racermom
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Post by racermom on Oct 21, 2011 11:52:28 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I'm not completely new to the WIR - I was a part of the group when it was still on MSN and I kind of dropped off the radar. Two kids later and a few VERY stupid financial decisions - I'm back! I would really like to tell you all why I put my money where I did the past two years, but it would take way too long to do it. To make that long story short - DH doesn't really take a huge part in making any financial decisions. He mostly just says "whatever you think is best, dear...." whenever we talk about it. It's something we're working on, but it wasn't a lot of help the past few years. I would think about a situation for a while, make a decision thinking it was the right one, and then about a month or so later I would be kicking myself for it.... Anyways - DH and I are accustomed to making about 45K a year, and DH's business has been horrible because of the weather (stormy or windy all spring, and then instantly into 90 degrees!) so we might be lucky to hit 30K by the end of the year. To say it has been rough would be an understatement! And with two kids in diapers, my budget is a real challenge! Here are our expenses - Mortgage - 350 (insurance & taxes rolled in) Medical Bills - 100 Utilities - 225 Internet - 50 Cell Phone - 155 Car Insurance - 95 Child Care - 300 (a steal for two kids!!) Netflix - 10 Car Payment - 180 Unsecured Debt - 445 Cigarettes - 160 (DH's habit that I've been trying forever to get him to quit!) Kid's expenses - 100 Groceries/Household - 400 Gas - 200 Total - 2770 We pay 310 a month for Health/Dental/Vision that is taken out of my check biweekly. DH contributes 3% into his IRA with a 100% match from his employer. Take home (after taxes, etc.) right now is only about $2200 a month. I'm looking for a part time job right now, but no luck so far - DH has found one though. I'll be honest, I'm not even sure how I've been able to keep up with my payments so far (I've paid two things late the past month ) So any suggestions would be great! Some things I am doing to lower our bills - I'm working on lowering our cell phone bill by trying to find two cheap phones that don't require a data plan. I can't lower our minutes because DH needs them for work. When our contract is up in March we are switching to GO phones - only $90 for two! I'm also going to see about lowering our internet bill. I keep getting offers from Charter for 30 a month so I'm going to take one to AT&T and tell them to match it or I'm switching. As far as our unsecured debt goes, I've already called all of our cards and tried to lower our interest rates, some did, and some didn't. I've also tried to get a consolidation loan. Most of our cards are maxed out now, so our credit is trashed and no one will give us one. It's amazing how two years can completely change everything for you. We bought our house at the end of '08 with pretty much no debt and put down a large down payment (which is why my mortgage payment is so small!) Two years, two babies, in-law and job problems later, and I'm sitting on 20K of debt. Life will definately smack you in the face sometimes. Anyways, I'm sorry I made this so long, but I wanted to be detailed so you guys wouldn't have to ask me a bunch of questions to be able to suggest anything. My mom thinks I should not make any payments on my CC's and then settle with them later. I'm not so sure I want to do that..... Thanks guys!
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Wisconsin Beth
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No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Oct 21, 2011 12:26:36 GMT -5
The grocery thread can help you tweak your grocery/household stuff.
I've got 1.5 in diapers (3.5 year old is day trained but not night or poop trained) and I've heard really good things about diapers.com being cheap. My DH gets stuff from a couple of their sister sites and I can vouch for fast delivery of the stuff we've ordered. We usually buy the Target diapers and we're down to about $30 a month in diapers (higher when dcp and the grandparents need to be resupplied too.)
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mandyms
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Post by mandyms on Oct 21, 2011 12:39:55 GMT -5
Amazon.com also has a good "moms" or "baby" club (can't remember which one it is), but they have good deals on diapers too.
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Sam_2.0
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Post by Sam_2.0 on Oct 21, 2011 13:01:11 GMT -5
Yep, Amazon Mom program is great. If you sign up for the "Subscribe & Save" option, you can get Luvs diapers for about $.10 each, which is a great price IMO. And it offers free 2-day shipping, so you don't have to go out and get them (or you can have them delivered straight to the daycare provider!). I always cancel the subscription after my order is delivered (there's no cancellation penalty).
Your childcare is a steal!! WOW! And your mortgage is SUPER low too. Great job with those two!
