How are you surviving financially?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-19-2004
How are you surviving financially?
32
Wed, 12-08-2004 - 1:11pm

Hi everyone - I'm mostly a lurker, but I was wondering how you all are able to survive financially on one income. We live in a part of the country where a 2 bed townhouse goes for over half a million dollars, and we are barely surviving here. We bought it when it was cheaper, but we found out we are expecting again and need to find a bigger house and I don't know if we can afford to live here anymore without me working.

Our family is here, and I would like to stay, but I am so angry that we can't seem to afford a decent house in a family neighborhood here w/o me working. I think it's imperative that I stay home while our babies are young, but what do we do? Move to some other state away from family, have DH change jobs and do something he may not like, or stay here and have me work?? I am so angry because we have worked so hard to get all this education (we both have graduate degrees) and where we live that still doesn't cut it.

We could possibly make it if he worked even more than he does now - 12-14 hours per day and weekends. But then he would never see the kids. I just don't know what to think. This whole thing seems so unfair. :(

How do you do it? What should we do?????

-Melissa

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Thu, 12-16-2004 - 5:21pm

Hey quite a few OC gals here. Our plan is to get into a house and then in 10-15 yrs sell and move east where we can buy something for cash and not have to work so hard. So who knows what will happen things always seem to get crazier as time goes on.


Hang onto your house girl!! I would love to get closer to the ocean but I don't see it happening anytime soon. We sure do pay the high price to live here for the weather.


Sarah and Maggie

Sarah

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-13-2005
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 5:35pm

Wow Melissa, that is quite $$ for the size of home out there. I live in Nebraska and for that price, you would have 4-5k square feet with 4 to 6 huge bedrooms. We have a couple of friends out your way in Los Angeles, and it is way to $$ for the areas and types of homes that are there. My mom is a realtor, and so she helped them get a home out there. They got a HUD/Forclosed home for about 50k less then what the home is worth. You might want to check into it, but like you said, make sure the part of town is good for you. Also, apartments are getting more geared into the "Apartment Home" market. For example here in Omaha, a 1300 sqft apartment will go for about 1200 a month. That might save you money....i.e. property taxes, ect.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Courtney

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