3rd Income

Is anybody in the Bay Area stressed out about the mortgage crisis like I am?

I purchased a 2 BR condo the year I got engaged because single family homes were ridiculously expensive, but I wanted a home to start my family in. Yet the prices of condos were also ridiculously expensive. So what did I do? I did what many people did -- purchased a home on an interest only loan hoping to refinance to a 30 year mortgage when the rates dropped.

Here I am, almost 3 years later, in the same condo, same job, married with two children, and struggling to make ends meet. My husband and I are barely making it with our current mortgage payments and other living expenses. Currently looking for a 3rd income to help us pay for child care, I am now trying to figure out how we can pay our mortgage knowing that the rates will not drop.

So I am wondering, for all of the young families like myself with children and a mortgage -- how are you making ends meet? Because frankly, I find it impossible.

The Salary of a Teacher

I got this from a blog called, "Teaching in South San Francisco." Something for non-teachers to think about:

SICK OF THOSE HIGH PAID TEACHERS?

I, for one, am sick and tired of those high paid teachers. Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work nine or ten months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do. Baby-sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. I would give them $3.00 dollars an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 AM to 3:00 PM with 45 minutes off for lunch). Each parent should pay $18.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now, how many do they teach in a day, maybe 30?

So that's 18.5 X 30 = $555.00 a day. But remember they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for any vacations. Let's see. . . that's 555 x 180 = $99,900.00 (Hold on! My calculator must need batteries!)

What about those special teachers or the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them a little over minimum wage just to be fair. Round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 times 6 1/2 hours times 30 children times 180 days = $245,700.00 per year.

Wait a minute, there is something wrong here!

Why is it that parents are willing to pay nannies and child care providers $12 - $20 per hour, per child? Maybe I should have just become a nanny or opened up my own daycare. I've seen nannies on their cell phone and watching TV while on the clock. When I'm teaching, I'm on the student's schedule from 8am til 3pm. Okay, so the students go home at 3pm each day, but then I spend my time after that correcting papers, computing grades, and lesson planning.

With money being so tight, I could move to a different field. But at the end of the day, I know in my heart that I love to teach. That's who I am. But it is so hard being a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area and trying to raise a family. I cannot afford daycare. I am afforded with a good health care plan, but not as good as my brother who works for Genentech. I cannot afford to put any kind of savings for my boys, let alone a savings for myself.

So with all the financial woes, why do I keep teaching? Because it is my calling.

Hopefully somebody will realize the worth of teachers and our salaries will be raised to support the cost of living.

Financial hole

This last week has been stressful with the madness on Wall Street. Everyone, including myself, is worried about finances. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area is already very expensive, but trying to raise children here is nearly impossible. I don't know how some families can afford a stay-at-home parent. My husband and I both work full time jobs and now I am looking for a side gig because we cannot afford daycare. However, I cannot quit work to stay at home to care for our boys because we cannot afford our cost of living (mortgage, car payment, etc.)

Finding a side gig is very difficult. Back in January I told my husband that I wanted to resign from my choir position so that I could spend time with my family. Yet here I am, one month after giving birth contemplating returning to work early and looking for a second job because we cannot live on the current income coming in and we are in a very big hole already.

{sigh}

I applied to this Craigslist.org post for an Environmental Protection Online Researcher. I hope it pays well enough to afford daycare. I don't know what we can give up for us to afford daycare -- landline? cable? We cannot give up the Internet because my husband works from home once a week. We don't go shopping. The last purchase I made was for a pair of shoes for me to wear to a wedding while I was 9 months pregnant because none of my shoes fit. The last time I got my hair cut was last year, after giving birth to my first son. We cannot afford college funds for our boys, let alone a savings account for ourselves or contributions to a 401(k). We are very slowly paying off debt. If I make a purchase, it is almost always for my kids. Now I carry no credit cards and have asked my husband to only care one in case of emergencies. I pay with cash or gift cards. If I don't have the money, I don't buy.

I am so thankful for my parents and my in-laws. They have provided my family & I with food, groceries, diapers and formula to help us get by.

Lord, I pray that you help us find a way to get out of this financial hole.

Fashion Rocks, MTV does not

I am watching "Fashion Rocks" on CBS with my husband and realized something -- music was good growing up. Rihanna did Madonna's "Vogue" (which was better than Rihanna's VMA opening act). Beyonce was awesome performing Etta James' "At Last." Then Fergie performed with Blondie. The only good music now is Justin Timberlake, who is performing some time on this show. Let us remind everybody that Justin's last album, "Future Sex Love Sounds" came out 2006. Here we are, two years later, and he is still one of the hottest performers alive.

What happened to music? When I turn the radio on for Jordan to dance, it is either this crunk music that I don't like much or something old, like Digital Underground. I want my boys to grow up to good music. Watching the VMA's, I thought musi went downhill. But as I watch "Fashion Rocks" I realized that great music is still out there; MTV is what went downhill.

As a parent concerned about my children's musical exposure, I think I will ban MTV in our house.

Spring Awakening

My husband and I watched "Spring Awakening" at the Curran Theater today. It was an early birthday treat because we got such a good deal on the tickets from the SHM email subscription. We got stage seats for $30 each! The stage seating was such a different experience. I thought I would hate it, but in fact, it was such a memorable experience.

The show was awesome. We had no understudies (thank goodness). Moritz and Melchior were awesome! They actually came from the Broadway cast, so you knew they had to be good. I think they carry alot of the show. If Moritz and Melchior sucked, it would have been a different experience. I think it also helped that we knew the songs (my husband more than I since he listened to the soundtrack when he road BART to work every day).

I would recommend the show to those who liked RENT. However, Spring Awakening cannot replace RENT. I don't think any show right now can replace RENT.

Life has settled for a moment

I haven't had time to write on this blog until now. Life has been hectic being a mother of two. First we were in and out of Kaiser for a variety of reasons. But thankfully Julian is all better. No more jaundice, he's gaining weight, his TB x-ray came out normal, and breast feeding is going as well as it can be. I wanted to solely breast feed Julian, but he is just so hungry that sometimes I have to supplement him with breast milk or formula. But my husband reminded me that this is more breast milk than our first son ever got.

We've been using Seventh Generation diapers for a month now and have come to realize that I will use whatever diapers people buy for us. Seventh Generation diapers are not easily available. In fact, the only place you can buy them is at Babies R Us, if they are in stock. Plus with two children in diapers it is now more about how we can save money.

Another topic -- the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. I guess she gets her props for surviving all the media attacks. Yet, I can't understand how a mother of 5 with her youngest being 4 months old can go and campaign. 4 months old is really young. I don't want to return to work and send Julian to daycare at 3 months, but unlike Palin, I don't have a choice. Our government only gives mothers 12 weeks of maternity leave. If the government offered 6 months of maternity leave, I would take the entire 6 months to bond with my son.

There is so much to blog about, but my brain is just so scattered. I think I need sleep.