As for cells & internet, check out the option of tethering your computer to your phones. I am guessing with your cell amount that you have smart phones. You might be able to drop the internet portion completely. I know Twinmama has the instructions on how to do it (sorry I can't remember right now).
The other big hitter would be groceries. $100/week seems pretty reasonable for four people, but you might find some ways to cut it even further. Do you plan meals around sales? I use eMealz because I hate actually planning myself, but a lot of people here don't like it because they just do the planning on their own. If there are things you tend to buy in bulk, check out Amazon again. I was amazed at the deals they had on some grocery items.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on Oct 21, 2011 14:10:51 GMT -5
Tell us more about the income - it sounds like you have a business, 2 full-time W2 jobs, and DH's p/t job? All adding to $30k? Is this 'net' or gross? You problem appears to be mostly 'income', not outgo.
How much equity in the house? How many cars?
I doubt that the plan to stiff the cc loans and settle later will turn out well. Loan companies only settle after they have determined that the borrower is a deadbeat, so they settle based on 'something is better than nothing'. It trashes your credit for years, ruins yours chances to get better jobs, to refi a house, and so on. Those TV ads that say 'if your cc loans are over $10,000 we can get them reduced to 50%" are not being entirely honest.
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leanna
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Post by leanna on Oct 21, 2011 15:20:34 GMT -5
I'm a little confused as to who is working what. Are you working full time or part time? Your husband has a business and is also working part time? Are you saying that your total household income for the year will be 30K? If so, what part of that is from husband's business?
Your mortgage is fabulously low. How much total unsecured debt do you owe? Is that the $20,000 you were referring to? How much is your mortgage debt?
Not a whole lot to cut from your budget. Come join us in the Grocery Challenge to help pare down your grocery bill.
Cell phone seems awfully high when the income from the business just doesn't seem to match it, but maybe you can explain more about that.
Hard to stop an addiction (cigarettes) when you're under tremendous stress, so I would leave that alone, unless it's something your husband wants to take on. Nicotine soothes anxiety, so I suspect he is "needing" that right now.
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bring in the new year
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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Post by bring in the new year on Oct 21, 2011 15:34:27 GMT -5
racer, how is your husband's business organized?
Because if he needs the cell phone for work are you making sure to segregate those costs so he can put them against the business income as a business expense? (The same would be true for any other business costs that get rolled up into your general costs like internet expense - if it's necessary for the business)
If you have a CPA to do your taxes, I'd schedule a meeting with them before year end and show them the reduced income.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2011 16:10:44 GMT -5
I too am confused about who's working how many jobs, so apologies if some of this is off-base. Do you receive a large tax refund? You may be overwitholding & could be getting more money in today's checks, especially if you are EIC eligible. 300 Childcare - Is your current work part time or full time. I don't understand why you have no income if you are paying health insurance from your check. Do you only earn $300 per month? In which case, why are you working? 100 Medical - Ask for reductions to bring down to $75/mo. If any of them are hospital bills, apply for charity care. 225 Utilities - Change temp by 2 degrees to reduce heat/cool bill, check if you can reduce garbage bill by recycling or composting more (or going to every other week pick up, or taking to directly w/out a service), reduce water usage if you are on a meter - try to get $25 out of the bills 50 Internet - Reduce the service to basic level & save $20/mo 155 Cell Phone - is high, which you already know. Is this for DH's regular job or his side business? If it is required for regular job, then he should push them to cover basic service bill. Definitely eliminate data plan ASAP. Reduce bill by $35 160 Cigarettes - You have healthcare, tell DH to get a Chantix prescription for 3 months & knock off that bad habit. You don't have the money to spend on something like smoking. He has to at least go on a cig rationing/reduction program. Save a minimum of $80/mo on this budget line. If he can't/won't reduce smoking - MoneyTalkNews recently did an article on ordering cigs from overseas to save $s. 10 netflix - cancel it & rent movies/books from the library - go at least once a week with the kids & try to time it with a kid friendly activity.
That gets you down $200/mo minimum, or maybe $500 when the work/child care deal is explained.
Other question - how much equity is in the house? did you put down more than 20% - if so, now you know why people say not to push your cash into a nonliquid asset.
