Keeping the wife at home

I usually dont post stuff like this, but it has been on my head all day and last week...

as you know my lovely wife an I just had a kid a month and a half ago, well, its been great, but the downside is she had to get back to her job today.....it really sucks, we don't like to take the baby to the babysitter since he is too young, the problem i really feel is that i don't want my wife to work for at least a year, nor she wants too, but since construction is very slow its been kind of hard financially for me....

our figures go like this:

around $1000 for rent, food, utilities, baby stuff, phone, etc

tacoma around $500, her car around $270, plus lets say another $150-250 in gas for both of us, not counting insurance and other car taxes

my truck has insurance paid for the life of the credit which will be over in december 2011, my taxes are like 80% lower on the truck than her car since its a work vehicle

her car is not a very good car, she bought new, but it doesnt have a lot of safety features like airbags or ABS brakes or even the ISOFIX system for the baby seat, she also needs to pay her insurance in cash once a year and the taxes for her car are higher...

so, ive been thinking on selling both truck and car, and getting a good family car for her to roll, that we could both use on weekends, and me get an older yota just to work....

the downside is we both would loose a lot of cash.... i bought the truck for 312k (pesos) and i can sell it for as much as 270k, i still owe around 145k, the insurance would give back the two years of unused insurance

i dont know...

 

damn, sorry for the long read guys...

 

oh, and remember, the objective is to get the wife out of work....

 

bump!

 

Ok so you need her to work so you can both support the family. Why not give up both vehicles, buy something cheaper (scale back), and save?

Not to be a jerk but my opinion is that your #1 priority should be your children, not your investments (or losses).

 

food coupons, by store brands, shop for better insurance, sell a car, look for a different house

 

The architecture field is down right know.... but will pick back up someday..... do the best for you kid and wife bro!

 

Try to manage with one car bud and the only other place to cut would be rent. Look for a cheaper place or you need to do a part time job to increase your family income.

 

If it won't kill ya it would be a good idea to sell the car and truck and get her a good car and u an older taco but like u said u would lose moneu if u did that so its ur call man, good luck

 

Who makes more money? If she does, then you stay home with the baby. As long as one of you is home....

 

tough decision man. gotta do whats best for the family. could you keep her car as your work car and trade the taco in for a minivan or something for her? maybe refinance if you can, not sure how it is in mexico. try to cut back as much as possible too. economy sucks thats for sure. good luck though!

 

if your work schedule is slow then have your wife get a part time job or something to generate income. just take turns with who stays home with the baby.
maybe try and get some odd jobs, mowing yards, detailing cars, anything to generate some extra income. I started mowing a yard down the street just recently to help with my gas money....(ammo moneyz )

 

I don't know about Mexico, but here in the US, the cost of childcare is ri-god-damned-diculous. I think you should do whatever is best for your family even if it means a sacrifice. FWIW, Ed, I always look to the vehicles when a sacrifice needs to be made.

 

Well said!

 

Thanks you all for the replies

Ok, I was discussing this with the wife, the place she works for had some problems with the owners, so all the people working there went to work for the other "partner" of the company, she was head of human resources, so she now has very little people to deal with, plus they are going trought financial problems, shes gonna ask her boss to cut down her work hours, hopefully he will...

Im just putting my hopes on god that this will get better, ive had a couple of projects the past weeks but sometimes i owe the money by the time the client pays me LOL

Im gonna give it a good thought... it sucks to get aboard on the family train without financial stability

 

Thanks buddies, I once again feel the TW love LOL.....

Just to see my kid and wife I know its worth any sacrifice, im just trying to figure this out, my dad told me he dont want me to get rid of my truck, that he would help, but I say that when you go and get married you also try to get your parents a break....

 

We refinanced the house when our first son was born so Sue could stay home with our son. When she finally went back to work a year later it was only part time. If you can work it out for your wife to stay home, you will not regret it. To save money, I drove my 1984 Volvo wagon till December of last year, 265,000 miles. We never took big vacations, just small week long trips to Yosemite and a weekend here and there at the beach or something along those lines. Very low key, but always something we could do as a family.