Broke.....

[JeSsIkA]

My partner and I live on 1 income and some money from centrelink as i am studing nursing full time at uni this is my last year. until the recent hikes in petrol prices our money has always been just enough.

Now we are struggling.. our bills are always paid but there is nothing left over. and we are using or credit cards which we cant realy afford to pay off.

Already i am stressing about christmas. i always layby so i can pay things off, but i cant really even afford $10 a week to pay these off.

on top of chirstmas i am pregnant again, this was planned but money was better then. and to make things worse i am due 2/2/06 but having a ceaser so bub will more than likley come, in Jan.

there are soo many things i need for the baby, as everything i brought for my daughter was pink and now i am having a boy. I also need a new pram and car seat as my daughter isnt heavy enough for a booster seat.

I need help to manage my money and tips to save money for chraistmas... i am soo lost and staarting to get depressed about the whole thing....

Thanks for listening...

[drewid]

HI there

You aren't alone!! I'm sure there are a lot of other mums out there in your position - me too.

We are also living on 1 income, and family assistance. Like you, we cover our bills, but there isn't much left over.

I know it can be hard.

I have a strict budget for what goes where with my hubbys pay - everyone else gets paid first, and we get by with what is left over.

I have really found lately that there are easy ways to save a few dollars here and there with the grocery shopping. Little things I never really thought about before when he had a double income - like buying lots of no-name brand basic foods. They are soooo much cheaper.

We too are getting hit hard by the increase in the cost of petrol. Unfortunately we can't do much about it, as DH has a fairly long drive to work, so thats eats up most of the fuel. We try not to use the car unnecessarily - we do a bigger grocery shop once a month now, and for any little extras, bub and I take a walk to the shops.

And dont' stress about Christmas!! Friends and family will understand that you are doing it tough financially and shouldnt expect you to do anything extravagant.

Anyway if you need to have a chat and have a sympathetic ear, send me a message - msn, email, or pm.

[pinkandblue]

Hi

We are exactly the same. We are living off 1 wage and by the time we pay the mortgage, personal loan, bills, groceries and petrol, there's hardly anything left.
All our bills are up to date and we got rid of our credit card but we cant afford any extras.
I am also expecting another baby in December and need to buy boy clothes as all my daughters clothes are pink.
I've been selling some stuff on ebay just to make some extra money but am running out of things to sell.
My partner is doing his tax return soon so hopefully he'll get a little bit back just so me and him can go and buy some new clothes and a few little extras.
So dont worry, your not alone, hopefully things will get better soon.

[Rell]

Yep I'm in the same boat. For christmas I try to make a lot of the presents. Jams. pickles, fudge etc. People also love it when my daughter makes something for them, paint a picture, make a bookmark. For fathers Day I cut a piece of cardboard into rectangles, got my daughter to paint the cardboard then stuck a cheap not book on it, at the top I wrote "Daddy's to do list". I aslo did one for both her graddads and they loved them.
Just remember with kids they don't care how much you spend as long as christmas day is made special.

good luck

[MoushiMoushi]

Were in the Poor House too!

So for chrissy all our family and friends will be getting an original piece of artwork by our DS :D Cheap I know but very sentimental and not to mention thoughtful. I found a great two dollar shop which sells cheap canvas and i am a preschool teacher so have plenty of paint on hand. Luckily our DS loves to paint and he does really cute hand murials :p

For chrissy cards I'm doing what I do every year, in febuary or march I go to kmart stores and they sell their photo cards (as there very personal and I usually put a cute picture of our son or a funny photo of us) really cheap, I got 50 cards for $1.80 this year!

Then there's chrissy breakfast, lunch and dinner which is easily fixed as we go to my mum's for breakfast, my dad's for lunch and dinner at Dh's parents. I know it might sound like were cheap free loaders (which is true :p ) but our parents are well off and they understand the situation were in so they dont mind :) .

[Chickadee]

I know I'm not going to be popular for this suggestion...