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jkscott
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Post by jkscott on Oct 21, 2011 16:31:37 GMT -5
Not only is the smoking costing you $160 per month in consumption, but it is also putting you guys on a one way track toward huge medical bills.
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salserabarby
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Post by salserabarby on Oct 21, 2011 16:46:49 GMT -5
I'm kind of confused too. $30,000 a year for a family of four? There's no way you can make headway. I'm guessing your both working otherwise you wouldn't need childcare, but $30k both of your incomes is really low. At $30k, your bringing home $2200 gross a month, but your expenses are $2770. If you cut Netflix, Smoking, data plan on both cellphones, and reduce your internet to basic plan, you can save $260 a month. You'd still need to do further cuts.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2011 17:00:44 GMT -5
Oh, I forgot to say that if you are supporting a family of 4 on gross of $30K, then you are very likely eligible for Medicaid and some food stamps, and energy assistance. You need to go to the food stamp website for your state & input your real info and it will tell you what you may be eligible for.
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racermom
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Post by racermom on Oct 21, 2011 17:08:05 GMT -5
Sorry this took so long to reply, I had a work emergency and just got back home. I spend about $50 a month in diapers. Diapers.com's prices are pretty much the same as my local Wal-Mart, so I don't use them, but I will check out that Amazon thing you guys suggested. I've never heard of it! I'm sorry if I wasn't clear on this - DH works for a small company, it's not his business. He has worked there for four years and the first three average 30K. The business is selling Live Bait. This year's weather in our area really hurt the business. The company is down over 200K this year. DH has been doing odd jobs here and there to keep up and recently got a part time retail job to supplement his income. I work full time as management at a women's clothing store. I take home $800-$900 a month after taxes and insurance is taken out, depending upon how many hours I work. I used to make more, but they have cut out all overtime. We've got about 15K equity in our home (the value has gone down since we bought it) and we own 3 vehicles. My car, DH's car, and DH's '78 pick up, which is his toy that he tinkers on as a hobby. He doesn't put much money into this, and he's thinking about selling it. Our unsecured debt is just under 14K and our medical bills are from having my two kids. I have a bill for me from the hospital, from my OB, and then one for each kid - 6 total that they won't let me combine, which is why my payments total so much. I'm paying the minimum on each that they will allow without me becoming behind on them. I owe 46K on my house for 18 more years. DH has to have his cell for work, and his boss gives him $50 a month for it. We're kind of screwed on the cell right now because of how providers work. (Another long story, I'll go into detail if you guys would like me to) We've never received a large tax refund, normally right at about $1000, but my sister (who does my taxes and works at H&R Block) told me I'll get a big one this year because we've made so much less and have a new baby so we'll be eligible for an EIC for the first time. She's estimating it to be around 6K - I'm going to add a little cusion to my EF with it and then put the rest on my CCs. Our house doesn't have central heat/air, but we reinsulated the attic this past spring, so I'm hoping that will help with the heating costs this winter - I'll have to call and see about the garbage pickup. It costs $11 a month, we don't even fill up a barrel every week because of recycling, so maybe we can do a byweekly... I have to find a "dumb" phone to be able to eliminate my data plan. I'm in the process of doing that too. DH still has his old phone, but I gave mine to my brother a few months back so I have to get a new one. I'm hoping to find one cheap on Craigslist. I did not know that you could put Chantix on your insurance. I'll have to look into that and mention it to DH. His smoking habit is probably the biggest thing we fight about...he has no desire to quit whatsoever. Sometimes I really think he keeps doing it because I don't want him to..... Childcare - My fantastic babysitter only charges me $15 a day for both kids. There's no way I could have gotten luckier on that. To help cut back on that, DH and I are trying to work our schedules around each other so if one is at work, the other is at home more days out of the week so we have to take them to the sitter less. I completely agree this is mostly an income problem which is why I'm still hunting a part time job. I've put applications in in several places and haven't heard anything back yet. The unemployment rate for my county is 17% so I'm not really suprised that people aren't willing to give a job to someone who already has one.... I'm definately going to check out the Grocery Thread. I had already cut back my grocery bill substantially by not buying as much meat, so maybe I can still do better. And I think not paying the CCs is a horrible idea, and that's what my mom is really pushing me to do. She says since I've got a house and a good car I shouldn't worry about my credit and just do it. I really don't plan on doing it, I just wanted someone else's opinion other than my mother's..... Thanks for all of the suggestions and keep them coming!
