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First of all I'm a new member here who has been lurking for a while. Would like to get some advice about my families situation. We are in the same situation as others where we live paycheck to paycheck. It is rare when our Overdraft Protection does not kick in a few days or a week before we get paid. We currently have one kid and another is due in April. Here is where the problem comes in and it has to do with daycare. We are paying $95 a week and when we have the 2nd kid it will double to $190 per week. How are people affording this? We dont have many bills except a $1000 house payment and a $500 vehicle payment. I've worked hard to get rid of any other debt. We do have a $3000 credit card balance but that will be paid off with our tax return this year.
Ok now you know the situation let me describe our background. I have a pretty good job one that puts us just barely out of reach of any kind of assistance. It makes me sick that year after year I pay my taxes and the money is given to others in the form of food stamps, WIC, Medicare, etc. Our first child was premature and was in a hospital 3 hours from where we live for a month. My wife was out of work at the time which was nice and she stayed there for the entire month and I traveled there on weekends so I could work during the week. She was able to stay in a Ronald Mcdonald house but at a rate of $15 a day and at the end we had to pay $400. Luckily my insurance is pretty good but we didnt qualify for any other kind of assistance. We payed around $3000 out of pocket to the hospital with my insurance getting the rest.
We made it ok with the first kid, now the 2nd is coming and I just dont see how we can make it without any assistance. We are guilty and being punished for 'doing things the right way.' We met, dated, got engaged, got married, then bought a house and then had kids. It makes me wanna puke that we would be so much better off if we had bought a house and had kids BEFORE we were married. What we are seriously considering, and I dont know if it's even legal or not and is the reason for this post, is getting our marriage annuled so my wife will be able to qualify for all this assistance that WE'VE been paying to others for years. We still want to live the same we do now except not be married in the court's eyes. With the system only counting her income we will qualify for daycare assistance, which is mainly what we want, as well as other stuff too.
Now most of you are thinking we need to cut back in order to save money. Well there isnt really much we can cut back besides eating out less. We rarely go out on the town and we rarely travel because of gas prices. I think our house payment is too much, but we have scoured this town and anything less than what we paid for our house is gonna be a fixer-upper and in the long run will be more expensive. The vehicle payment could go down a bit since my parents were gracious enough to give us an interest free loan. I'd rather not drag that out too long though as we have a year and half before its paid off. Does anyone have any comments on the annulment thing and whether it has been done before or if its even legal or any other advice you may have?
Ok now you know the situation let me describe our background. I have a pretty good job one that puts us just barely out of reach of any kind of assistance. It makes me sick that year after year I pay my taxes and the money is given to others in the form of food stamps, WIC, Medicare, etc. Our first child was premature and was in a hospital 3 hours from where we live for a month. My wife was out of work at the time which was nice and she stayed there for the entire month and I traveled there on weekends so I could work during the week. She was able to stay in a Ronald Mcdonald house but at a rate of $15 a day and at the end we had to pay $400. Luckily my insurance is pretty good but we didnt qualify for any other kind of assistance. We payed around $3000 out of pocket to the hospital with my insurance getting the rest.
We made it ok with the first kid, now the 2nd is coming and I just dont see how we can make it without any assistance. We are guilty and being punished for 'doing things the right way.' We met, dated, got engaged, got married, then bought a house and then had kids. It makes me wanna puke that we would be so much better off if we had bought a house and had kids BEFORE we were married. What we are seriously considering, and I dont know if it's even legal or not and is the reason for this post, is getting our marriage annuled so my wife will be able to qualify for all this assistance that WE'VE been paying to others for years. We still want to live the same we do now except not be married in the court's eyes. With the system only counting her income we will qualify for daycare assistance, which is mainly what we want, as well as other stuff too.
Now most of you are thinking we need to cut back in order to save money. Well there isnt really much we can cut back besides eating out less. We rarely go out on the town and we rarely travel because of gas prices. I think our house payment is too much, but we have scoured this town and anything less than what we paid for our house is gonna be a fixer-upper and in the long run will be more expensive. The vehicle payment could go down a bit since my parents were gracious enough to give us an interest free loan. I'd rather not drag that out too long though as we have a year and half before its paid off. Does anyone have any comments on the annulment thing and whether it has been done before or if its even legal or any other advice you may have?
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