I dressed my DD in lots of blue boys outfits when she was newborn. It's what we were given as we were expecting a boy. I know it's a pain constantly explaining that it's a boy not a girl, but what's wrong with pink on a boy? As it's going to be summer you may be able to get away with a lot of the pink clothes you already have in newborn sizes and just invest in a few blue outfits for going out visiting, one or two blue muslin wraps or a sunhat with his name on. Babies wear their clothes for such a short time!

[stellaj]

If the clothes are light pink and not to girly you can dye them. I tie dyed clothes for my son but you could make them plain colors. The dye costs about $7 for sewing type shops and it does a lot of items.

[mumof2girls]

I think that a lot of us are all in the same boat as you. We rely on my income and some from centrelink as well but I have been sick so have had no income for the last week. I have a ferero roche recipe that is so simple to make and makes great gifts at christmas (my girls 12 & 14 make them by themselves) if you would like this recipe then email me at kaytaylor@aapt.net.au

Keep your chin up, things will hopefully improve for all of us soon (petrol wise)

[cwsmum]

I'm another one living on very little money :o We live on a little from centrelink and whatever DH makes, which varies each week as we are trying to get our shop established...these things take time :rolleyes:
One thing I have always done, which doesn't help you guys right now but might in the future, is i 'pay tax' out of the money i get from centrelink. I only have $10 a fortnight taken out, but when I eventually do my tax return I know that I will be getting that little bit extra, which usually goes straight onto the chrissy laybys.
I also heard the fuel prices should drop in the next week, so hopefully that does happen and we can all relax a little :p

[~Chick79~]

Can I join this club to!!

Ok my DH is on a good wage but since we have made some major financial mistakes we are in debt up to our eyeballs!! We were coping ok til the fuel prices started to rise and I was working part time but I was informed yesterday that my assignment (I was temping) will be completed in a couple weeks! Yikes! :eek: Not really sure how we are going to go now...

We were planning on trying for another baby (i have been told this would be wise from my doc for personal reasons) but now we are not so sure this is a good idea...

It is so depressing isn't it!!

[BubbleBelly]

I'm only 19 weeks pg and am already in your boat!
My fiance did a runner and i'm currently studying! I do get a little money off centrelink but am struggling to buy all the things baby will need.

[mannl]

I too am in the same situation. We live off one wage and Centrelink family payment and with 3 children and the cost of fuel there is basically nothing left at the end of the week. A suggestion to make Christmas a bit easier (although a bit late now but something to think about) is a Christmas club account. I bank with Heritage Building Society (QLD) and every fortnight I try and put in $50.00. You are unable to access the money until the first week in December so by the time it rolls around there is a few hundred dollars and you don't to try and find the money. I have done it for the last 3 years and swear by it. I believe that most Building Societys have these types of accounts.

I get the kids pictures laminated and give them as gifts to family. My local newsagency does laminating and its costs about $3.00 or $4.00. They can then be used as placemats, mousepads, drink coasters etc. Nana's love them.

[SMBT]

Oh thank goodness I am not the only one in this boat!

We too are exactly the same as everyone else. I haven't worked now for 2 years and although it really helped having baby number two recently with the $3000 payment etc, it is now back to square one and struggling. At the end of the week my family has little over $20 left in the bank, if that. My credit card is currently creeping again and I have paid it off 6 times in the last 2 years, each time it has hit $3000 - $4000 dollars (yuk).
Paying the mortgage and the bills is hard enough, but it is all the extra things, like birthdays, christmas and still trying to have a life (not that we really can afford too). I feel like I am not giving my kids the best, but I don't want to go back to work, as I was a teacher and can't fathom the idea of going back to other peoples children, when I can be with my own!
It is definitely a vicious cycle and not really fair on our behalf, I think us sahm's should get more from the government, because we are not shoving our kids off to daycare everyday and we are taking responsibility for our families and homes.
Us too have been destroyed by the new petrol price hike and filling my 4 cyclinder car now costs anywhere between $30 to $40 dollars each week when it used to be $20. Will it ever end?????
Living on one income sucks, but worth it for our kids sakes.

