Welcome to Sunday ~ MENA ~

[Staashi 371]

Jackie, I do shop at Al Amal, and yes 3$ for one pack of bread! I told sofyan he needs to cut down alot, he eats 2-3 pieces a day...

I paid 4.25$ for gas yesterday, i dont even wanna talk about it cause it makes me sick..

We have got rid of our land line (we all have cells) and i downgraded our cable from the premier (all the channels u could want) to just basic cable and on demand...were never really here to watch tv, so that is saving me about 35$ a month...

I too have lowered contributions to my 401k..in all honesty im thinking about cancelling it until i have reached 5 years with the company because the company only matches after 5 years of service, and if cancelled i could have an extra 50$ or so on my 2 week paychecks...

what really kills me is the health insurance. for the 3 of us i pay 200$ every two weeks for medical and dental..i know illinois has a great program called All Kids that covers mommies and babies REGARDLESS of income, i wanna look into it because im sure it would be MUCH cheaper than what I am paying now, only concern would be is i would probably have to go to new offices because the ones i go to for myself and zaid are very picky about what they accept...

JP...Sofyan smokes too, and I beg him to quit everyday, not only to better his health, but it would save us around 25$ a week

Smoking, which I don't, has become so expensive. Try to get him on the patch as that could really help. Also, check with your local health department as they might have free samples.

My DH and I were talking last night, and we're just going to "live off the shelf" so to speak. I will only buy milk and bread, and maybe some fruit from farmers that sell on the side of the road. We're coming into truly tough times and I just have to shake my head about all of it.

[Aymsgirl 0]

We have had to try and cut corners with things like you did too. My husband smokes but not much...only about 1 pack a week so that is good. He is trying to quit so even saving that extra 4.25 x4 or 5 a month will help. We have pretty much cut out eating out fast food and unnecessary trips to anywhere. I work for a hospital and my health insurance costs around 179 every two weeks so that is killing us. I wish we had a plan like you did for moms and kids that it didn't matter your income. I always get nervous when one of us gets sick because we have such a high copay with office visits and prescriptions. Then it seems to spread through the household and before you know it you have racked up a few hundred dollars. Currently, our house is what is killing us right now. I have it up forsale but no big bites on it and I don't think it will sell. Our realtor said the only going properties in the area are foreclosures. Which has affected everybody else's values on their homes. I'm in such a mess, can't stand to talk about this anymore. I just have to say oh my gosh to the $4.25 gallon of gas! That's nuts!

[polarbear 0]

We have had to try and cut corners with things like you did too. My husband smokes but not much...only about 1 pack a week so that is good. He is trying to quit so even saving that extra 4.25 x4 or 5 a month will help. We have pretty much cut out eating out fast food and unnecessary trips to anywhere. I work for a hospital and my health insurance costs around 179 every two weeks so that is killing us. I wish we had a plan like you did for moms and kids that it didn't matter your income. I always get nervous when one of us gets sick because we have such a high copay with office visits and prescriptions. Then it seems to spread through the household and before you know it you have racked up a few hundred dollars. Currently, our house is what is killing us right now. I have it up forsale but no big bites on it and I don't think it will sell. Our realtor said the only going properties in the area are foreclosures. Which has affected everybody else's values on their homes. I'm in such a mess, can't stand to talk about this anymore. I just have to say oh my gosh to the $4.25 gallon of gas! That's nuts!

