Quote:
Originally Posted by Nodtveidt
My wife and I handle the rent, food, her car, and her phone, and her mother handles utilities and her own car. No one else contributes monetarily. Her sister that's here full-time stays with the kids when we work, which I suppose is worth more than money in the long run since we don't have to pay a babysitter who we would never be able to fully trust and would cost too much. Her other sister...oh man, I don't even wanna get into that mess.  Her mother works as a history teacher in Camuy, with a masters in English and a PhD in history...yet she makes less than the average bachelor's degree teacher because the DOE has dragged their feet for the past 5 years in getting teacher raises. The only reason she's stuck it out with them is because they pay for her university classes...otherwise, she would have split for Texas long ago, where she knows she can easily get a job as a bilingual teacher for higher pay. |
Going by what you said earlier at least one out of the two of you has been without steady employment since March of 09. To my mind that kind of eliminates the need for a full time babysitter. Even if everyone was working full time jobs there's no reason with that many family members living under one roof someone couldn't bite the bullet and work nights. It's just really hard to believe, even in this economy, that a household with 5 adults can't find a way to stretch their dollars collectively to cover $850 a mo.
If what you say is true, I'm sorry for your situation, but really all you need to do is find a cheaper place and you and your family will be fine. There's really not a need to be asking for handouts, especially asking for handouts plus "cushion" money. Also, with that many family members it would seem more sensible to ask family (good ol gramps) for money before strangers.
Sorry if I'm coming off as unsympathetic, but I'm a little jaded by all the requests for handouts and in this situation just downgrading your living quarters seems to solve the issue w/ no great financial consequence. It's not as if this is a situation where you're underwater in your mortgage, you're asking for more money than you need and also it seems you have not exhausted all avenues before coming here and asking for $$.