[JeSsIkA]

Wow..
cant believe how may people are living the same way we are. i feel better knowing that we arent the only ones.

my partner and i are always trying to think up ways to make extra money, but nothing seems suitable, seens as there is no point in me geting a job when i have to do 7 weeks of hospital placement, starting on 3/10 and going till December.

i have no idea how we will get through, especially past christmas. although i have come up with a chrsitmas present idea for our family member... a DVD of photos of Mikayla, starting with the 1st ultrasound and then ending just before this chrsitmas. I plan to get her to draw a picture to use as the DVD cover. Just have to find a good computer to do it on.

anyway that is my money saving idea.....a packet of DVDs dont cost that much, i dont think....

[mumof2girls]

Well just when I thought things couldn't get much tighter I have had to take 3 weeks off work (without pay) to see a lung specialist as I've had a virus 4 8 weeks and it won't clear up and they have also found 2 lumps in my breasts (hopefully cysts) should find out next week when I have an ultrasound and mammogram. So we are going to centrelink payments which aren't as much so I'm hoping all is well and I can get back to work asap so we don't get to far behind in our bills. Good luck to everyone else who is struggling/getting by may things improve for all of us asap :)

[Mumoffour]

thanks to everyone who has posted here. I have tears in my eyes as i type this because we are also in this boat. My baby was due last week and i really want her out and the main reason is so that i can go back to work. Our finances were shot from back in May when i hurt my back at work and had to take time off and now we are on the very edge of bankruptcy. My hubby is doing a job that his specialist said he should never do again due to it exaberating an old workplace injury- watching him hobble around in pain and writhe around in bed at night from the pain tears my heart out. Every pay day we get further and further behind. I know how hard it is to do that nursing placement for free- the universities dont seem to realise how hard it is on families during that time. I had to give up my postgrad studies this year because i couldnt afford to do the free shifts required. I am lucky that we had most of the baby stuff from my son although bubba is going to be wearing a fair amount of blue... I keep saying to my hubby that this stage of our life will make us really appreciate having money later on. :rolleyes: I hope things get better for everyone soon- its a lonley experience struggling like this.

[Supermum]

Count me in.

We have two kids in nappies and at daycare, one hubby at uni (1st year), a mortgage, a bloody 6cyl station wagon and just one wage.

It's so tough isn't it? We buy second hand toys for the kids from the Weekend Shopper and now shop at Aldi which saves a huge amount as well as buying our meat monthly. My DH is constructing a sandpit from some old railway sleepers and we grow our own seasonal vege's and fruit in our very small backyard which saves heaps.

Last Christmas we gave paintings to my parents which consisted of three flat canvasses, four colours (which matched their decor) and both children's hands and feet in the four layers on different angles. The result was outstanding for an $13 outlay and many trips to the bathroom to clean up! My parents cried when they saw their gift.

It's humbling I know but each and every day I am thankful for what I have (two healthy albeit mischievous children, a loving husband, roof over my head and food to eat) as opposed to what I don't.

Hope things take a turn for the better for everyone.

[Angel_baby_1982]

Oh I adore your x-mas gift idea supermum! That's fantastic!

DH lost his job 2 months before our son was born, I was on youth allowance as a full time student. We had planned on me moving to part time study when the baby got close but when hubby lost his job we needed my centrelink money to pay rent and buy food until his newstart came through, and to get it you need to be full time, so I continued full time right up to 38 weeks, at which point holidays started (thank god). Now I'm on parenting payment and DH is on newstart :(

Things are REALLY tight at the moment but we survive, the only thing we bought for our son was the cot mattress, EVERYTHING else (furniature, clothes, nappies, car seat, steriliser, toiletries, etc) were bought for us/borrowed.

I HATE being broke but the way I see it is we won't be this bad off forever, it's just temporary.

[mumof2girls]

You guys are soooo lucky, I wish we had an aldi in adelaide (SA), I haven't found any real cheap grocery shops here in to shop at. I'm glad that I finally get to go back to work next week at least 3 days until I'm completely well then back full time, YAH!!