I am a homeschooling SAHM, and we rely solely on dh's income. We live on a farm, in a rural area. The cost of living is relatively low, but my husband's salary isn't really great, so we have a strict budget.
My biggest issue is, my husband wants no part of the budgeting or bill-paying. We don't always have enough money at the end of the month, and it all falls on my shoulders to make ends meet. I hate it! But he works a lot and is away from home lots of hours, so he maintains that I do a great job, and that's pretty much the end of the discussion.
Because he doesn't want anyone knowing the personal aspects of our budget, I can't really talk to anyone local (about money). No friends, no family -- that's off-limits! So I'm turning to the net... I really like the idea of the minimum wage challenge. I know there's no way we could live on minimum wage now, as our house payment is about $755 a month, but we are actively trying to get the house ready to sell, and if it does, we will be renting (from ourselves) for $435 a month. I'm pretty sure we can survive on minimum wage then, especially if I can come up with some ways to save a little more money around the house.
It's sad, but I didn't even know what the minimum wage rate is. I looked it up, and I think it's $5.15. It's my understanding that's the federal rate, but some states are higher. At 40 hours a week that's $206 (honing my math skills here!), and with 4 hrs overtime at time-and-a-half on Saturday a.m., that brings weekly gross to $236.90. Multiplied by 52, as my husband takes no paid vacations, and divided by 12 since he's paid monthly, that brings the total to: $1,026.57. I'll have to look up social security and medicare withholdings to get the net take-home, so I'll do that and come up with a budget to post later.
Thanks to all who take the time to read this, and I look forward to learning a great deal about budgeting and "doing without".
Where am I?
May 15th, 2006 at 02:09 am
May 15th, 2006 at 02:35 am 1147660522
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May 15th, 2006 at 11:28 am 1147692523
You'll find this a very friendly and helpful group.
May 15th, 2006 at 03:48 pm 1147708106
May 17th, 2006 at 04:11 am 1147839107