How am I suppose to live off of this?

Question

I want to resign from my job and go to Cosmetology school full-time. The course will cost me about $15k out of pocket. The hours will be 9-5p M-F. So my children will have to stay in daycare (costs $1300/mo) since my husband works full-time as well. My currently salary is about $35k/yr and husbands is about $54k/yr and we have a house, 2 cars, other debt, etc. So how can we make this work with just his one income while the kids continue to go to school. We don't have any relatives or anyone we can trust to watch the kids at home down here. It's just us 4. How can we make this work with our household income almost cut in 1/2? Thanks for your honest opinions and suggestions.

Answer 1

The answer to your dilemma is simple.. but not an easy answer to accept...

the answer is... it is *NOT* feasible based on the data you provided, to make this work.

Basically, you and your husband HAVE to provide for your children. 54K/year is not enough to pay a mortgage (i'll guess 1000/mo? mine is 3K/mo!... just taking a national avg of 1K for a guess), 2 car payments of say 300 ea? So far we're at 1600/mo. Plus 1300/mo for day care. Now we're up to $2900/mo. You mention "other debt" but don't say how much per month... i'll assume 500/mo, so now we're at $3400/mo. Then you have the cost of gas and food... say 300/mo (although i'm sure it's higher if you have kids), so now we're at $3700/mo. I'm sure you have things such as utilities to pay for too... say 200/mo for cable, electric, gas, trash, etc... I'm sure you need to buy clothes too once in a while... gosh forbid you should also have to  buy miscellaneous household goods to do any household cleaning or repairs. So i'll just throw 100/mo on that assuming you do very little in your home. So with all that, you're at 4K/mo in just your bills. 4K x 12 = $48000. This doesn't count any taxes he pays out of his 54K/year either. I'm sure he has to pay taxes, although with your mortgage deduction and kids, you probably get most of it back.

Please remember, this is all based on assumptions which are *extremely* conservative. If your mortgage/property taxes is $2000/mo then you're in the red.

Personally, I suggest paying off your cars and other debt before you decide to go into this Cosmetology venture.

Answer 2

As others have said, look into financial aid, especially state grants.  There are programs out there  to help pay for school AND living expenses (at least in CA there are).  There is also the option of student loans, but I don't recommend them...you will start out your new career DEEP in debt.

You may want to look into evening classes.  Yes, it will take you longer to get your certificate, but you can still work in the day, and your husband can care for the kids at night while you are in school.  It's not ideal, but it's a better alternative than being homeless and horrendously in debt.

Good luck...it won't be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

Answer 3

Make a budget of all expenses on a monthly basis then compare that to what your husbands talk home pay would be. You would most likely have to get rid on one of the cars and have all the short term debt (Credit Cards/Lines of credit) paid off before you did this.  If your house is fully paid off you could consider a mortgage or topping up the current one.  Just remember to add the increase payments to your budget.

Once the budget is made see if there are any discretionary expenses that could be removed.  

One the above is done simply look at your husbands take home & addtional mortgage money,  compared to the budget it will tell you if it possible.

Answer 4

I'd wait a year, and put your entire paycheck into savings during that year.  You'll find out if you can live on just the one salary, plus will have the money saved for school and some extra put aside.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Do they offer financial aid/assitance?  Maybe even a loan scenario?  Best of luck to you on making your life better for your kids.

Answer 6

NO YOU CAN LIVE BETTER YOU HAVE TO CHOSE HOW YOU LIVE HERES A GREAT OPPORTUNITY DONT LET IT GO BY!!!!! MY SISTER HAS A GREAT COMPANY THAT SAVES YOU MONEY BY GETTING A BETTER PLAN IN TECHNOLOGY YOU ALREDY USE FOR LESS OR SHE CAN HELP YOU MAKE MONEY . DONALD TRUMP SPONSERS US AND HE IS THE RICHEST MAN IN U.S ITS REALLY WORTH IT AND IF YOUR INTERESTED I CAN EXPLAIN MORE TO YOU LET ME KNOW

Answer 7

Be very careful about resigning your job esp. just to go to beauty school. I made a similar mistake with putting off college just to go to beauty school. Cosmetology school in my opinion is to expensive for the c**p they teach you. Even if you qualify for Financial aid it'll only cover about $2500-$3200 if that. Just weigh your options a little more but if it's in your heart then go for it.

Answer 8

See if you can get financial aid for the school.  If not see if you can find a school that will offer financial aid.  Also check with Social Services and see about day care programs that they may offer.

Answer 9

I suggest reducing your debt as much as you can first.  Be sure that when you are paying toward any of it, you are paying toward the PRINCIPAL, not the interest.  Things like car loans are NOT SET UP THIS WAY automaticly, you NEED to negotiate this.  Call whoever holds all your loans/debt and simply ask how that can be done.  MUCH of the time (NOT ALL) you can simply write "pay toward principal" in the memo of your checks.  

