Well, I was thinking today about money, and did some math while my daughter was napping.

If I got a job, and make at least $7/hr (I think min. wage is like $7.50 though?) and work 30hrs a week, and keep making the same payments on stuff, by the end of next August/beginning of September we could be roughly $8000 less in Debt.

Wow, now that I say that it doesn't sound like much at all does it? But, at the rate we're going, making the payments we are it'll be about 4 years before ALL of the debt is paid. And this would help cut it down.

Anyway, thinking about it, it sounds really good to me. But with the math I did, that's assuming that when I worked my husband (or another family member)would be watching our daughter. So...no child care fees.

Figured I'd add this... really because my husband's job, assuming he didn't miss any days of work, and worked 3 full days overtime (they can do half days of overtime) each month, it'd have about the same affect. Really... it'd be paid off a little sooner. But I wouldn't want to do that to him.

Heck - McDonald's around here pays $10+ /hr. You can probably find part-time work that pays even more. And don't think about it just being $8k paid off in about 8 months, think of it as the $8K PLUS the interest you are avoiding by paying it off early. If you got a part time job a couple evenings a week DH would watch the child while you worked.

Another great idea is to find a local gym and do babysitting there. That way you could bring your daughter AND get paid. I have been thinking of that myself..

I figured out one time that if I went back to work at the nursing home for just one year part-time, we'd bank $10k. It was quite tempting, knowing that we had family to watch DS. But we didn't have a reliable extra vehicle and DH's work schedule was not steady enough to know when I'd be available to work. I tried working nights at the nsg home when DS was 8 months old, but it only lasted a week before I just couldn't do it anymore. (we were all exhausted b'c DS only slept while I was at home to tend to him at night, so he screamed all night and DH got no sleep) Then about a year ago I tried to get a job at the local bank; I was psyched. Had I been able to stick with it, I know I would have loved the job - especially the hours (it was 10a-2p M-F). But the two weeks of full-time training 40 minutes away killed us and I never made it more than 4 days. (Thankfully the mgr was extremely supportive and understanding.)

Have you talked about whether DH is willing to work OT for the extra pay? If OT was available through DH's job, he'd take it here and there to help financially, but he's finally come around to not wanting debt. 6 half-days of overtime is not a lot if it's sprinkled throughout the month. Guess it depends what he does though. (and if he likes his job LOL)

If you can do it, and hubby is all for it, then I say try. You won't know until you try. But remember y'all have to be prepared for some changes until you get down to a pattern of how everything works together. Laundry may pile up and dinner may be sandwiches or canned soup. Stick together through the rough acclimation of it and I'm sure you'll do great!

PS another great job option is to do nannying - you can take your daughter with you and earn some good money. I interviewed for a nanny job a month or so ago that was paying $300 a week after taxes -- that's over $14k in a year's time. Enannysource.com -- check into it!

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Have you thought about taking in a child to watch? I see you're also in CA. I watch a 5 mo old for $60/day for 3 days a week, that's $720/month. I watch her at my home as I already have a 19 mo old and all the necessary baby things because we are planning to have another. They pay me in cash, we worked out the taxes, and I don't need to be licensed because it's only one child. I watch her 7-5, it's a long day, if it was shorter I waould charge $50. She just comes along to storytime, playgroup and kindergym.

I got the job by being friendly with a neighbor who is also in the local mom's club. If there is a mom's club in your area, you could join and then post on their group (we have a yahoo group) saying who you are and what services you are offering. You never know....it may work!

I also thought about getting a job at Starbucks or a bakery on the weekends, but dh works A LOT and his surf lessons on the weekend are at different times every week. Plus, we like to take a day for family time since we're so busy. The days I babysit a re long, but when I get that cash on Friday it's worth it

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