Are You a Low Income HSing Family? Come on in...:D

[Julpost]

Dh makes a very good income but I've never had good common sense w/finances, so as a result as a lot of debt and bad credit, we live paycheck to paycheck. Dh does contribute to a 401k and we are using accessible savings as an emergency fund so we can start hacking away at our credit card debt. I feel very guilty that I've been so irresponsible w/our finances but feel that God must be showing us mercy because we haven't gone under yet. I am trying to be diligent in continuing to do my best and striving to learn how to manage our household finances more responsibly. I really can't figure out how I've gotten us like this because I'm not an extravagant person. I think that I didn't plan well or use my time well and as a result, when we got hungry, since I haven't planned anything, we went out to eat. I'd buy things w/ good intentions but w/out patience to wait for a better deal or I'd let dh buy things because I didn't want to tell him no.

 

I'm willing to work at night but dh doesn't want me to because of gas prices and he wants me to spend my time and energy on the kids, their education, and our home. This thread has been such a blessing to me....I can see other ways to bring in income as well as how to be a better stewart of our finances. This year, we've borrowed some curriculum or bought our books off of ebay or used from Amazon.com. We get a LOT of books from the library and I am trying to use what I already have around here. As I declutter our house and organize (slowly) I'm finding all sorts of things I had forgotten about. For example, as I was sorting through our CDs, I found a pre-algebra CD from, like, 10 years ago!! The thread here on free online curriculum sources was WONDERFUL. I signed us up for Live Mocha and my dd is already on the 4th unit and typing in spanish. She loves it and is learning faster than I can believe. I've heard that it's very similiar to Rosetta Stone, so I feel like I've saved us almost $500 on that alone. Staying home more this year instead of joining multiple co-ops should help cut gas costs as well as time expended planning additional lessons and just plain getting there and getting back home. I have a garden that I neglected this summer but still have quite a few tomatoes I can freeze. I'd like to still have a fall garden and plant lots of greens.

 

Despite how hard I try though, sometimes I feel like I'm constantly failing. My house is a disaster but I think about it and work on it all the time! I'm not lazy but somehow, I get overwhelmed w/the kids needs. Well, not overwhelmed, but that's what my energy gets spent on. Taking care of a fussy toddler or training a preschooler means everything else goes out the window for a time. So then I overspend because I haven't planned adequately or I'm exhausted. I started this garden but now it's a crazy mess of half grown vegetables and weeds. I just started sewing cute little totes and my dh had a great idea of selling matching mother and daughter tote bags. So I'm praying and if God blesses the idea, I know it'll be successful. But I'm going to try to seek God first this time instead of running ahead on my own. Dh took next week off so we're not even going to start school until the 2nd week of September. I'd like to use this time to clean up and organize the house. I did my bedroom yesterday and what a feeling to not trip over things.

 

Well thanks for listening, I feel refreshed getting that my chest. All I can do is start each day anew, try to do what isn't working differently and seek God, remembering that I can do all things through Christ!

[Asma_08]

I've felt the same way sometimes, so it's been awesome to watch this thread go along and see others joining :)

 

Thanks for starting it! :D

 

Same here. I really liked reading this and the frugal ideas thread.