What I was trying to say is we would have to live differently if we lived only on my income, but we could do it.
I rented a 2 bedroom townhome for two years while I taught & was single. Things are constantly increasing in price but I could still do it.
When my dh & I married we decided when I worked it would be play money & not living expense money. For one reason we would then never count on it as needed income. We would buy a home & live within the means of one salary.
It worked nicely because I even took a couple years off for our wedding & buying our first home. We couldn't have done that if we did need my salary. That gave us insight to see for down the road that sah was possible & will be again. It is a comfort level for us.
We have moved a few times due to dh's work & now finally settled a place where we can call home. We opted for a really old home tha needs a lot of TLC. Not just cosmetic either but roof, wiring, plumbing, the whole package. We realize we couldn't do this if we were living on my salary alone, although my salary would afford us a nice roof over our head, living expenses and a few pluses in life.
I love teaching. But no matter what degree I pursued, I could have went in to nursing like my mother, I didn't think I'd always work, or that I would work consistently for "x" number of years. Sure enough, I've taken time off to SAH.
No, I'll be 48 when I leave to change jobs. I took my first job in engineering (trainee of course) when I was 28 and still in college. Our SES didn't increase until about two years after I graduated at 31 and paid off the debt I ran up going to college. I worked my way though school as an engineer so yes, I'm coming up on 20 years in the field.
Nothing wrong with my math. My dss's were 21 and 17 when I graduated from college. 23 and 19 and both out of the house by the time we settled the debt we ran up getting through school and saw our SES increase.
Edited 7/23/2004 11:49 pm ET ET by grimalkinskeeper
No, real years. My ss's weren't babies when dh and I got married. They were teens when I started college. I however, was a baby when I got married. I'm closer in age to my oldest dss than I am dh.
It will be more like 20 when I change careers. I got a late start. Opinion is probably going off of my age. That's an easy mistake. Had I graduated at the normal age, I'd have over 20 in now. I have 15 years with my current company and came in with 2 years experience from working my way though school as an engineer. I'm figuring another two or three years before I quit to do my student teaching so I'll be around 20 when I leave. 20 years of doing anything is a career. That's a lot different than quitting after 6 years when you're just considered trained. I stuck around long enough for the company to get something in return for the training they gave me.
different strokes of course. no offense taken. just sharing that we really could NOT have made it in THIS area of CT (near our jobs, friends and family) on ONLY his salary or my salary. In fact, it was MY increasing salary that allowed us to expand into "playing" money, but of course, all that will change soon -- as it has already started to.
as for me, I'm a teacher for life. always have been (since i was 13) and always will be (as of right now, i can't see myself doing anything else). It's just part of WHO i am. I never even considered sah, because even as a teacher, i'm home just about 1/2 the year anyway.
My dh and I did basically the same thing when I WOH, although I made more, so we lived on mine and banked his. That nest egg allows us to still do some really nice things we couldn't do if we had been living to the limits of our combined incomes when we both worked, like pay cash for vehicles. Admittedly, we live in an area with a really low COL. You can get a really nice house -- about 3000 sq. ft. -- for about $250K.
What strikes me as particularly odd is that you are only 10 years older than the dss who holds you responsible for his standard of living as a child. Seems a pretty tall order, no?
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My mom is 55 and just started teaching 2 years ago.
What I was trying to say is we would have to live differently if we lived only on my income, but we could do it.
I rented a 2 bedroom townhome for two years while I taught & was single. Things are constantly increasing in price but I could still do it.
When my dh & I married we decided when I worked it would be play money & not living expense money. For one reason we would then never count on it as needed income. We would buy a home & live within the means of one salary.
It worked nicely because I even took a couple years off for our wedding & buying our first home. We couldn't have done that if we did need my salary. That gave us insight to see for down the road that sah was possible & will be again. It is a comfort level for us.
We have moved a few times due to dh's work & now finally settled a place where we can call home. We opted for a really old home tha needs a lot of TLC. Not just cosmetic either but roof, wiring, plumbing, the whole package. We realize we couldn't do this if we were living on my salary alone, although my salary would afford us a nice roof over our head, living expenses and a few pluses in life.
I love teaching. But no matter what degree I pursued, I could have went in to nursing like my mother, I didn't think I'd always work, or that I would work consistently for "x" number of years. Sure enough, I've taken time off to SAH.
Paige
Nothing wrong with my math. My dss's were 21 and 17 when I graduated from college. 23 and 19 and both out of the house by the time we settled the debt we ran up getting through school and saw our SES increase.
Edited 7/23/2004 11:49 pm ET ET by grimalkinskeeper
Oh, and dh was the victim of ageism, not me. Yes, I was mommy tracked but that doesn't make me a habitual victim. Why do you think I'm moving on?
as for me, I'm a teacher for life. always have been (since i was 13) and always will be (as of right now, i can't see myself doing anything else). It's just part of WHO i am. I never even considered sah, because even as a teacher, i'm home just about 1/2 the year anyway.
eileen
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