delusional wrote:So I dunno if I should start a new topic or post this here...
I'm really uptight about finances, because I'll be leaving my job, and I have a wife and two kids. I think that we may be able to scrape by if I get a decent scholly, but that's a big if, and while I'm not a high maintenance guy, I can't cut back on behalf of my family (nor do I want to).
I got offered a part time job in the evenings and weekends. My regular hours are M-F 9-5:30, this would be from 5:30 to ten, and maybe all day Sunday. On one hand, I'm tempted to take it - it would allow me to add a nest egg of $5-7,000, which would basically almost double my savings. OTOH, it would mean I would literally be at work from 9 - 10 six days a week. So I think I can live without it. And then I think, would I rather miss a mortgage payment next november because of this? Then I think, Okay, I'll borrow a little more. Then i think, but if I'm EXPECTING to have to borrow more, what am I going to do about UNEXPECTED expenses?
Kna' mean?
If you don't want to hear a long rant, just ignore this. But if you wanna hear what I think about debt, working beforehand, etc.... read on.
First thing, I think you should take the job and save up.
Secondly, um.... the part that worries me here is the part where you say you don't want to cut back on behalf of your family.
I understand wanting to continue financing certain things for your kids (for instance, soccer and dance lessons will still happen for my kiddo- though less frequently than she would like or has become accustomed to, and health insurance for the kid as well, etc.)...
But other than things like that, you and your wife (and to a lesser extent, your kids) have two choices now: live like a student in grad school.... or like a student for 25 years after grad school.
Personally I am going to work an average of 110 hours a week in June, July, and August. Does this mean I won't see my kid? Yup. In addition to the above I plan to work 4-8 hours a week my 1L year, and more during my 2L and 3L years. Of course, my wife will continue to work 24 hours a week and take student loans for her education... though, thank goodness, her loans will be less than $10K a year. We are also getting rid of cable TV, switching our cell phone plan to the cheapest available, paying off the cars, paying off all our credit cards, turning the heat down to 66 during the winter, buying all of our food from the grocery store except for our once a week splurge, going down to only liability insurance, using my mother for daycare instead of paying, not purchasing any new furniture, making a strict $40 limit on holiday gifts and $20 limit on birthdays, not taking any vacations, trading in all our children's old clothing for store credit at the second hand children's clothing store so we can get her more from there when she grows, purchasing coats, glasses, dental fillings, contacts, suits, new flooring, half a cow, etc. all
now so we won't have to purchase any of them during the next three years. We are also planning to try to qualify for food stamps, medicaid, etc.
I figure the three years of being poor will suck... but not as much as not being able to help my kid go to college because I am still making obscene payments on my law school education in 15 years. Or even worse, living the above lifestyle in 10 years because my loan payments are too high. My dad graduated from grad school almost 15 years ago. He still sends almost a grand a month to his loans... and he gets to drive the car he purchased in 1988 to the post office to mail those.... before heading to the local dental school for his fillings and cleanings, and then off to the thrift store to purchase a new shirt to replace the used one that wore out only a month after he bought it.
/rant
