Berlynprime - 20 March 2008 10:02 PM

^^^ Well now we know who to mug…

Remember that Smerk at least sometimes wanders around with swords. . . 

Nettie - 21 March 2008 03:52 AM

Once we finally get pregnant I’m sure we’ll come much closer to the poverty line.

So Australia’s not one of those places that has aid for parents?

I can’t understand why, in a thread called “Anybody Else Feeling Particularly Poor This Month?”, one would post “I’m almost scared to post for fear of getting lynched.”

You’re not going to be lynched. None of us are that bitter. Quite.

But, in a commiseratey thread, it’s just a tiny bit tactless.

I sent Jason off to buy Easter stuff.  Heh.  We probably could skip it...but I dunno, it just doesn’t FEEL right.  Besides, the eggs are still fairly cheap & the dye is less than $2.  I loaded him up with dollar off coupons for candy… We’ll eat the eggs no matter what & now we don’t have to buy any meat...I also had a $15 gift card to WalMart, that I figured would more than cover costs for stuff for Jocelynn’s basket.  It’s not like we’ve got 10 kids to make baskets up for.  Plus, we reuse the same basket every year…

We just checked the irs website & it looks like our refund check will be mailed next Friday.

Acci...just b/c there is “aid” for families with children doesn’t mean you can always take advantage.  It’s actually more of a hassle for me to go down to the WIC office than to just decide to skip getting aid all together.  My car barely works right now...and for the price of gas...to drive 15 miles for a $20 WIC check just seems pointless.  Plus, there are income limits.  When Jocelynn was born we couldn’t take advantage of WIC b/c they looked at the salary I made when I went out on maternity leave.  I was a FULL TIME employee before my leave.  And after I was getting my hours dropped by about 15 hours a week.  Based on my full time schedule we made about $9 too much per YEAR.  Now, we would totally be able to take advantage since I don’t work...but like I said the drive would just outdo me.  And I’d have to go about every month.

I know what you mean.  We have kids aged 17 to 2 here.  Now that we can’t go do egg hunts, *sigh* I will have to go out and augment their baskets a bit.  ( I think we have ten bucks or so in change,,,) *sigh*

My daughter is on Wic and they only have to go every 3 months or so, but it is an appointment that last several hours.  then again, their income was down before their daughter was born, so they get something like 5 vouchers a month.  I think Acci is talking about places like Sweden.  My brother lives there, and they give the Mom & dad something like 5k a year to help raise the kid.  The downside is that the kid then belongs to the state first, and they have a say in all aspects of its rearing.  (Under the onus of “guidelines” of course.)

Now I have to go out and try and find solid choco bunnies a day before Easter.  Fun oh fun!

Renquist - 20 March 2008 07:01 PM

I’ll be living off of 17p noodles from Aldi until payday.

Thank God for Aldi!!!  I can get a whole box of groceries for 10 bucks.

MadCarlotta - 21 March 2008 06:03 AM

I’ve actually been enjoying expendable income for the first time in almost six years. There are still outstanding expenses, like my car needs work, but nothing urgent and all the bills are either zero’d out or have current balances on them. It’s a very strange feeling.

A bit similar here. Been in the “forced to live on 16p noodles from Aldi untill payday” situation of Renquist many times the past few years, even without all but the necessary expends. But this month is the first in my new job, with a (comparatively) wopping income increase compared to the medical work impairment allowance I lived on for 5 years. So suddenly I feel “rich”. Behaved wisely though, and putting much of the extra money on my savings account for the moment. So now my savings account actually has something on it for the first time in a very long time…

As the famous 16th-17th century Dutch poet Brederoo wrote: “Het kan verckeeren....”*

* roughly: “things can suddenly change”

I’m poor by choice, and happy.  I get to do what I enjoy most.  I live very simply and spend money on what I like.

People who know me would probably be astonished at how little I live on.

Crap...we should have taken a diaper inventory before getting Easter stuff.  We have 10 diapers (plus or minus 3 in the diaper bag) until Friday.  I still have some cloth diapers...but I don’t have anything to secure them with.  I could probably just rubberband them around Anicah.  I’ll save at least 1 diaper for each bedtime...since that is the longest period of time she goes without a change.  I also am trying a little trick with some ..um, pads.  It worked for at least one diaper change (extending the diaper by one diaper change I mean...so it’s like she wears the diaper twice.  Once with the pad, once without).  Although...it might be a better idea to stick pads in the CLOTH diaper...so there is less leakage & less of a need for a really secure closure.  (I can’t even find regular safety pins, let alonge my diaper pins.) And now that I think about it, Jocelynn has about 5 pairs of training pants that are cloth (and pull up & down like underwear) that also have plastic pants to go around them.  We should be okay. 

I was thinking of using some of my tax check to switch to cloth diapers only.  (Using disposables only when we leave the house.) But I did the math & found other websites that did the math FOR ME.  I save about 5 cents per diaper (over 2 years) going cloth...but I will still be buying wipes, b/c I like them & can use them for things other than cleaning butts.  They clean hands & faces, surfaces...and I can even use them in a pinch when I need an ink pad.  (Ink is cheaper by the bottle, and I can fold over a wipe a few times, with a few drops of ink & use that as an ink pad.) So I am not sure it’s really worth it.  I dunno.  Maybe I will just buy a few for emergencies like this.  But then I think a gift card to a local store would work just as easily.  I could put it away for times like this.

Ugh.  I wish I could get a job.  But if I work while Jason is at work, I need childcare.  I have to pay for childcare.  The cheapest way to do this is to hire a babysitter.  But I don’t know anyone who I would leave my kids with that can also just be home for a few hours during the day.  Teens are in school...or homeschooled & still “in school” and unavailable during the morning hours.  I don’t know any adults willing to give up free time during the day.  And I don’t know any other moms that work that I could trade babysitting favors with.  And it is too much a hassle for all if I work while Jason is home.  That really messes us up as a couple (he is bitter to be working FULL TIME and caring for kids...I am bitter b/c he is bitter over a few wimpy hours), it means I miss dinner & bed time (both very mom-centered activities), or it means I am working horrible late hours & having to fuction on very little sleep.  Oh...plus Anicah has decided to refuse bottles & food.  She is boycotting all ways of getting food to her except for through ME.

I feel so pitiful! 

I am wondering if I should put up an auction on eBay, “Pay me to stay home!”

Okay...I’m finished whining. 

You can make your own wipes too if you are so inclined

Bebelicious - 22 March 2008 09:16 AM

Renquist - 20 March 2008 07:01 PM

I’ll be living off of 17p noodles from Aldi until payday.

Thank God for Aldi!!!  I can get a whole box of groceries for 10 bucks.

Aldi lets me live like a prince on a budget. Where else can I get pheasant and armagnac pate for 99p?

Ah, so is Aldi a grocery store?  Somehow I was under the impression that it was a brand....