September ~~Low Income Thread~~ - Page 5

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by janerose

Ditch the guilt, woman! I know, I know...easy to say, but hard to do.

Seriously, you ARE working now. Know how I know that? Because if you were WOH you'd be **PAYING** another person to watch your kids (and possibly clean your house and a variety of other stuff you can do for yourself being a SAH).

So, see there is positive proof that it is in fact work to take care of children.

(Oh, and what got me thinking of this was multiple people telling me what a great teacher I'd make & how I should go teach while putting my kids in daycare/public school. Ummm...OK....so if I leave my own children with strangers to go raise someone else's kids then I'm "working", but if I just cut out the middle man and take care of my kids myself I'm "lazy" and "not reaching my full potential". Again....um....yeah....I think NOT!)

I totally get what you are saying, I really do.. and it makes sense, which is why my kids aren't in daycare. But somedays I just feel like if I could just go out and get a "job" (one that pays me), everything would be better. Of course, I realize that I couldn't do that if I wanted to ever see my DH, because the only way it could work would be to work around DH's schedule if we were to ever afford it. I hate this trap. Plus.. not many people want to hire a breastfeeding mother who would have to take pumping breaks every 2 hours.

I am technically on maternity leave at WIC (as a BFing peer counselor), but that was only 6 hrs a week (approx: $200 a month), and we moved 30 miles from the clinic (it used to be a 5 min drive from our old place), and I don't know if it would be worth it for me to go back right now.

DH gets laid off at the end of this month and hasn't found ANY replacement for work. His current job is only seasonal (the only thing he could find after several months of searching), and he's been applying for jobs every single day for the past 4 months with absolutely no response. He has a college degree and is a great worker.. and Utah is one of the best states as far as the economy right now and he still has a hard time finding... anything...

[~D~]

Originally Posted by transformed

everyone knows the Hillbilly Housewife here, right?


http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/


$45 Emergency Menu for 4 to 6
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

Sweet!! Love the link!! Never knew it existed until now...:

[janerose]

Originally Posted by LizzyQ

I totally get what you are saying, I really do.. and it makes sense, which is why my kids aren't in daycare. But somedays I just feel like if I could just go out and get a "job" (one that pays me), everything would be better. Of course, I realize that I couldn't do that if I wanted to ever see my DH, because the only way it could work would be to work around DH's schedule if we were to ever afford it. I hate this trap. Plus.. not many people want to hire a breastfeeding mother who would have to take pumping breaks every 2 hours.

I am technically on maternity leave at WIC (as a BFing peer counselor), but that was only 6 hrs a week (approx: $200 a month), and we moved 30 miles from the clinic (it used to be a 5 min drive from our old place), and I don't know if it would be worth it for me to go back right now.

DH gets laid off at the end of this month and hasn't found ANY replacement for work. His current job is only seasonal (the only thing he could find after several months of searching), and he's been applying for jobs every single day for the past 4 months with absolutely no response. He has a college degree and is a great worker.. and Utah is one of the best states as far as the economy right now and he still has a hard time finding... anything...

Well, that royally stinks! But our economy is turning around, haven't you heard?

I was a BF Peer Counselor at WIC until about 6 months ago as well. I definitely hear you on the "not being worth it" thing. I ended up leaving because I just wasn't enjoying the job anymore, and didn't feel I was making enough money to make it worth the amount of hassle it had become. We lost a bunch of staff so our coordinator was constantly pushing, pushing, pushing for more hours. Started off being a 3 hour a week commitment & by the time I left they were pushing for 10-15 hours a week. I'm sorry, but if I'm taking that amount of time from my family (because they wanted the majority of those to be in clinic) I'm going to make more than minimum wage, you know?

Sending you ++++ vibes for you DH's job search! *hugs*

[Satori]

Originally Posted by janerose

http://www.likemerchantships.org/200...om-finale.html

This is interesting. It's 2 moms, one who is a coupon/sale/loss leader shopper & one who shops almost exclusively at Aldi's. They had a competition to see who could make 5 days of family dinners for the least amount of money. Some of the recipes look pretty good!

The blog itself is new to me, but I've been to the other Mom's (the Aldi shopper) site before. She has some good ideas. She has a budget of $200 a month for their groceries, toiletries & paper products, so it's definitely applicable to this thread! LOL

It looks like that was done early 2007 before we had a major inflation problem.

