Low-Income/ Struggling Mamas Support thread?

[LeighB]

Any interest in this?
We are having a really rough time right now, and sadly, I know we aren't the only ones here. I thought we could make a thread where we could vent our troubles and offer support or suggestions.

Our big thing right now is that we have a $450 dollar fine to pay. Last month we couldn't pay our car insurance (for 24 hours!!) and Dh just happened to get pulled over (he works nights and is usually the only one on the road, in a beat up car). He went to court today and the fine is $450 by May 1st. We do not have that money. He is going to have to use the money we were saving for my doula certification class. It really just has me all out of sorts today. I hate that we can't get ahead.

Big hugs to all!

[cwat]

I'm in.
I'm a single mama with 4 kids (ages 16, 15, 12 & 5) and an ex that is an alcoholic so I only get child support "when he's working" (which he is NOT doing right now)
__________________________________________________ ___________

single mama to 4 great kids: dd1 16, ds1 15, ds2 12, & dd2 5

[Captain_Crunch]

Hey. Pretty sure I'd qualify as a low income mama. I'm a single mama with a 15 month old son. Thankfully we live with my mother so the pinch is quite so painful but still it still hurts sometimes. I'm currently waiting to file for Food Stamps, because I'm 21 until April 10th I would have to include my mother as a part of my household and that would completely disqualify us for the assistance :

So I guess I'd be interested what everyone does to get by when things are tighter than usual...I just paid off all my credit cards (with my tax refund) so I'm fighting the urge to fall back on them.

[ibahippiemama]

I'm in. We finally have some wheels so that I can go back to work hopefully. I just tired of trying to get ahead and never being to make it. Hope things get better for everyone soon.

love and blessings
angie

[SaraLe6]

I think I'd definitely count as low income right now.. DH has been out of work since a couple days after Christmas and is receiving about $800 in unemployment a month. I've been out of work since January 23rd when I went into preterm labor and was hospitalized until baby came 3 weeks later. I'm going back to work next week but only 12 hours a week, meanwhile we have over $2000 in bills a month, around $11000 in credit card debit and we owe both my parents and my ILs for various bills they paid for us while I was in the hospital.

[lamairs81]

Sounds good to me. Right now my DH & I are both unemployed and he's the only one receiving unemployment. Doom has been delayed until July on our mortgage & his student loan, so the focus is on somehow finding him a great job so I can manage to stay home. I'm selling/freecycling stuff like mad both for money and/or space and I've got an ad on craigslist for babysitting. So hopefully we can get things worked out here in the next month or 2.

[Jyotsna]

Low income mom here complicated by the fact that the child support I do get is dwindling downwardly because ex is paying less and less.

I have three kids, I'm a doula, and the economy is affecting that.

[Amylcd]

It looks like I will be joining in. My husband is leaving, and taking our only source of income with him. In this job market, I can not see myself getting a job paying more minimum wage, which is only around $8 in my area. Even with government assistance, I have no idea how I will afford to the pay the bills.

[josybear]

i just got home from the food bank. i got way, way less than i hoped for but it'll have to be enough. i foresee a lot of potatoes in my future: hash browns, potato soup, baked potatoes, crash potatoes...

anyways, i'm a single mama of 2 (3 &1) with an income of ~700$/mo, looking for work and in school. the money is stressful but there are so many good things in my life that i try to focus on those. the sun is shining and i heard chickadees today, so everything must be ok.

[dancebaraka]

Originally Posted by Amylcd

It looks like I will be joining in. My husband is leaving, and taking our only source of income with him. In this job market, I can not see myself getting a job paying more minimum wage, which is only around $8 in my area. Even with government assistance, I have no idea how I will afford to the pay the bills.

my heart is going out to you.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Very low income mama here. I am a single mom of a 2 year old boy. I work as a long term substitute teacher at a preschool, but my hours were just cut to a guaranteed 6 hours a week. I will be picking up more shifts than that, but I am being let go in the fall too. I will be able to still fill in then, but nothing guaranteed. I also work in my church nursery, which pays really well, but I really only bring home about $100 a month from that job. That is with working two hours every other week and picking up extra fill-in shifts when they need it. I really need to attend services for my emotional/psychological/spiritual health, but I need the money, so I work. I also rent breast pumps on the side through a local lactation consultant business which pays $15 for every pump rented. Business has been extremely slow for the past few months, so I make maybe $15 a month with that. I also babysit when I can, which fills in the gaps a bit.

Sounds confusing, and it really is, but it keeps us afloat. I also receive food stamps, section 8 housing assistance and Medicaid, which I am so grateful for. Without it, we would definitely be living in our car.