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racermom
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Post by racermom on Oct 21, 2011 17:16:32 GMT -5
I've already gone to our local DHS twice and tried for food stamps and other assistance and they said we weren't eligible based on our gross income...:(I'm not really sure how that works, but I can't do any more than they'll let me. I've applied to get WIC, so hopefully that will pan out. That will pay for all of DD's formula and baby food and a lot for DS too.
30K is rough - we're short 1/3 of our income. Our unsecured debt is mostly from when we had DS and we had really bad insurance (not the insurance we have now) and I made some really bad decisions....
We put all of our savings into the down payment on the house other than about $1500 and a week later found out I was pregnant (not planned!) and then the next year I got pregnant again (not planned! I got an IUD that didn't do it's job....)
If I would have known I was pregnant, we most likely wouldn't have bought the house, but it's not like you can return a house....lol
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constanz22
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Post by constanz22 on Oct 21, 2011 17:34:14 GMT -5
You can run some numbers, if you have each of you and DH's paystubs ( you will have to do a little math to figure out end of year totals), and either ask your sis to do it, or run the numbers through a tax program. If you are going to be due a huge refund, and it sounds like you will with your income, dependents, etc. You and DH can change your withholding now to get huge checks between now and the end of the year. Just make sure you readjust in January.
ETA: you definitely qualify for WIC so that will be a big help. See if you can cut that grocery bill by $100 a month. It shouldn't be too hard with everything WIC will provide.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2011 17:43:55 GMT -5
Hmmm - Do you get to sue the IUD manufacturer? If it costs $250K to raise a child . . . just saying (and I know they put disclaimers all over their brochures & stuff, but seriously, it's pretty high cost when it fails - and it's not like you can "forget" to take your IUD and cause the situation yourself). Does anyone know if there is any precedent on this? I googled & see that the legal sites have some discussion on personal injury suits related to failure of Mirena IUDs that are put in immediately following childbirth (perhaps higher than normal failure rate in that circumstance).
It might be easier to give input if you list gross, deductions & expenses -- but this is really a devastating drop in income situation & your bills are not really high except for cell phone & cigs. Perhaps a focus on income opportunities would be better. If the bait business is down, are DH's hours reduced? Does he have other skills he can exploit? Like being a handyman for $25/hour, tutoring on tutor.com, working part time for parks & recreation (usually min wage), cleaning houses, cleaning offices. Or same question to you -- whoever has skills that could be used in other areas of self employment should be all over it & the other gets to spend time with the kids.
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bring in the new year
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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Post by bring in the new year on Oct 21, 2011 17:45:34 GMT -5
If Chantix doesn't work for him, find out if the e cigs would be covered as well.
I think someone on the board (I know there was a thread) had good luck quitting with those. And my sister's using one now (and she had real problems with the patch.
Any idea how much you use your cell phone? Because if it's not high usage, tracfone is cheap and no plan. You can get the phone itself for under $20.
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leanna
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Post by leanna on Oct 21, 2011 17:46:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the additional info RacerMom.
First, I just want to express sympathy for what you are going through. It sounds like you were really careful in the purchase of your home, and you made sound financial decisions. It makes it all the harder when dealing with this now.
But, you did the right thing. You secured a low mortgage and that is a very good thing. You have to live somewhere, so house or no house, you'd be making a monthly housing payment.
It used to be that you could apply for the EIC now, rather than waiting until tax time. I'm a big out of the loop on taxes, so you may want to post separately on that, unless someone else who is a tax expert jumps in. If it's not an option to get the EIC now, I agree with Constanz and would do exactly as she suggested. You need the income NOW, rather than waiting for a refund.
You've twice mentioned making bad financial decisions. Are these things that you are no longer doing? This is important. We ALL do silly/stupid/etc things - whether in our financial lives, personal lives, work lives, etc. If these are the exception, rather than the rule, no biggie. But I ask this because I want to make sure there isn't something else you need to share?
