Oh and for my older kids: Not investing in a better elementary math program Not reading aloud enough Not doing a family morning time

Mine has been not enforcing correct letter formation. Using a curriculum to read when really they did better learning from books. Not using a phonics approach to spelling. Buying too much fluff. Adding in too many workbooks when a simple written narration would have hit everything.

Well, I'll be honest. I don't think at 7 language arts should be independent. They are still fairly young and I think being independent at that age just sets you up for problems. BUT if you mean something you teach and then has practice sheets of what you taught then that's another thing 😉 I'm honestly not worried about grammar and composition at 7 so I' would do some copy work and let it go if your struggling for time.

I think he feels really terrible about it all and that line may very well be his way of pushing it away. He started on his career later because of some health issues that were really awful. So he feels like a failure ❤️ Granted I should have done things differently too but honestly back then we were just surviving his health issues that hit us out of the blue when my oldest was a baby and it set us back career wise. He really is able to talk about it if I'm calm and lately I've been stressed about money and he had too so those conversations haven't even wel, lol! But now that we have talked over what you guys have said we have a plan and that is comforting and we've been able to do a lot of figuring out. Things were better financially for awhile we've been able to pay off school loans, house debt and still put a good amount in savings it's really just been this year that things have become so tight.

This is very likely ❤️

We actually discussed this at length and made some good progress! He also is looking into ways to earn more in his current profession like when he finished his master's he can apply for different levels and certificatios that will give him a decent raise. So we are definitely making better progress. It's going to take that's I think for him to see what you've all been saying but I'm going to keep at helping him. I may need to work and I'm not writing that off. But while I do have older kids I also have very young ones and it's hard to find something that will work with all the schedules we have between older kids and my husband working too. But I'm not saying I won't work I'm just not jumping at it just yet while we sell some stuff and figure out some things.

Some great ideas here! So first off getting chickens is a great idea but not here since they get killed by wild animals so easily. We'd have have to build or buy a coop to keep them safe. Also we don't eat eggs much so I buy them cheaper from a friend than from the store. Selling would not make us any money since we live in the country and everyone else has chickens too. Our bills are fairly low already, for both my husband's and my cell phone we pay $25 a month. My kids have to pay for own if they want one. My kids only get basics right now and anything extra they buy themselves. For Christmas and birthdays we buy used where ever we can and don't spend much on them. I know many people who spend more on 1 kid than we do on all 5. Clothing is used unless new is cheaper or I can't find it used. As far as car insurance we have the minimum on all cars except for my van and now the newer car. It's really not that bad but we can cut back. We are definitely selling one of the cars but we will be keeping the others for now. My son basically pays for the one he drives so it's really only 3 cars on our end. It may be a luxury to keep one for trash but living in the country we can't always put the trash/rubbish we have in the dumpsters at work and a service is over $100 a month so it's actually cheaper to keep it even if that's all we use it for. As far as insurance we are on Medicaid so we actually can't get cheaper. My husband and will probably not be able to be on it next year because the district is giving him a raise (but it's not a raise because they are also raising their insurance costs and other stuff so we will actually do worse with this raise so don't get excited). We don't subscribe to anything. Our Internet is free. We do budget and we do so very carefully. We don't have many pet costs. Our plan as of this week: sell 1 car, sell anything we don't really need, and I'm also selling some curriculum. We are checking out all the costs of everything and seeing what will actually benefit us more, me working, him working less, ECT. I really appreciate all the advice! I feel better after hearing all your thoughts, it has helped me realize things we can change and also things we are already doing towards being frugal! Thank you everyone!!!

UGH.. My only experience with offering my sewing as a business (when they asked ME!) was them turning me down flat because they felt my services should be basically free. Anything to do with sewing they want it free and it bothers me so much! I mean I can do a great job and sew fairly well why can't I charge for that?!

Yes he's a public school teacher 😊 he is actually teaching at the highest paying highschool in the area, he tutors, and coaches bowling those are the 2 part-time jobs. Our housing is so cheap in not sure moving is worth it. Once he finishes the masters he will look into administration and they make quite a bit more money but that's at least a year away.

Yeah, we do have an upcoming driver that's why we were thinking of keeping more. We live out in the country and most jobs are done by 5-6 so the likely hood if me working nights is pretty slim. So we may very well need 4...1 is simply a truck that we use to take trash to the dump because it's so much cheaper than paying a service and yard stuff. My husband also uses it for camping quite a bit in the summer because it has 4 wheel drive (which is also nice in the winter when the roads are bad). So we will probably only sell 1 car.

This is why we can't make ends meet. We actually have done pretty good at managing our expenses, we even have a good savings but within 3 months everything has jumped so high that we can't make ends meet anymore. I'm going to do some serious cutting in the budget, sell a car or two, find out about insurance costs for a family, and then I can look into getting a job.

That's good to know! I'll double check this so I know if I can work part time. If honestly enjoy it in some ways.

Really?! I didn't know that.

Great ideas! I am doing a lot of it but I can always do better.

I am too. I was just frustrated in my first post. I really don't blame my husband and write honestly and made it work we'll until this year when our car gas sky rocketed to more than $300 our normal bill. So we've had to learn to drive less.

We don't right now because it's $800 for just 2 people. I can't imagine what it would be for all 7 of us.

Not if he stayed in the same field. This state pays higher than most and the living rates are lower than anywhere from what I've read. Housing is still affordable. Our payments are only $500 a month for a 4 bedroom 1800sf (it was a really good deal even for here). I'm not saying we can't move but not for his same job.

I am interested! I'll have to check that out, thank you!

Two things I forgot or failed to mention. 1. the car isn't a new car it is still 9-10 years old, we bought it used. All Our other cars except 1 are over 20 years old. 2. My husband reminded me that one reason we haven't pushed for me to work is due to insurance. Right now because of our income we get a lower insurance and if I start working we no longer get it. Then any amount I make would only go towards the insurance premiums. In this area with what I'm likely to make would not or barely cover those so we would be in same spot or worse than we are now. Unless it is a significant increase over $15 an hour it actually costs us more for me to work. Sigh... Even many full-time positions only pay $14 an hour here. I'm not sure that me working part-time will actually help. Maybe I'll start looking into school for myself. We have a great community college that I mostly likely would qualify for a grant for.

He is open to it! We actually talked about it last week and he is willing to do something else. There just aren't a ton of options here that is not oil driven and those jobs are not stable Right now. Though they do make a really good living.

ALso, WHY when you say to group of homeschooling moms that you might need to find way's to get extra income do they ALWYAS suggest an MLM?! I've done my fair share usually for the discount in years past but seriously?! I would never turn to it for a serious income. 🤦‍♀️

good point!!!

This is exactly what i think happened! They are luxuries and not needed.

We make $100 too much to qualify. I'm definitely talking to my husband about this tonight. I can definitely see this is silly when for some reason I hadn't really noticed before.

Wow, that is beautiful! I'll share this with my husband, thank you ❤️