Money Budget

Updated on February 26, 2012
V.S. asks from Lima, OH
7 answers

Hi ladies. I am currently enrolled in nursing school and will be attending this Spring. It is going to take me 3-4 years to complete my associates. I plan to eventuallly go for my master's to get my nurse practitioning license. I have 3 kids ages 4, 2 and 6 months. They are great kids and most of the time get along well. We get the occasional fights, but who doesn't.

Anyways, I work 20-24 hours per week (4 days). My hubby works a regular 40 hr week job and does get overtime every now and then (usually 2 times per month). I am trying to figure out our budget to see about me quitting work and going to school 2 days per week and having our 2 older children go to daycare 2 days/week and having our youngest be with a sitting those days. That way I can keep the kids 3 days during the week. I'm not concerned with getting homework done or studying because I should be able to prioritize my time. I'm worried about quitting my job. My husband is worried that if I quit and the economy takes a huge hit, we will be screwed. I'm worried because I've been working our monthly budget for 2 days and I just don't see how we can do it without my income. Now I don't make very much. My husband almost triples my income, but with our house payment, credit card bills, etc. I just cannot see how. I've even tried to figure out how to reduce anything and maybe I'm not looking closely enough, but I cannot see it. How did you moms out there afford to quit their jobs? We don't eat out very much (maybe a few times per month). Our groceries and gas for vehicles seem to be what is killing us. We just got our mortgage reduced down almost $250 per month so that helped a lot. But with everything else including babysitting, daycare, electric, propane, etc. it's like I can't figure out where we can save. We got ourselves screwed and have to last a 2 year contract with AT&T for our cell phones so unfortunately we cannot give those up. Otherwise we would be spending over $600 for early termination fees. We plan to get rid of them in Dec. 2013, but until then we are stuck.

Do any of you have any suggestions?

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C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

Victoria:

You need to stop using your credit cards. NOW. Keep a journal of EVERY penny you spend. You will be surprised at where it all goes.

Go through your home - anything you haven't touched in six months - gather for a garage sale and get money in the door. Collectibles - sell them on craigslist or ebay. If you need help with those - please feel free to PM me - I will help you. Any money you make from the sale - apply to credit cards. You would be surprised at what you don't need and can live without.

Use coupons for groceries. Make a menu for the week. Look through the Sunday fliers to find out what is on sale, what you have coupons for and make your menu off that.

Did you refinance your mortgage? If so - it only saved you $250? That's odd. You must not have went down much in interest.

Plan your errands. This will help save gas. I just heard on the news the other day to buy gas on Wednesday as that is usually the cheapest day - I have not seen this.

Save on electricity by turning lights off behind you. Only turning them on when needed. Keep the blinds open to allow the sunlight in. Keep your thermostat set at a lower temperature. Wear sweat jackets and slippers.

I hesitate to tell you this - because for some it backfires - refinance the home and take equity out - pay off the cars and credit card debt. It's NOT always the best thing to do - however - you MUST be strong and cut up the credit cards.

Apply for student loans or even grants to help you with school. The loans don't need to be paid off until you have stopped going to school - so that will help you.

If you have a landline - cancel it - find out what it would cost you to keep just your internet. You don't need cable - so having one service might work for you.

Talk to your providers - AT&T and see if there is a package that is cheaper that you can turn to..and NOT extend the contract. Call your electric company, gas/propane and other providers and ask if there is a flat-rate program you can get into.

There are a lot of companies that are doing that - they come out and do an evaluation to see how energy efficient your home is and then see how they can help you with windows, etc. I know our service providers are doing stuff like that here in VA. I don't know about Ohio.

When I quit? We had NEVER budgeted my income into ANYTHING - house payment - ANYTHING - so my money was always fun money...we put it in savings, we bought stocks and bonds. So when I quit - our family wasn't affected by not having income anymore other than not putting as much in savings.

Keep a journal. find out where you are spending your money.
Pack a lunch for work.
Buy clothes at Goodwill or garage sales. The only thing you need to buy new in my opinion is shoes...you can even get great suits (if your husband needs to wear suits to work) at Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.

There is a lot you can do. The first step is getting rid of the credit card debt. Talk to a financial planner. Borrow a book from the library - Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman - take what you can use and make it work for you.
Talk to your counselor at school and apply for a student loan or a grant. You might be surprised at what you receive.

ETA: Also check with the day care providers that they will accept part time children.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

It sounds like you've thoroughly thought this thru. It may not be realistic to stop work. The simple key is will you spend less than what you've been earning? Add up the expenses and compare them with your husband's earnings.

It's not clear if you'll need less or more daycare and babysitting if you quit work. That would probably be your biggest difference. Day care is expensive.

Have you looked up budgets and found the percentages that the experts recommend we spend on each category? That way you could find out if you're spending a reasonable amount for mortgage, groceries, car upkeep and gas, etc.

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M.C.

answers from Detroit on

Childcare is outrageous unless you have a family member who is willing to do it for a reasonable price. I have to take your husband's side on this one. You may not be able to quit:( With the costs of gas prices expected to increase in the spring, food prices will go up once again as will the cost of living in general. I'm looking at my family budget, and I'm seeing the same thing as you are...where do I cut or where can I save. I'm interested to see your responses. Some options I've looked at are finding a higher paying job (which is tough in this economy), have one car instead of two, or sell the house and move into a rental.

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J.V.

answers from Chicago on

We afford it by not having childcare costs. I couldn't imaging having to pay for childcare.

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

Unless you guys make over $100,000 per year you could qualify for free financial aid. SERIOUSLY, I just googled it. Most take a family and it's $60K or less but some schools will do FA if the family makes up to $100,000 per year. That just amazes me.

Here's the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_financial_aid_in_the...

I think if your hubby is making a middle income salary that you could qualify for total financial aid to make up the difference of your income. You should not take any loans what so ever. Those come back to bite you in the hiney. One of my friends had kids that were teen-agers when he made his last student load payment.

You should apply no matter what, getting a degree is way more important so you can provide a good living for your family once you go to work. Nurses make good money.

I would say the kids could go to child care 5 days per week too, it will be free if you apply for assistance.

If the family, after taxes, income is less than $2200 per month you could probably get food stamps.

All this is there so you can go to school, to make a better life for your family. It is not a hand out, in this instance it is a hand up, to a better life.

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E.B.

answers from Beaumont on

Can you get your degree online and take care of the kids at home?? This should help alot. We did the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course and it helped TREMENDOUSLY!! Get the book from a library and immediately implement it, you will be amazed! Good luck!

L._.

answers from San Diego on

I don't have the patience to look at the link below, but I have 3 college age students. My mother lives with us and we are responsible for her. My husband makes a lot and I run a business in our home. We have amazing deductions for the business. But when adding all our incomes, husbands, mine, moms social security, and the kids jobs, the government still says we should be able to come up with 22,000 per year to divide between those girls for school. That's out of pocket EVERY year. We don't have savings. We only have about 30,000 in retirement and I'm 45 and he's turning 50 in may. We have 1 paid for vehicle and 1 loan. I do make 12,000 per year in payments on various bills and I will NOT file for bankruptcy because the government thinks we must get rid of cable, cars, 1/2 our food, cell phones, and apparently, sell our house to afford college.

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