Weare? Where? j/k. I know that gets old. At least you don't live in No.Weare!

We love living out here. Had an apartment in Nashua before buying our house a couple years ago and let me tell you we are soooo glad to be out of the city!
Weare is a small town... do you know the Petriels?

Do you get WIC? The income guidelines are pretty high for kids under 2.

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~Happiness is a large family~

no, I already checked. We don't qualify, which is a bummer. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Weare? Where? Anytime anyone asks for the town we live in and I say Weare they always say " yeah, where?" we laugh every time.

Wow small world, I grew up in Nashua and my dh grew up in Hudson. He is a big hunter so he refused to live in the city. I was really not so excited about living so far away from everything but, I am glad we do. It is a great area to raise our kids. I love the peace and quiet and it is so dark here at night. We always have animals wandering through our yard. Yesterday there was a moose. Crazy!!

Laurie

Do you formula feed your baby? If you do- have you already signed up for coupons from the brand you use? That can really come in handy (usually the first thing they send is actual cans of formula and and great coupons (like $5 off!). If you refuse to do cloth diapers (which I did for our 1st one- too much of a hassle!), use the store brand during the day and the more expensive for at night time.

Congrats on the little windfall! I would also have it taken out to help you out a little! I hope you at home business takes off so things won't be as tough!

I am just like you. Our morgage is 1400 and we are about 400 short every month of makeing it. I have cut , slashed and done without as much as possible. I only have to hang on for 5 more months then our morgage mess will be fixed and our payment will go back to normal. Dh was supose to file for homestead and he thought I did it so our morgae ended up being way short and we have to pay it back plus they reestimated next years based on that . our payment went from 1,000 to 1,400. At the end of the year when they reassses it will go down to about 1,100. That will close our gap by 300. I have slashed my grocery budget buy about 200 a month by useing a the grocery game. And we have way more food then we used too. I wish you luck. Can you tell us what your grocery budget is ?

No, I haven't used any formula. Breastfeeding is so much cheaper! And people gave me some that they never used, plus all those free samples you get in the mail... I ended up selling 7 cannisters on Craigslist for $10. I know it was worth way more, but hey, it was pure profit to me and super-savings for the mom who bought it.

Well, when we worked up our budget the other week, we allowed for $100/wk for groceries and all other purchases (motor oil, cat food, diapers, etc), but try not to spend that much. I'm trying to be super good and average about $60/wk. But it usually ends up being a little more than that. BUT I'm learning how to cook from scratch, so each week I buy less and less boxed stuff and spend less money. I joined a coupon train, but I might jump off that after one more go-around, because I'm not sure I'll save more than the postage amount, since most of those food coupons are for pre-packaged stuff.

The good thing is that I still haven't had to buy any diapers. That's all I asked for, pretty much, when I was pregnant, and so I was stocked up pretty well!! I'm down to my last pack, but a friend said she has some to give me, too. I don't know how long he's going to be in size 2's, but there are still 2 big boxes of 3's waiting for him in the closet. That has been a huge blessing.

I will again revisit the car thing. n my soapbox:

You should seriously look into the resale value of your car vs. what you owe on it. If you are lucky you should be able to at least get rid of it without loosing money. "Don't drive a new car just because it's new"

Then, buy a used car. Something old but not to old. You can keep an eye out for a few months in the clasifieds or since your DH travels around alot for work he can watch the roads. "Watch for elderly people who are selling their cars. They may not be the cheapest but they are generally very low milage and well taken care of"

Here is a big money saver. If you can find a car cheap enough hopefully you can buy the car outright. if not, get a personal loan to buy it instead of a car loan. You will get hit with a higher interest rate but the savings will come where you can insure the car with the legal minimum. Check with your Auto Insurance company and compare the Ins. savings against the increased interest payement "if you have to take a loan".

"By the way. The Buick Regal is rated the most reliable American made used car by Consumer Reports every year, and guess who mostly drive them? Old people."


Edit: Also, We saved a bunch of money every month but consolidating all of my wifes student loans and extending them to 30 years "$56,000". Then my student loan was extended to 15 years "$17,000". Then I took a personal loan to pay off our credit card debt and close out all but one credit card. My Credit union automatically deducts from my account on each of my pay days for the personal loan which I find to be great since I don't have one huge payment at the end of the month.

Mike

op- I read your posts and the replies, and from what I read it sounds like you really are doing almost everything possible. aside from the car and maybe a bit more cutting back at the grocery store, I don't see much else you could do;. It's that 1600.00 a month mortagage that is really killing you. - you didn't mention the car payment amoundt so I'm going to just assume they are either payed off or reasonable, not like 400.00 a month each or something.

anyway, what are the chances of moving to a lower cost of living area?? can you move out of state? when I hear about people who are trapped by the high cost of living, high rent, and they tell me how much more an apartment would be than thier outrageous mortgage payment, I always think that it might be time for a change. There are 49 other states out there, maybe you could pick one that has a lower COA than NH. Perhpas pick a larger state or larget metropilitan area where there are more housing choices,more job choices. The bigger the city, the more you have to choose from.

This might be a good time to move, and get settled someplace cheaper before you baby starts school. It's never fun to move after they are in school. How do you feel about moving? most people don't love to move, but do you think you, or your DH could find work in your field in another state??

just something to ponder over.