I think your gut instinct is right - that you should pay your CC bills. I think it's going to be difficult, but do-able. I think cuts to the cell phone, grocery bill and cigs are the key with addtl money from WIC for food (hopefully.)
Rather thank asking your husband to cut out smoking, can you ask him to reduce his smoking bill by 15%? That would be $24 less a month, which is needed for food. I would put it to him that way. Or figure out your own way of putting it. I.e. "Honey, please, one less cigarette a day is all I'm asking. We can pay for one meal for one person a day with that. We NEED to do it."
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mizbear
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Stand back. I have a budget, and I know how to use it.
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Post by mizbear on Oct 21, 2011 17:47:55 GMT -5
Unfortunately inflation doesn't trickle down to FS eligibility. Many insurance plans now will pay for smoking cessation because they don't want to foot the bill for asthma, emphysema, COPD, lung cancer, etc. My late grandfather stopped smoking when he had a stroke caused by smoking in 1975- the year before I was born- he died of lung cancer in 2008- caused by cigarettes he hadn't touched in 32 years . Make sure you double check with your employer before taking on a second job. You are management and the holidays are coming- don't give them any excuses to replace you. CHances are you will have OT coming with the holidays. Squirrel all of that towards the debt-
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constanz22
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Post by constanz22 on Oct 21, 2011 17:48:32 GMT -5
Oh, and who is your cell provider? If it's AT&T, you can buy a cheap pre paid phone, put your SIM card in it, have the same phone number and cancel your expensive data plan.
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racermom
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Post by racermom on Oct 21, 2011 21:08:30 GMT -5
You know, as soon as I found out I was pregnant I had so many people tell me I should sue them! I don't know - having a baby isn't the end of the world. It hurt financially but in the end I feel like my life is richer for it. But...I did spend $170 out of my pocket plus whatever my insurance paid to NOT have a baby and the Mirena didn't do it's job. I guess that's something I could research.....most pregnancies with an IUD are ectopic and they have to be terminated, so my RN best friend calls DD my miracle baby. DH's income at the bait company is strictly commission - that's why there's been such a drastic change in his income. His hours at his PT job go up and down and he makes just over minimum wage. I know I won't get any overtime over the holidays unless it just can't be helped. She gives the extra hours to the part time employees and I still just work about 35 hours Income - 9.46 @ ave. 35 hrs. a week/paid biweekly Deductions - normally about 210 - insurance is around 155, taxes is the rest I get paid holidays and vacation time. My paychecks are bigger if I use a vacation day because I only work a 7 hr day, but my vacation days are paid for 8 hrs. To say DH is a handyman would be an understatement. The man can literally do anything. He does a few things here and there for extra cash but it hasn't generated much. With my cell - I'm under contract with Verizon until March. If we cancel we'll have to pay $175 per line - which we definately don't have. We both use lots of minutes because they're our only phones and we both live 30 min+ from our families. Here's how they screw us. We have 1400 min and 10 Friends and Family numbers. If we try and drop our minutes, we can only go to 700 and then we lose our Friends and Family numbers and then we end up going over our minutes. I'm holding out until March and then getting Go Phones from AT&T. leanna - Thank you so much. It is exactly how I feel. My stupid financial decisions were when I was pregnant with DS I had horrible insurance with a really high deductible that I had to pay in full before they would pick up anything. Since we had just used all of our savings on our house I put my prenatal care on my credit cards to the tune of close to 10K (the main reason why I have my unsecured debt) because they wouldn't let me put it all together and make payments. Bad financial decision number two was allowing DH's mother to literally drain us of money the entire spring and summer after I had DS and by the end of the summer I hadn't been able to save a dime for the winter and then SURPRISE - pregnant again with even less savings than the first time. Sooooo very thankful I had better insurance the second time! And I haven't been able to save anything this time either because we were pretty much only making what our expenses were every month so far. (To clarify - DH makes a killing in the spring and early summer, does ok in the fall, and makes practically nothing from November till the last week of February, which is why I have to save money for the winter each year. Last year was the first time I hadn't been able to do that, and this year has been even worse.) I will be sooooo glad to get WIC. DD's formula is over $100 a month! Thanks so much everyone!!!