[janerose]

Originally Posted by Satori

It looks like that was done early 2007 before we had a major inflation problem.

Hmmm...thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't noticed. Still, I do shop at Aldi's regularly & I didn't notice a big difference in the prices she listed in her Aldi's menu from the ones I currently pay.

Hopefully someone can still get a few good ideas out of it!

[knittingmomma]

More on living on little

We are a family of 8 (six children between the ages of 19 months and 15 1/2)and are able to live off of very little without accepting any help from the government except health care (which is a big one for which I am very grateful). We do qualify for WIC, food stamps, reduced property taxes, reduced phone, fuel (wood assistanc for us), etc.. etc... However, we have purposefully chosen to eliminate debt and live very modestly by not participating too the consumeristic society. If, however, our circumstances did change we would be very grateful for assistance. Right now though, we just have dial-up for the internet, no tv, no cell phones, etc.... We did recently buy a home but the mortgage is low.

However, we do have challenges - like our two oldest sons need new shoes and rarely do I find adult shoes at the thrift shops, etc... For us $100 is a lot. We live on about $400/week or so with my husband running a property maintenance business, my 6 hour/week librarian job, and our online natural fiber craft business as well as growing our own food and having chickens for eggs.

We didn't always live this way - my husband had a high paying, somewhat stressful job and we were major consumers - new houses, new cars, etc, etc. with lots of debt.
Living how we do now in rural northern new england was something we set out to do in order to spend more time together as a family, become involved in the community, and working with our hands.

In order to live on less we drive an old, paid for Suburban (and only have one vehicle).

I hope that all of you that are struggling right now are able to find a way to make things work. I can sympathize lots with the dental work as I need lots and can only afford to get a cavity filled every two or three months, but am thankful to be able to do that.

Thanks for sharing all these great ideas - I look forward to sharing more.

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by janerose

Well, that royally stinks! But our economy is turning around, haven't you heard?

I was a BF Peer Counselor at WIC until about 6 months ago as well. I definitely hear you on the "not being worth it" thing. I ended up leaving because I just wasn't enjoying the job anymore, and didn't feel I was making enough money to make it worth the amount of hassle it had become. We lost a bunch of staff so our coordinator was constantly pushing, pushing, pushing for more hours. Started off being a 3 hour a week commitment & by the time I left they were pushing for 10-15 hours a week. I'm sorry, but if I'm taking that amount of time from my family (because they wanted the majority of those to be in clinic) I'm going to make more than minimum wage, you know?

Sending you ++++ vibes for you DH's job search! *hugs*

I really love my WIC clinic and my co workers were awesome, and thought I was super smart and awesome too. It paid $9 an hour. But it is hard fitting in even 6 hours a week, working around school, mothering, and everything else.

I plan to become an IBCLC, and the hours count toward my clinical hours for that. But I am also a LLL leader, and those hours count as well, so I don't HAVE to work at WIC for my hours.

However, if I do stay on with WIC, I have the potential to be an IBCLC for them (the whole county's clinics). I spoke to the person in charge of all the PCs and nutritionists, and he would love to have a lactation consultant, but there aren't many out there with WIC and peer counseling experience, and basically told me if I passed my test I would he would try very hard to create a position for me.

[janerose]

Originally Posted by LizzyQ

I really love my WIC clinic and my co workers were awesome, and thought I was super smart and awesome too. It paid $9 an hour. But it is hard fitting in even 6 hours a week, working around school, mothering, and everything else.

I plan to become an IBCLC, and the hours count toward my clinical hours for that. But I am also a LLL leader, and those hours count as well, so I don't HAVE to work at WIC for my hours.

However, if I do stay on with WIC, I have the potential to be an IBCLC for them (the whole county's clinics). I spoke to the person in charge of all the PCs and nutritionists, and he would love to have a lactation consultant, but there aren't many out there with WIC and peer counseling experience, and basically told me if I passed my test I would he would try very hard to create a position for me.

That's awesome! I think I was making about $8.50 when I left. At our program the lady who was the head of it & the lady who was the head PC were both IBCLC's already. Everyone I worked with was also very, very nice, so no complaints there.

I've debated going back. I know they'd take me, it's more an issue of whether I really want to get into it again or not. One of the other PC's went part-time, so the push for the hours isn't so bad now as it was 6 months ago. The extra money would be nice, but again, we have to be so careful about how much we make since we're right on that line income wise. And of course, scheduling time around mothering, homeschooling, DH's work, and other family commitments is very challenging. I hear you on that one!