I'm there with you on the $4.25 gallon of gas

I can only say that at this point I am VERY happy I am paying monthly for my health insurance, bc without it I would be soo badly in debt! I'm talking about $35,000.00 of medical bills this year already and that's more than my yearly income . But on everything else - I try not to eat unless I'm at work where we have a cafeteria paid for by the hotel and I can scrounge a little bit from the kitchen for breakfast (the kitchen staff are really nice to me). I can't help the amount of gas I spend unless I want to leave school - this summer I have to drive pretty far to another campus for my language class (a requirement for graduation) bc the campus near me doesn't offer those. I have basic cable, cell phone only, try not to eat out, never go out if it will cost money, and try to keep my groceries under $40/week - and I'm still not making it. My paycheck only covers rent and bills and everything else goes on the CC. Terrible I know But without my husband's income, I just don't have enough to support myself in the 1brm appartment. I hope he can either come home or send some money soon

[♥JP♥ 5]

I actually tried to get my husband to quit smoking and it almost worked. He decided he would try and buy that nicorette gum. So we get to the store, he is picking out the flavor and I am reading the instructions to him. So he says...wait...I can't smoke and chew the gum?

[Aymsgirl 0]

JP I could see my husband trying to do that! Did you say um well maybe you could overkill your heart? I'm wondering if they sell a patch to make a baby stop sucking his paci??? LOL!

[Nasturtium 500]

JP I could see my husband trying to do that! Did you say um well maybe you could overkill your heart? I'm wondering if they sell a patch to make a baby stop sucking his paci??? LOL!

Plug his nose I stopped sucking my thumb at 6 months because i got a head cold and apparently couldn't breathe and keep the thumb in... so... had to quit

Gas here is between 3.86-3.99, depending on where you go.

We pay for the following things each month:

1. Student loan bill ($630)

2. Gasoline (apprx 160)

3. Car insurance (apprx 50)

4. Car maintenance (really quarterly) (apprx 20)

5. Groceries (apprx 400)

6. Electric (average 60)

7. Water/sewer/trash (32)

8. Gas (average 60)

9. incedentals (usually under $100)

10. phone/internet-- 100

We don't go out, ever, we don't have cable or cell phones (i did just get an emergency one for $30 but it's a pay as you go, good until december), etc. I'm now growing some of our own food as I would prefer to cut our grocery bill down to what it was-- half of this as of last year. Student loan jsut started this month. We counted it up, and last year I made about $9/hr for full time and he made 9.75 and we managed to save $21,000 which went into paying off debts. We don't carry health insurance or anything, and I do have to see an optomitrist, buy contacts, and go to the dentist-- 2 of us do that. Last year he had an emergency filling @500. Still, it was cheaper than if we carried health insurance. We do have a goal, though, so it's sometimes easier to save up when you have something in mine (me never having to show up at any freaking idiotic job ever again, and babies. I'm over being an accomplished career woman and much mroe about growing tomatoes. They don't ask you stupid questions.)

[♥JP♥ 5]

JP I could see my husband trying to do that! Did you say um well maybe you could overkill your heart? I'm wondering if they sell a patch to make a baby stop sucking his paci??? LOL!

Plug his nose I stopped sucking my thumb at 6 months because i got a head cold and apparently couldn't breathe and keep the thumb in... so... had to quit

Gas here is between 3.86-3.99, depending on where you go.

We pay for the following things each month:

1. Student loan bill ($630)

2. Gasoline (apprx 160)

3. Car insurance (apprx 50)

4. Car maintenance (really quarterly) (apprx 20)

5. Groceries (apprx 400)

6. Electric (average 60)

7. Water/sewer/trash (32)

8. Gas (average 60)

9. incedentals (usually under $100)

10. phone/internet-- 100

We don't go out, ever, we don't have cable or cell phones (i did just get an emergency one for $30 but it's a pay as you go, good until december), etc. I'm now growing some of our own food as I would prefer to cut our grocery bill down to what it was-- half of this as of last year. Student loan jsut started this month. We counted it up, and last year I made about $9/hr for full time and he made 9.75 and we managed to save $21,000 which went into paying off debts. We don't carry health insurance or anything, and I do have to see an optomitrist, buy contacts, and go to the dentist-- 2 of us do that. Last year he had an emergency filling @500. Still, it was cheaper than if we carried health insurance. We do have a goal, though, so it's sometimes easier to save up when you have something in mine (me never having to show up at any freaking idiotic job ever again, and babies. I'm over being an accomplished career woman and much mroe about growing tomatoes. They don't ask you stupid questions.)