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DVM gone riding
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Post by DVM gone riding on Oct 21, 2011 22:41:52 GMT -5
Your DH needs a different job asap end of story. Since he is on commission he should keep doing his job and start looking for another commission job or handyman job that would allow him to still do his job in spring and summer then hardly at all the rest of the time
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2011 23:02:35 GMT -5
Have DH advertise his handyman offering (with examples of what he can do) on CraigsList & see if you get any hits. Seems like $100 here and there could really help you out right now.
FS & other aid is based on Gross Income vs Family size. They look at your last 3 months of income. Try to get the DSHS office to tell you for your area what the % of poverty level is to be eligible for benefits. You need to carefully document your gross income each month & then file if you are below the magic #. For my state they actually have a calculator on line where you put info in to see what if anything you might be eligible for (I have helped a couple of families with this process - many hard workers are having their hours cut & it causes a lot of distress)
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happyscooter
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Post by happyscooter on Oct 22, 2011 7:38:23 GMT -5
racermom, buy a tracphone. buy a phone card for $40, about 2 hours of time. you will get an extra 20 minutes. do not give that phone number out to anyone. daycare, immediate family members and work ONLY if they will need to call you afterhours. If you have an answering machine at home, tell everyone to leave a message at your house. when i gave out my cell number to people for urgent/emergency calls, i was getting phone calls at work asking me to bake cupcakes for the school bake sale a month away. just because someone is working on their bakesale list RIGHT THEN, didn't mean they couldn't wait for me to get home from work to call them back. For $40, you could probably last 6 months on your cell phone.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on Oct 22, 2011 9:18:08 GMT -5
Your DH needs a different job asap end of story. My thoughts exactly - he should look for a serious 40-hr W2 job. Two reasons (1) his family needs him to get a steady higher paying job that can grow, has benefits for the family, and (2) there is no future in commissioned sales at a bait shop (except for the owner). 10 yrs or 20 yrs from now it will still be the same job. Don't know his skill/edu level - but there are ads all across the US for 18-wheeler drivers. We have an 81 yr old driving in AZ because the company can't find younger applicants (they fail the drug tests, the credit checks, and have trashed DMV records). $20/hr to $25/hr, $60,000 counting OT, benefits. Also quite a few openings in the medical field, especially in small-town hospitals and clinics - and in remote places like Alaska. At any rate, build on whatever he is good at, marry it to employer needs, and encourage him to apply for better work.
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Post by fuzzylumpkins on Oct 22, 2011 9:39:58 GMT -5
Actually, I'm quite impressed you are feeding a family of 4 on $400.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2011 9:51:41 GMT -5
You might be able to get an immediate reduction on your Verizon phone bill -- call them and ask if there is a discount for employees of your retailer. I had no idea that my employer had a "deal" with Verizon, but it got me 20% off the bill. None of our company phones were verizon, so it was a big surprise to me!
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Peace77
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Post by Peace77 on Oct 22, 2011 10:37:57 GMT -5
I suggest:
Cancel the Netflix. You can watch programs on the internet with HULU.
If your income changed since you tried to apply for Food stamps, try again.
Agree with applying for WIC
Apply for Energy Assistance and weatherization help. Look to see where you can save on utilities. Small things such as insulating electrical outlets on outside wall can make a big difference. Hang up your laundry to dry or take it out while still damp.
Put a bucket in the shower. Use the water that falls in it for the next toilet flush. ( the water in the bowl instead of flushing.)
Learn to cook with lentils. A one pound bag is usually under $1 and will make at least 2 or 3 batches of lentil stew. I like to add brown rice to mine.
Instead of waiting to get a refund from the IRS, change your withholding now. If you have less money withheld, you will have slightly larger paychecks for Nov. and Dec.
Are the medical bills charging interest? If not, I would call them and tell them that you cannot afford to continue to pay what you have been paying. Tell them that you can only afford to pay $10 right now. If they refuse, see if they will accept $15. If they are getting something, they will usually not turn over the account to collections.
Call the credit card companies and ask if they have a hardship program.
