It's officially been one week since my last post. I feel a little sheepish that it's been so long. I've wanted to post, even thought about what to post, however, became side tracked and no posting occurred.
Wayne and I have been looking for a place to move for a little while now. We've finally decided to move into an apartment building for the time being. Due to this move, there are numerous little worries I have. Number crunching is the ultimate worry. As most of you know, Wayne is the one who goes to work everyday and I stay at home with the babies. As much as I've wanted to work and leave the babies in daycare with their cousin, I haven't found the job to match the criteria needed.
Wayne works afternoons, therefore, I would have to work daytime and be able to pick up the babies by 5:30pm. The only other criteria I have is to be able to make enough to cover child care, gas, and a little left over for oil changes, etc. Of course, making more then that would be nice, but not likely.
Back to the number crunching. With babies so close in age, it's easy in some ways and 10 times more difficult in others. Both babies are in some stages at the same time, therefore, diapers, wipes, clothes, food, drink, etc is doubly expensive. However, toys, books, entertainment, etc. costs no more then what you paid for your first child, since you still have all this on hand. I still need to buy formula, bottle inserts, baby food--I don't always have time to make it, and other things associated with my younger baby.
All this adds up quite astonishingly. So far, my parents have been footing the bills on adult food and heat, hydro, cable, etc. Wayne and I also bought out vehicles either just before or just after we met, so there's about $800/month just on vehicle payments combined. I've started cutting corners a lot lately. Mostly, I only get anything for myself if given money for my birthday/mother's day/Christmas. Wayne, however, is still spending money on clothes, and miscellaneous items he 'needs' for work. Since I'm the stay at home mom, I don't get that privilege.
Basically, we've found we'll have about $800/month leftover from his income to cover our variable costs. Perhaps I should start toilet training the babies now? It's definitely going to be interesting to see how this all pans out. We've already started this budget, let's see how all goes.
For all you others out there living on such a budget, I hand my hat off to you!