The girl who went part-time tried it last summer & it royally messed her benefits up. She's a very young girl (I wanna say *maybe* 20?) who is a single SAHM. She's pretty much living off TANF, food stamps, WIC, HEAP...all the usual stuff. Well, she temporarily filled a gap at our office last summer for 6 weeks while someone was on family leave. By making like $600/mo it disqualified her for most of her services. They yanked her housing subsidy, cut her food stamps, all sorts of stuff. Her parents were great & helped her out. And our boss contacted every place for her, sending certified letters, for proof that the increase in income was only temporary.

Still, what sort of sense does it make to take someone who is trying to better themselves & when they make $600 remove over $1000 worth of benefits? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[natural_mama89]

Originally Posted by transformed

everyone knows the Hillbilly Housewife here, right?


http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/


$45 Emergency Menu for 4 to 6
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

I hillbilly housewife.

[natural_mama89]

Originally Posted by knittingmomma

We are a family of 8 (six children between the ages of 19 months and 15 1/2)and are able to live off of very little without accepting any help from the government except health care (which is a big one for which I am very grateful). We do qualify for WIC, food stamps, reduced property taxes, reduced phone, fuel (wood assistanc for us), etc.. etc... However, we have purposefully chosen to eliminate debt and live very modestly by not participating too the consumeristic society. If, however, our circumstances did change we would be very grateful for assistance. Right now though, we just have dial-up for the internet, no tv, no cell phones, etc.... We did recently buy a home but the mortgage is low.

However, we do have challenges - like our two oldest sons need new shoes and rarely do I find adult shoes at the thrift shops, etc... For us $100 is a lot. We live on about $400/week or so with my husband running a property maintenance business, my 6 hour/week librarian job, and our online natural fiber craft business as well as growing our own food and having chickens for eggs.

We didn't always live this way - my husband had a high paying, somewhat stressful job and we were major consumers - new houses, new cars, etc, etc. with lots of debt.
Living how we do now in rural northern new england was something we set out to do in order to spend more time together as a family, become involved in the community, and working with our hands.

In order to live on less we drive an old, paid for Suburban (and only have one vehicle).

I hope that all of you that are struggling right now are able to find a way to make things work. I can sympathize lots with the dental work as I need lots and can only afford to get a cavity filled every two or three months, but am thankful to be able to do that.

Thanks for sharing all these great ideas - I look forward to sharing more.

Could you tell me about your homeschooling experience? My children are going to go to Montessori through kindergarten (because I am going to school and DP and I don't have very compatible schedules right now, but that may change soonish), but after that I plan on homeschooling. Got any tips for homeschooling on a tight budget?

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by cwat

On the subject of meds, State insurance changed the list of "approved" medicines (again ) and the asthma meds that DS1 used to take (TC he doesn't anymore) is off the list, and that medication now costs $195 per inhaler! Are they NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if this will help much, but I've had asthma all my life. I was always prescribed inhalers and tried to limit their use through the years. When I had military health insurance for a year, I made a point of meeting with an allergy/asthma specialist. They told me inhalers are for emergencies, not for management. They prescribed me singulair which I took once per day, in tablet form. I took that for several months, but like with all meds, I was not all that great at remembering every day. Well, despite being surrounded by allergens that trigger my asthma, it is amazingly improved. I didn't even need to use my inhaler AT ALL for over a year. Singulair was covered by the insurance, so I'm not sure how much it would cost you. I obviously no longer take it since I no longer have that insurance. I do think that the time I spent taking it has improved my asthma long term, because despite not having taken singulair since Sophia turned a year old, I still don't have the breathing problems I did before that time I took the singulair. Now, I know everyong reacts differently, and I don't know if singulair is approved for use in children, but I would think for you to do some research into this might help.

[Krystal323]

Sooooo Lizzy-- : How does one go about being a WIC breastfeeding peer counselor??

WIC is like 3 minutes from my place, and if I could get an extra $200/mo for 6/hrs a week, that would be fabulous!

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by Krystal323

Sooooo Lizzy-- : How does one go about being a WIC breastfeeding peer counselor??

WIC is like 3 minutes from my place, and if I could get an extra $200/mo for 6/hrs a week, that would be fabulous!