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racermom
New Member
Joined: Oct 12, 2011 9:45:32 GMT -5
Posts: 48
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Post by racermom on Oct 22, 2011 10:41:45 GMT -5
DH wants to start his own company eventually. Obviously, right now is not a good time, but it's what he wants to do. He could build a house from the ground up by himself as long as he had someone to pour the foundation... I have told him I don't want him to quit his current job because he can work a second one right now (only working two days a week during the late fall and winter at the bait business because it's slow) and short of starting his own business there is no possible way he will make 30K on his own anywhere here. Our unemployment rate is abysmal and every employer that I know of doesn't allow any overtime if they can help it. He would have to find a job making $14.50 an hour to come even close. The only jobs around here that pay that good are health care (which he's not qualified for) and construction, which would put him in the same boat he's in anyway. His PT boss knows he wants as many hours as possible over the winter, and we have decided that if it looks like next year at his bait job is going to be bad like it was this year, then we will start exploring other options. Businesses have bad years all of the time. You can't give up because you have one bad year. (plus, DH's doesn't have any education where he could get a great job somewhere else. His job pays pretty good for someone who never went to college....) I don't think I explained the bait thing well enough. DH doesn't work in a bait shop - he works for a Wholesale bait company that serves hundreds of customers across four states. I don't know exact numbers, but it's a mulit-million dollar company. They have five people that some of the customers are split up among, and then they also have house accounts. DH has over 50 customers that he takes care of every week. The first three years, his route brought in 300-350K, which he would make 10%. DH's route was right in the middle of the tornadoes that were in Alabama, which hurt him really bad and it went from being really stormy and windy to being 90 degrees+, which is bad weather for fishing. One bad year is not going to kill this company. They have a monopoly on all of the bait here. So unless people just stop fishing (they're based on the TN river, so that's not happening) they're still going to be around. And there is room for advancement. The two office managers make a 40K salary plus bonuses. So, like I said previously, I really don't want DH to give up a job like that when he isn't qualified for anything that will pay equally because of one bad season. We'll know right away if next year will be similar to this year. The first pretty week of the spring, DH will make about $1500. And then his checks will vary from $500 to $900 a week until Memorial Day weekend. That week he will make about $2000 and then about $400 to $500 a week after that till the 4th of July weekend. If that doesn't happen or come close this year, we will start looking into other options. (Do you see why I have to save for the winter months? He makes 3/4 of his income from March through July. Fuzzy Lumpkins - Thanks It's really hard with how much of a health nut I am too. Healthy food is definately not the cheapest!!! As for getting a Trac Phone - I'll still have to pay my Verizon bill, or front the $350 to turn them off before March, which I don't have. I'll have to look into the Verizon discount. I don't know why I didn't think of that! I worked at Walgreens a long time ago and they did that!
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bring in the new year
Well-Known Member
Happy Thanksgiving!
Joined: May 3, 2011 17:28:52 GMT -5
Posts: 1,966
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Post by bring in the new year on Oct 22, 2011 11:33:19 GMT -5
Racer,
Yes, you'll still have the Verizon bill. But you were saying you couldn't cut back on your minutes because you use the phone so much.
If you get the tracfone, you can cut your minutes down and reduce your Verizon bill AND you won't go over your minutes because you're using the cheaper tracfone when you get close to your minutes.
At least that's what I thought of when hallow suggested it.
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racermom
New Member
Joined: Oct 12, 2011 9:45:32 GMT -5
Posts: 48
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Post by racermom on Oct 22, 2011 12:07:34 GMT -5
I'll have to really analyze our minutes usage and how well having a Trac Phone would help. I'm pretty sure the lowest I could get my Verizon bill is about $90 a month after dropping the minutes, data plans, and insurance. We are going to get unlimited GO phones when our contract is up in March so we can keep the same phone number and only pay $45 per phone. We've each had the same number for over ten years, so we're weighing the options of having to go through the hassle of changing our number, or having two lines that people would have to know when they could call each one.
I'm writing all of your suggestions down and have been talking with DH about them briefly over the phone. We're going to have a long discussion tomorrow. I'm contemplating turning off my internet completely because I work next to a McDonald's. I could go in there after work and use their WiFi for an hour before I go home each day....our entertainment will be greatly reduced without the internet. Netflix and Hulu are our only forms of TV, so I'm saving cutting that out for last.
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