I am very scared to see what happens to us in the fall. I will be returning to school part time, and DS will be in preschool full time, in order for me to go to class, get my homework done, and work as a sub at a few different daycares and preschools. Even with childcare subsidy, that will be around $90 a week. With my hours as a sub being cut, I am hoping and praying that my other sources of income can make up the difference.

[Norasmomma]

Well we're definitely here. We are currently getting Medicaid for my pregnancy, already were on it due to DH's income level(which is actually great around here), getting WIC and may soon apply for FS. I was having issues with the latter, but now I am just like it can help us, an extra $100 could help buy our produce or something. I really am not that sad about how things are. Every pregnant woman I know here qualifies for Medicaid and so it's not a weird thing in my community.

My DH does have a good job, but since it is sporadic at times and under 40 hr a week we qualify for just about everything. This month is a doozy. Our taxes for our house are due, but we have the money saved, and we also have our last winter electric bill due-which shouldn't be all that bad(at least I hope). With my Medicaid I am going to go get my teeth all taken care of, and I think get some glasses. That would help us out.

This last week DH was off and we thougth he could open his UI claim, but his old claim ended in Jan, so now he has a waiting week-yuck. So we're out 368 bucks. We have money saved, but it is for the taxes. we just are staying home doing projects and being broke, but at least we have a ton of food stashed here and are all happy. I also have 6 WIC checks a month now, so we are quite set.

[nym]

I was thinking about starting a thread like this last week.

I work full time and my Partner is laid off right now. is EI pays for the rent, thats it. I pay for everything else out of my salary (I make good money for me). Its very very very tight.

Im pretty resentful because we do live in a city that is screaming for workers, but my partner wont go find a job, he just sits on EI and plays video games all day. I pay for all of his bills (except his child support which I REFUSE to pay) plus all of my own and all of our house and food and gas bills. I also get a very minimal amount of child support sporadically that I am using to pay off my car repairs.

Life is hard. We don't have enough coming in to make it every month. Im very stressed all the time.

[LeighB]

I think the best thing we've done since being really low income is cook from scratch. There are lot of great ideas, and even a tribe, over in Nutrition and Healthy Eating. I can get our food bill down to $25 a week when I really plan.
I have an appointment to get on food assistance later this month. We should have done it months ago, but my husband was resistant because he and I both grew up on them. He remembers waiting in line for hours with his mother and siblings. I had to convince him that times have changed (at least in our area).

Take care!

[LeighB]

Originally Posted by Amylcd

It looks like I will be joining in. My husband is leaving, and taking our only source of income with him. In this job market, I can not see myself getting a job paying more minimum wage, which is only around $8 in my area. Even with government assistance, I have no idea how I will afford to the pay the bills.

I'll be sending all my good thoughts you way!

[1growingsprout]

Originally Posted by Amylcd

It looks like I will be joining in. My husband is leaving, and taking our only source of income with him. In this job market, I can not see myself getting a job paying more minimum wage, which is only around $8 in my area. Even with government assistance, I have no idea how I will afford to the pay the bills.

Hugs to you and the girls

[AngelBee]

: for all of us and : as we are low income right now as well.

[happyhats]

We're definitely low income right now. we live off of school loans and grants, so it's always feast or famine. We're only making it this next couple months thanks to some creative budgeting and juggling the credit cards. Not the best ideas, lol. Hubs has been looking left and right for a job, first in his field and now anywhere, but so far there's just been no luck. We'll soon be watching my sisters children through the state and hopefully doing some odd jobs until something comes along.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I picked up yet another job this week. I am now nannying for a little 2.5 year old girl one day a week, working at the church nursery every other weekend, substitute teaching at a preschool on the other weekdays when they need me, and renting breastpumps once or twice a month. It really shouldn't be this hard to survive. Grrrrrrr

[HikeMama]

We don't qualify for government assistance and we have money coming in, but are trying to pay off our car and hopefully a school loan before we get our own house. (Our income isn't enough to buy a house with those bills, We live with my parents)...The worst thing about knowing we're never gonna really have "cash money" is that we want another child, but knowing we have to wait, especially when we hear from others that we should be saving for retirement... It's like... I want to bring a soul into the world, and you want me to save for retirement? ...And I get guilty, like "the world is overpopulated, you should adopt." but I want the whole experience, I want my VBAC... I guess I WANT I WANT I WANT and right now I'm just waiting waiting waiting. and all because of MONEY?

Honestly, and I'm sorry to say this, it was kind of comforting to know that there are people out there making it on less. I've been reading some other threads about finances and getting really frustrated reading about people who can actually afford things......

I'm glad you started this thread. I hope to hear more from people who have resorted to living with others, because it can be tough.