Look hard at the KIND of debt you have, it's not good debt, and going to Cosmetology school won't be either.  So you are digging yourself FURTHER in... not super smart.  The AWESOME thing is you are asking the RIGHT question!  "HOW can I afford this?"  GREAT!  Positive mind set!  NEVER say "I can't afford this", ALWAYS say "HOW can I afford this".  If I were you, I'd buy an asset that would pay for the education.  For instance, if you put off Cosmetology for a bit (maybe 6 months- a year) and learned about real estate, you could easily buy a property to rent out that would generate enough cashflow to pay for itself AND Cosmetology school.  Rental homes are hard, because then you are a landlord, and that can stink- so... how about buying a storage facility?  Virtually no maintanance... monthy incomming cashflow.  Besides that, because it is a commercial property, the banks look at the asset to decide if they want to loan you money, NOT your personal credit.  YES!!!

If you REALLY want to do this, the HONEST answer is that you need to increase your financial IQ.  YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOAL, but not without a little education first.  Ask yourself if you are willing to read a book or two so that you can go to Cosmetology school without breaking the family.  If the answer is "yes", then you need to read the following:

Cashflow Quadrent by Robert Kiyosaki

and

Increase your Financial IQ by Robert Kiyosaki

It is SO RARE that a book is reccomended and someone ACTUALLY PICKS IT UP, so be honest with yourself, and ask if you really want the answers.  If you do, read or get these on cd to listen to in the car.  Both can be read in about 2 nights.  I say, spend the 8 hours total it will take you to get educated and then achieve your dream!!  That's what I did.

Hope I excited you about your future!!

here are links to buy them CHEAPER THAN REGULAR RETAIL

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0...

Answer 10

I would suggest waiting a year and setting money aside. Otherwise, i am assuming you have a home, look into refinancing your home and use you equity to hold your family while you attend school.

Answer 11

hello -

see about financial aid at the school (both your program and your childrens).  do you have to have two cars?  or if you go to school could you manage with one?  below are some other ideas, ways to see where your  money is going and perhaps where you could redirect to savings for your program or your kids schools, or paying off credit card debt.

Good luck, you are on the right track, thinking through all of this.  

List out how much money you have coming in each month. List out what your fixed costs are (rent/mortgage, car payment, car insurance, phone, cable, student loans, commute costs etc.) If you have credit card debt look at how much per card and which has the highest interest rates.

Then track every penny, every single one, you spend for a month. That will give you a very good idea of where your money is going. Track it by category -

retirement (401K, etc.)

home

car (payment, insurance, etc.)

gas

cable/electric/water

groceries

eating out

clothing

movies/plays (include the popcorn)

books

newspaper (if you already paid your news paper or magazine subscription, figure out the monthly cost and include that)

hanging out with friends (bar, pool etc)

non meal related drinks/snacks (Starbucks, diet coke, snacks)

other

other

(other could be alimony, whatever, things I did not list out but you have to pay)

and you will see quickly where your money is going. Then you can see if it is all the right places, or if you want to make a change and not buy so many clothes, see so many movies (or pass on the popcorn) etc.

Consider what is really important to you and what is not and spend accordingly.

Is there anyone you can commute to work with? Or maybe a different way to get there? or even working from home one day a week?

When you decide what you will change for the upcoming month, be sure to put that money savings somewhere and not just spend it on something else (or put it towards paying down credit card debt). And keep tracking what you spend for at least 6 months. that will help you get into new habits and patterns.

Retirement savings are very important, so if you have a 401K or the equivalent, dont stop contributing to that. I see so many questions here about stopping contributing or taking the money already saved out, dont do that. The value of the compound interest is huge.

Good luck!

Answer 12

Can you get finanical aide that will pay for more than just your school tuition such as associate costs like daycare, etc.?  If not, I don't see how you could not live on $54k/yr.  Lots of people live on less and yes, they have kids, daycare, debt, etc.  Perhaps you could wait and pay down more of your debt before going to school.

Answer 13

It's a complicated situation, but you can work this out. The drawback is that you guys will need to diminish your lifestyle.

Consider create new ways to save and cut whatever you can to make it work.

Anyway, put everything from today's expenses into a budget and try to cut the unnecessary items.

____________________________

http://www.dollartoolbox.com

Answer 14

if there's no financial aid available, try to take out a loan (perhaps equity loan from your house) to finance your education.  as for your daycare cost, see if there's a neighbor,  friend or relative who can help care for you kids for the duration you're in school.  can you sell one of the 2 cars and just carpool in the meantime?  that'll help alleviate your monthly financial obligation for a while.  if you need to buy a car again, you always have that option later on.  have you considered going to cosmetology school on the weekend?    or maybe work part-time during the weekend to earn some extra bucks?  where there's a will, there's a way.  good luck.