good income, and it covers the car loan, the mortgage, living expenses, credit card. His job often has the option of overtime if we have some extra expenses. Also in Aus the government gives us a tax benefit for having children so I get an extra $100 a week which covers bills. But we have a lot of help from our family, they often have us over for dinner, randomly buy us groceries/clothes for the kids/petrol etc. So we are very thankful.
I would say if being a SAHM is something that is important to you and your DH, then pray pray pray about it!!! We had some fertility issues - but God's timing is perfect - If we concieved when we wanted too we probably would never have been able to buy our home...

 

[KristiLee]

We moved 500 miles from the city to a place where we could buy a house for cheap. We never used credit cards, I would advise cutting them up and just saying no to credit. I know that Dave Ramsey has a plan for paying off debt quickly if you have a decent income (won't work for us now that we only have one small income but all we have are school loans and mortgage so oh well). We only buy cars with cash, not credit, so we don't have car payments.

Yes, I've heard great things about Dave Ramsey's book(s?) as well. Also, I agree with Leanna that you should pay in cash and (not to sound redundant but) on a budget you can live as though you had a car payment (or whatever) and save for it then buy it outright... we don't have a mortgage for this reason because we bought our home with cash. We also don't use credit cards and I second cutting them up!! I agree with leisamd as well - pray pray pray about it! God bless you!

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

you bought your home cash????? WOW!!! We are sooooooooo not disciplined enough to save that much!

 

[KristiLee]

you bought your home cash????? WOW!!! We are sooooooooo not disciplined enough to save that much!

Well, we have great parents who helped us... dh and I married when I was 18 and we lived with IL's for the first year and a quarter. Then, we bought a used mobile home. We are well on our way for saving to build a home. We knew we wouldn't be able to build (dh's dream) if we had rent or a mortgage to be concerned over (according to what others have shared with us anyway).

We hope to help our kids do the same thing because we can't imagine what muck we could have been in if ours didn't help us.

The budget we are on doesn't restrict us much at all -in fact knowing exactly what we have gives us more freedom with our money and we feel good about splurging when we do other than feeling awful each time we spend a dime.

Now if only we had listened in regards to our car! If we had, we wouldn't have been stuck with our '98 Mercury Sable paying THREE times what it's worth! Oh well... you live and learn! I just praise God we've learned what we have and that it didn't hurt us more than it did!

 

[Leanna]

I wish we could buy our home in cash.... but I comfort myself in knowing at least the house payment is lower than rent would be anyway....

 

[zoesmomma]

Hi, I'm popping in on this very long thread. I don't know if I qualify though as I work in the home.




Hi zoesmomma, I am a teacher by profession as well. There are a couple of online positions geared for teachers (to be done from home) that I can share with you. Let me know if you are at all interested. Praying that you find some way to supplement your husband's income.

Wow- you are all so great I will continue to pray about our situation!
Ms.Dahl- I would love some advice of online teacher positions.
Thank you all so much for your help- we are working on paying off our debt, slowly but surely! Our biggest expense is our mortgage, everything else is pretty manageable.

 

[KristiLee]

I wish we could buy our home in cash.... but I comfort myself in knowing at least the house payment is lower than rent would be anyway....

 

[KristiLee]

Wow- you are all so great I will continue to pray about our situation!
Ms.Dahl- I would love some advice of online teacher positions.
Thank you all so much for your help- we are working on paying off our debt, slowly but surely! Our biggest expense is our mortgage, everything else is pretty manageable.

I'll continue praying for you also!

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

ours is the same leanna, our loan repayments are less than all our friends pay in rent! And once our car is paid off then things'll be easier too... but we're happy to pay for a super reliable car!

 

[KristiLee]

ours is the same leanna, our loan repayments are less than all our friends pay in rent! And once our car is paid off then things'll be easier too... but we're happy to pay for a super reliable car!

That's awesome!

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

thanx! We actually got a really good deal on our new car (we bought it in 04) because DH works for the company, so we got it for about $11,000 less than normal - and no dealer charges either. Seeing what my friends go through with crap cheap cars I wouldn't have it any other way! We've got just under 2yrs left of paying it off.

The house is another story, a 20yr mortgage! But it is good we got into the market when we did, otherwise we probably would never have been able to do it!

 

[faithmom]

Hey I am borrowing a computer while visiting my sister. My own died (more info in my blog if needed).

Anyway, I just want you to know you are in my prayers, and I will be back soon!

 

[marezee]

Hey I am borrowing a computer while visiting my sister. My own died (more info in my blog if needed).

Anyway, I just want you to know you are in my prayers, and I will be back soon!

howdy faith!! glad to see ya!

 

[~RENEE~]

I wish we could buy our home in cash.... but I comfort myself in knowing at least the house payment is lower than rent would be anyway....

I wish I could just buy a home. I am getting so tired of renting.