OT: Just skip this one - more complaining!

[GinaRae]

I had a few bucks in Paypal come in so I bought three used diaps (see my just starting my diaper stash link) and yet now I feel bad because perhaps I should have transfered it to the bank account.

Then again, the damage was done and transfering takes days. This week hubby went traveling for work and after he left I realized I had under $40 in cash to pay for school lunches ($2.50 x 3 each day) plus buy some kind of groceries. We really screwed up not making sure I had cash before he left and short of hubby sending me some Western Union, I had NO access to more cash.

I went and bought $38 in groceries and wrote checks for two of the kids' lunches (had $30 in my checking account thank goodness!).

One DS got his school supply list on Monday and teacher wanted it done by Tuesday. Oy! Not gonna happen. On Wednesday she asked me where his stuff was and I had to confess. I was so embarassed and the poor kid was the only one apparently without supplies.

This was NOT life when we got pregnant. I am so sick of having no money now. Things have just gotten so hard and I don't see when it will ever end and we will get back to normal!

This lack of money thing has me in a tailspin (among other things) and the usually confident me is feeling like.. I am feeling really hopeless and instead of feeling good during the pregnancy, I am feeling as poor and hopeless as I did with my first two pregnancies when I was really young.

Blahhhh! It has to get better, right????

[monocyte]

I hate to recommend this...but, can you charge things, and worry later??

We've had to do it a few times in emergencies, and well, it does get paid eventually.

[Heather Marie]

Gina-

I am so sorry money is tight. We had some unexpected extra expenses come up this week and it really is the pits.

I know it is so hard especially when you feel like you are young and penneyless again! My DH and I are in our late twenties and waited to have kids til we had the house and felt stable moneywise. I now feel like that stability with money has gone out the window some days.

Please try not to feel hopeless.

[Valerieg]

It WILL get better!

I'll make you feel better about the PayPal thing...it wouldn't have helped you this week anyway! By the time you got the money back your DH would have been back and it wouldn't have been AS needed (seems its still needed). But if you got a good deal on cloth diapers it'll help you save money in the long run.

I'm sure that since your kids are fed and clothed for the week, you're fine. And school supplies CAN wait. Schools know how to work with that kind of thing. I used to work for CPS and had many children in foster care have to wait for their back to school voucher checks before they could go buy their supplies. Schools usually picked up the slack until the students were able to go out and get them.

[sorteep]

OH sweetie, I'm sorry, does your school have an assistance program for school supplies? (ours does) it is private and independent and not assoc with gov assistance.. the school itself administers it from donations from the community??

no worries on the dipes.. long term savings, ya know?

Is it cheaper for you to pack a lunch or buy for kids (some school lunches are very reasonable and you really can't make it at home for what they cost??) Our school also does some internal lunch sponsoring and that is also avail thru the county (although the nutritional content of the "food" scares me...) some kids can get county sponsored breakfast too

even in the short term just to get you guys by with new babe... your income might qualify you for some level of food stamp assistance with the kids?? just a thought.. every little bit helps... sometimes churches will help sponsor families going thru tight times as well.... many hugs,....

[sorteep]

ps I sense it's not in your nature to ask for help but it's OK to ask for help.... really it is.. people LIKE to help people.. pay it forward when/if you can .......

[GinaRae]

Hubby has one or two charge cards that are pretty maxed usually, but otherwise we don't have anything available.

We actually make so much we don't qualify for programs. That's what stinks. So much for the American dream! We don't waste money and have fairly large paychecks coming in for hubby, but the money is gone so fast it's not funny. There's just nothing left after bills and car payments and rent and playing catch up.

I am so frustrated as he has come home, gotten the school supplies, but there's nothing left until next payday. So somehow, somewhere, we have to get groceries and gas money for the week and I don't know where that's coming from.

This is nerve wracking and embarassing and thank goodness I could tell someone because I feel like I am going to explode! I am SO MAD that the money I had coming in before baby was born is all but gone ($1300 a month) and I have no way to get it back.

The MW has basically put me on light duty for the next 13 weeks so it's not like I can even look for a job (if I could ever hold one without childcare!).

I'm so frustrated and thinking, am I REALLY going to get thru this pregnancy? Dramatic question, I know. Of course I will. But everything has fallen apart -- literally.

[Mama Bear]