Doing Everything Right, Still Struggling
I want to start with how grateful I am to even have a roof over my head. I grew up in abject poverty. Boiling bath water, food bank, government cheese, using a grocery cart to get around poverty.
I got my bachelors degree, paid off most of the loan by myself and worked overtime in undergrad. Secured a full ride masters degree. Secured a well paying full time job, getting a second job. Paying for my young son and for my husband to stay home.
Cloth diapering, shopping at aldi spending $150 or less a month on groceries, no subscriptions, no phone bill only a plan bill of $60 a month, walking to work so not using much gas, breastfeeding and pumping so no formula cost, use rags instead of paper towels, bidet instead of toilet paper, no going out of it costs money, the penny pinching goes on and on.
I’m still scraping by. Even with a second job and a masters degree I’m barely scraping by and somehow doing better than 70% of America. I’m just tired. I want better for myself and my family. I wish I didn’t have to simply get another job to have more income to save. I do everything right, but it is still always just one mishap from homelessness. My husband getting a job would only give us childcare costs that his income would have to eat.
Edit: Husband has offered to pick up work, but he’s applied and hasn’t received anything back. I have helped him tailor his resume and still nothing. Everyone wants people who can work days and he can only do nights and weekends with the baby. If he gets a job during the days childcare would be his whole paycheck in our region.
I promise it isn’t for lack of trying on his part. He wants to support our family too!