Just go in and ask them if they need one

One of my LLL Leader friends referred me to the job, so that's how I got it. It varies by state, but the only requirements here are a GED or HS diploma and 8+ months of breastfeeding experience.

[~D~]

Originally Posted by Krystal323

Sooooo Lizzy-- : How does one go about being a WIC breastfeeding peer counselor??

WIC is like 3 minutes from my place, and if I could get an extra $200/mo for 6/hrs a week, that would be fabulous!

:

[janerose]

Originally Posted by LizzyQ

Just go in and ask them if they need one

One of my LLL Leader friends referred me to the job, so that's how I got it. It varies by state, but the only requirements here are a GED or HS diploma and 8+ months of breastfeeding experience.

:

You'll have to do a training class. Our office makes a list of mamas who are interested & the next time a training class is being held they send out letters asking everyone if they'd still like to do it.

But I imagine every location runs it a bit differently.

Personally, our WIC has a booth each week at the Farmer's Market and I heard about the Peer Counselor program through a brochure I picked up. I called the office & they put my name on the list for the next training.

Good luck!

[Leta]

A funny story...

Earlier this week, one of the MDC mamas here in F&F pointed out that my family qualifies for weatherization assistance on our house. So I checked it out, it's through an organization called AMCAB in my county.

Yesterday, I was walking my kids and dog in the park, when I felt what I thought was a tree branch or twig brush my arm. I looked down, and there was the biggest dragonfly I have ever seen on my arm. It was the length of 2/3 of my upper arm, and I'm not small- I'm 5'6" and long limbed. I love dragonflies- I have a dragonfly tattoo.
This one was gorgeous, green and blue and black, with silver wings. It just sat there blinking at us I showed it to DD. When I came home, I told DH about it, and he said, "Dragonflies are good luck, you know".

Today, the AMCAB application came in the mail. They insulate attics and walls, something that we were hoping to do the year after next with any luck at all. And it's FREE. AMCAB wants 3 months worth of pay stubs, our most recent heat bill, our most recent electrical bill, and a copy of our property tax bill along with the completed application. We do almost everything online, so I kind of groaned and opened the desk to try to begin the process of requesting paper copies of all that stuff. Everything I needed was in the top drawer of the desk. Do you have any idea how unlikely that is? I didn't even have to rifle through stuff, it was all right there. So then I got the application filled out, and crammed all that stuff in an envelope, and by that time it was already after 5. DH weighed the envelope for me, and it was almost triple the weight allowed for a single stamp.

"Well, crap" I said. "I'll have to go pay and mail it tomorrow." Then, I got in the desk again for something else, and there were three stamps! Again, we do everything online, so we almost never have stamps. But there they were.

I slapped them on the envelope, and said to DH, "I'm off to find a blue mailbox. I just have this feeling that this needs to be sent off today."

DH said, "It's that dragonfly."

I know this probably sounds silly, but we paid more in heat last year than we did in house payments, so insulation would help us out HUGE. I have a good feeling!

:

[~D~]

Originally Posted by ~Purity♥Lake~

I don't know if this will help much, but I've had asthma all my life. I was always prescribed inhalers and tried to limit their use through the years. When I had military health insurance for a year, I made a point of meeting with an allergy/asthma specialist. They told me inhalers are for emergencies, not for management. They prescribed me singulair which I took once per day, in tablet form. I took that for several months, but like with all meds, I was not all that great at remembering every day. Well, despite being surrounded by allergens that trigger my asthma, it is amazingly improved. I didn't even need to use my inhaler AT ALL for over a year. Singulair was covered by the insurance, so I'm not sure how much it would cost you. I obviously no longer take it since I no longer have that insurance. I do think that the time I spent taking it has improved my asthma long term, because despite not having taken singulair since Sophia turned a year old, I still don't have the breathing problems I did before that time I took the singulair. Now, I know everyong reacts differently, and I don't know if singulair is approved for use in children, but I would think for you to do some research into this might help.

DS has had asthma since he was 1 1/2... He started taking Singulair at a very young age, I want to say maybe 2? or 3? He's 8 now... And his Medicaid has picked it up the entire time. We have had gaps in coverage in that time due to DH's earnings, and have had to purchase it outright. It has come down in price, now it's about $126 (give or take) for a 30 day supply... or is it 28 days? oh I don't remember... anyway my point is that hopefully there will be a generic someday soon, and it's prescribed to children. HTH

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by janerose

:

You'll have to do a training class. Our office makes a list of mamas who are interested & the next time a training class is being held they send out letters asking everyone if they'd still like to do it.