Even with that hefty student loan...I'm so envious.

Here is what we pay monthly...pre baby....

1. Rent $1500

2. 2 car payments totaling $800

3. Car Insurance $225

4. Gas $200

5. Cigarettes $150

6. Cell phone $160

7. Utilities $100 (goes up to $300 in the winter)

8. Internet $65

9. Groceries $600

That's just the regular stuff...So every month...bam almost 4K out the door without any incidentals or spending money. And now we have diapers and formula to look forward to. This doesnt include all the contributions out of my check for health insurance, 401K, flex spending, etc.

[Nasturtium 500]

Even with that hefty student loan...I'm so envious.

That's just the regular stuff...So every month...bam almost 4K out the door without any incidentals or spending money. And now we have diapers and formula to look forward to. This doesnt include all the contributions out of my check for health insurance, 401K, flex spending, etc.

Yeah, you have no idea how many times I have tried to explain to him that we are really, really lucky! My phone bill and itnernet are combined, so I have a land line and DSL, the land line is like $50 before taxes and the DSL is like $25? Or so... it just went up last month. before it was always $90 including taxes. I do have options on there I could cut like voicemail, etc, but it doesn't seem worth it yet.. or maybe it is now that i think about it. VM isn't worth $100/year!

We really lucked out on cars. We just bought a second one last month-- a used 1995 neon for 2k. We paid out of pocket. My car I got about 5 years ago for 1900-- a 92 accord. No house payment for me, just taxes and insurance, so about 1500/year.

You live in CA, right? Which accounts for the nearly double cost of living and triple or more the insurance. My insurance went up too when he joined me-- but the enw car really was the bigger diffference. he raised be $22/6 months, but as soon as we got the new car it was like $122 more per half year on top of that.

We're looking to move back to jordan, permanently, so he only moved here to 1. pay off my loans and 2. possibly get another degree. So we're kind of in a time crunch in a way, as he wants to leave ASAP. We're looking to pay off my laon in under 3 years. 10k is down now of the 60k, as we more or less emtpied a major account into it. i kind of think of it as rent, as we'll be paying about what you pay in rent on the loan each month if we can.

Edited July 14, 2008 by julianna

[♥JP♥ 5]

Wow you want to move to Jordan permanently? I don't think I could ever do that. He used to say he wanted to go back but after being here for a year he is singing another tune completely.

[Nasturtium 500]

Wow you want to move to Jordan permanently? I don't think I could ever do that. He used to say he wanted to go back but after being here for a year he is singing another tune completely.

LOL he used to think he'd stay for 5 years and now it's 3 Yeah, I would have gone there first and if we had to do over again, i think I would have just moved... but we're hoping to score enough money to build a house over there which is difficult for them on their salaries.

i figure I'll get really frustrated, just like anyone would about certain things-- the cleaning is going to really annoy me... but.. it is what it is. Different place, different rules. Scenery is really close to home for me, and I don't mind being alone really. I'm actually more afraid I won't get left alone as much as here! I used to joke with him that i would hang a sign on our door that said "quarrantine, come back at 7pm" to keep people out while he was away. It will be a big adjustment, but yeah, I don't mind. I think it would be harder if i was moving to a place like Amman where I couldn't be as free to persue my interests.

[Henna Rose 0]

I am in denial that Monday has come ~ So, I will remain comfortably in the Sunday Thread

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Henna, you ready for Paper Organization 101 now?

[Henna Rose 0]

THANKS I'll be in touch ~ I know where to find you ! Now that you are "Real Life Wife" we sure appreciate you hanging around to help those of us that are still "Virtual" YOU ROCK !!!!

[brnidokiegurl 0]

[Sofiyya 1,687]

THANKS I'll be in touch ~ I know where to find you ! Now that you are "Real Life Wife" we sure appreciate you hanging around to help those of us that are still "Virtual" YOU ROCK !!!!

Aw, shucks, thx