Working/Finances

[Gray's Mommy]

We went from 1.5 incomes to just my DH's. It has been sooo tight in our home with money I am planning on working part time as a doula and a sub. teacher in the fall to help out a bit financially. If I made around $400-500 a month-it would be perfect. Enough to save, spend & pay off some bills. I being at home again though. I missed that!

Anyone else planning on going back to work?

[Sharlla]

After I had her I went down to sub status thinking that I would only pick up a shift a week or so. DH has been unable to find work so I've been working full time since she was 6 weeks old. Now that I'm back in the swing of things I think I will remain full time and just have him continue to be a SAHD.

[Magistra]

I've already picked up a couple half-day shifts for subbing and am about to send in my application for a full-time teaching position this fall. Max would have to go to daycare, but we've seen one we really like. If I don't get the full-time position, we'll figure something out with part-time subbing. I'd like to make at least enough to cover our new car payment (we moved up to a minivan since the Corolla was crowded with two kids and a 70-pound dog).

I've been a student for a few years now and brought home only a little money, so I'd really love to contribute!

[mamakims]

We too went from a 1.5 income househould to just relying on my dh's income. I was supposed to be getting Employment Insurance but there was a mixup with my amount of hours so no income from me unfortunately. It's tight but thankfully dh's business (he owns a barbershop) has gotten quite busy since Sophie's birth and we've been doing okay.
I'm trying to decide what I'd like to do about work. In July 2011, I'm supposed to be taking the waldorf education program (ECE) and I think I'm either going to return to work in January at 3 days per week or open a family daycare in my home (the program is two weeks in the summer and a week in the fall and spring for two years so I'll either hire out or close for that time).
And I've been tossing around the idea of getting a very part time evening job at the bookstore or coffee shop in September/October just or start selling on etsy again. I dont know though!

[smokeylo]

I'm a grad student and TA... I'm already back teaching 2x/wk. But I don't plan to do more for 6 months or so.

[Astraia]

I saved a bunch of links from the working from home section on MDC for future reference. I have mat leave at 50% of my income (from 2 years ago when I was working, gotta love Quebec for that!) until December, but after that either A. DH will need a better job/ promotion/something or B. I find a way to work from home to bring in the extra money. Daycare for 2 kids isn't worth it since I'm not trained or skilled or experienced enough to get a decent job that would cover the cost of daycare and give me a worthwhile take home pay. DH's work hours are all over the place so I can't just work in the evenings when he'd be home, either. So. We'll see.

I really really hate full time work, the kind that I've done before, so I'm in no hurry to get back to it.

[Mawood]

We take part of the missing money from our savings account which sucks (cause we are saving for settling back in Germany) but keeps us up. We are also looking for a cheaper place to live and might move in May. I will start teaching Saturdays in the fall but that's not much extra money. My certificates from Germany aren't recognized in the US so it is not worth for me to work some crappy underpaid job and not be with Olivia. We'll see. Hopefully we can go back to Germany and my husband finds work there. We will get family and child money there and have more support!

[Catubodua]

Originally Posted by Gray's Mommy

Anyone else planning on going back to work?

i have no choice. i always love the folks who tell me to just tighten our belts as if we live so extravagantly. i'll just sell all those extra BMW's we have lying around!

[marinak1977]

I have no choice either, have to work as DH is not making enough to cover the debts (school loans and house stuff mostly) and pay the bills at the same time. I'm wrapping up my PhD in the next month or two and then working. On the plus side I may have a really exciting work opportunity with a startup company that may be also very flexible and give me more time with DS.
We do have a great montessori daycare lined up but it is expensive. DS will go in june at 5 months...

[aloya]

I'm the primary breadwinner in our family, since my husband is a new immigrant and we live in California with its 12% unemployment rate. And due to no academic hiring in my subject this year (I'm a college prof now, newly graduated, looking for my tenure-track position) and the fact that my contract is up at this institution, I'm looking at being out of work with a brand new baby.

So, we're trying to save every bit out of the next four paychecks, and then we'll be picking up and moving to Indonesia until December, then coming back and living on unemployment money until that runs out! Although I've got to say that it's kind of fun (for the moment) to practice economy and the "envelope" approach to household finance. Plus, I'm glad we'll get to spend some time with my husband's family--let's just hope I can get enough research done in Indonesia to get some publications out and help me make a better go of it on next year's job market!

[nola79]

I am trying to decide this right now, in fact. I was working full time prior to delivering. My DH makes enough to cover our expenses, but things have been tight towards the end of this month. I really can't justify putting 2 children in daycare/afterschool care just to pay for extras/savings, but then again, I do not want to be at home at the expense of our financial stability, because I believe that is important as well.

eta, I think the perfect solution would be to work 2 days a week while ds is in school, however, I don't have anyone to watch the baby part time.

[Magistra]

Originally Posted by nola79

I think the perfect solution would be to work 2 days a week while ds is in school, however, I don't have anyone to watch the baby part time.

I would love to start out by teaching part-time, but the way the high school is scheduled here (modified block with A and B days, so classes are MWF one week and TR the next) means that we would have to figure out the equivalent of full-time daycare regardless of how much I'm working.

Besides the savings, it would be nice to have the back-up for benefits, especially health insurance. Since we weathered one layoff last year, we've been trying to build in some redundancy.

[jillmamma]

Nope, I plan on staying home as long as we possibly can have me here. I have been home since my oldest was born 7 years ago, and I really enjoy it and feel blessed that we can afford it. Especially now with 3 kids, I don't think it would be worth it. I have done home daycare in the past, and would consider doing that again in the future, but not unless we end up getting a bigger vehicle (3 across the back seat now!) as my kiddos have activities and stuff after school.

[Gray's Mommy]

I know we can squeek by until I work in the late summer/early fall. I figured if I sub. teach 5 times a month-I'll be bringing in close to $400. Which is the perfect amount for us.