It's good to be back!

[Jill]

Hi, my name is Jill and I'm back at the forum after many years away. I used to be here all the time in, gosh, must have been the early 2000s. I'm happily married and have a little boy almost two years old who has some pretty significant health problems. After he was born I quit my job to stay home with him and it's a lot of work but getting easier and I can't imagine doing anything else. My husband and I are quite frugal/cheap and I always thought we were pretty smart with our money but only now that I've quit work have I realized how much money we really were wasting because we were both so exhausted from working that we didn't have time to shop wisely etc. It's pretty incredible how expensive it is to work! I thought I would stay home with my son till he was school-age then go back to work, but his health problems might make that impossible (plus now I see that it may cost more than it's worth!). I think we're doing ok though since I was able to quit my job during the down economy and we're still able to save some money every month (and my hubby doesn't make a ton of money). We're trying to buy a house since we had to sell ours due to some indescribably horrible neighbors and we're having a tough time with it so I'm going to head over to the housing board and see if I can get some new insights. I don't have much time to be online but I hope to get to know you all and make a contribution if I can!

[Selah]

Welcome back, Jill! It sounds like you have really integrated Simple Living into your lifestyle very naturally and permanently. And yes, the sheer cost of a J-O-B can be staggering. I'm so glad you're able to stay home and look after your son, and still have money left over to put away for the future. Good luck with the house hunt...I'm sorry you had to endure rotten neighbors, as they can make your life pretty miserable, as you well know.

I look forward to hearing from you, so welcome back once again.

[razz]

Welcome, Jill. You may want to examine the cost of owning vs renting for the area where you live. Many times, it is wiser to rent and save money to buy later when you can choose a better house that will not take a lot of repairs which drive up the cost of owning a lower-cost house that was initially more affordable to buy.

[danna]

Glad your back........

[Gardenarian]

Hi Jill! Welcome back!

"It's pretty incredible how expensive it is to work!"
This is so true!! I have just cut back my work hours to 2 days a week (experimentally) and it is amazing how much more I can get done at home. Being a homemaker is really a full-time job; it would be great if every home could have one - a person to shop for the best food, to cook, maintain the house, to mend the clothes and take care of them properly, to plant vegetables, keep track of when the car needs servicing, - and on and on. Oh yes - and especially to rear the children! What a funny world we live in. (And I like my job and would go nuts staying at home. A conundrum.)

Also, I agree with Razz - renting might be the way to go - no property taxes, house insurance, endless payments for new roof, plumbing, etc.

Looking forward to seeing you around the forum.

[Jill]

Thanks for the welcomes! I'm looking forward to getting to know folks here once again. Will probably rent for a while either way due to house-hunting misery!