But I imagine every location runs it a bit differently.

Personally, our WIC has a booth each week at the Farmer's Market and I heard about the Peer Counselor program through a brochure I picked up. I called the office & they put my name on the list for the next training.

Good luck!

They trained me one-on-one at my clinic.

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by Leta

A funny story...

Earlier this week, one of the MDC mamas here in F&F pointed out that my family qualifies for weatherization assistance on our house. So I checked it out, it's through an organization called AMCAB in my county.

Yesterday, I was walking my kids and dog in the park, when I felt what I thought was a tree branch or twig brush my arm. I looked down, and there was the biggest dragonfly I have ever seen on my arm. It was the length of 2/3 of my upper arm, and I'm not small- I'm 5'6" and long limbed. I love dragonflies- I have a dragonfly tattoo.
This one was gorgeous, green and blue and black, with silver wings. It just sat there blinking at us I showed it to DD. When I came home, I told DH about it, and he said, "Dragonflies are good luck, you know".

Today, the AMCAB application came in the mail. They insulate attics and walls, something that we were hoping to do the year after next with any luck at all. And it's FREE. AMCAB wants 3 months worth of pay stubs, our most recent heat bill, our most recent electrical bill, and a copy of our property tax bill along with the completed application. We do almost everything online, so I kind of groaned and opened the desk to try to begin the process of requesting paper copies of all that stuff. Everything I needed was in the top drawer of the desk. Do you have any idea how unlikely that is? I didn't even have to rifle through stuff, it was all right there. So then I got the application filled out, and crammed all that stuff in an envelope, and by that time it was already after 5. DH weighed the envelope for me, and it was almost triple the weight allowed for a single stamp.

"Well, crap" I said. "I'll have to go pay and mail it tomorrow." Then, I got in the desk again for something else, and there were three stamps! Again, we do everything online, so we almost never have stamps. But there they were.

I slapped them on the envelope, and said to DH, "I'm off to find a blue mailbox. I just have this feeling that this needs to be sent off today."

DH said, "It's that dragonfly."

I know this probably sounds silly, but we paid more in heat last year than we did in house payments, so insulation would help us out HUGE. I have a good feeling!

:

That is awesome!!!

:

[~D~]

Originally Posted by Leta

A funny story...

Earlier this week, one of the MDC mamas here in F&F pointed out that my family qualifies for weatherization assistance on our house. So I checked it out, it's through an organization called AMCAB in my county.

Yesterday, I was walking my kids and dog in the park, when I felt what I thought was a tree branch or twig brush my arm. I looked down, and there was the biggest dragonfly I have ever seen on my arm. It was the length of 2/3 of my upper arm, and I'm not small- I'm 5'6" and long limbed. I love dragonflies- I have a dragonfly tattoo.
This one was gorgeous, green and blue and black, with silver wings. It just sat there blinking at us I showed it to DD. When I came home, I told DH about it, and he said, "Dragonflies are good luck, you know".

Today, the AMCAB application came in the mail. They insulate attics and walls, something that we were hoping to do the year after next with any luck at all. And it's FREE. AMCAB wants 3 months worth of pay stubs, our most recent heat bill, our most recent electrical bill, and a copy of our property tax bill along with the completed application. We do almost everything online, so I kind of groaned and opened the desk to try to begin the process of requesting paper copies of all that stuff. Everything I needed was in the top drawer of the desk. Do you have any idea how unlikely that is? I didn't even have to rifle through stuff, it was all right there. So then I got the application filled out, and crammed all that stuff in an envelope, and by that time it was already after 5. DH weighed the envelope for me, and it was almost triple the weight allowed for a single stamp.

"Well, crap" I said. "I'll have to go pay and mail it tomorrow." Then, I got in the desk again for something else, and there were three stamps! Again, we do everything online, so we almost never have stamps. But there they were.

I slapped them on the envelope, and said to DH, "I'm off to find a blue mailbox. I just have this feeling that this needs to be sent off today."

DH said, "It's that dragonfly."

I know this probably sounds silly, but we paid more in heat last year than we did in house payments, so insulation would help us out HUGE. I have a good feeling!

:

: How cool is that!! :

The dragonfly must have been a sign!