We are broke

[Anonymous]

Uber, Left, Uber eats, insta cart...nothing glamorous, but you can set your hours which is what you need and the tips are good.

It's something Op. You gotta start somewhere and presumably you need to build up your resume since you haven't been employed in years

[Anonymous]

Who spends $50k on a ring? If you’d spent $1k on a nice ring and invested $49 k, you wouldn’t be in this situation.

Life lesson there.

[Anonymous]

50K on a ring, you both were DINKS for 13 yrs (until your now 7 yr old was born), and you're broke?

You need to take a hard look at your spending decisions and missed opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Substitute teacher or school bus driver are good options

[Anonymous]

Depending on the cut and quality of your diamond, I would not rule out diamond resale if you are desperate. If you have any previous appraisal, AGS or GIA certification documentation, etc., take it to a reputable place like Diamond Exchange, Washington Diamond, I think maybe even Quest jewelers and see what you can get for it. If you are serious about it, check out the Pricescope forums for more advice.

[Anonymous]

OP, I’m sorry for your situation and unlucky breaks this year. You sound overwhelmed and maybe a little bit depressed. Your situation sounds really, really hard.

Don’t sell your ring. It’s a temporary fix to a larger problem. When the ring money dries up, you will be back in this same situation. Also, do not get an au pair with or without the ring money. Aside from the cost, it’s a significant emotional energy time suck that it doesn’t sound like you have the bandwidth for (I say this from experience).

Your best option for work is teaching and you sound very desirable. I would try first to get a job at kids preschool for hours sake. If that isn’t a good fit, try to move them into a full day program so you can work. The bonus with teaching is that child care outside of school hours should be minimal and you won’t need to scramble for care on breaks/closures.

Also, where is your husband in this? If he’s asking you to work, he needs to step it up. He needs to reign in his own spending and contribute to child care if you go back to work. Not 50/50 but you can’t do all the child related stuff and work.

Good luck and hugs to you. You sound smart and capable and you will land on your feet.

[Anonymous]

I'd recommend checking out The Budget Mom -- https://www.thebudgetmom.com/

Personally I prefer her approach over Dave Ramsey.

There's also a supportive Facebook group

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the feedback. The ring was $50k new over 20 years ago. No idea what it’s worth now. I was hoping for $20k but maybe that’s optimistic. We live in a small old house in a desirable close-in suburb. I do the cleaning and the yard work myself. We drive old cars and don’t take vacations. 4 kids. Oldest is 7. I think most assume we’re the smart, frugal types. When, in actuality, we’re just barely making ends meet these days. It wasn’t always this way. We had an incredibly difficult year. Our current after-school activities are cheap, nothing fancy. Christmas is going to be very different.

I will not pull my kid out of preschool. Routine and socialization are extremely important. I’ll get back to work asap. Spent all morning working on my resume and applications. Thanks for the encouragement.

I guess you are not really broke or willing to make drastic changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - my kids are in different schools bc I have preschool and elementary aged kids. 2 more years until they’re all in elementary. Pre kids I was a public school teacher in a different city. I have a masters degree. I have no interest in returning to teaching. I will do anything work wise but I’m reluctant to take a job with strict hours. My husband has zero leave left after our year from h3ll. Happy to do some household repairs myself (like painting) but can’t replace the two broken windows on my own.

Substitute teaching at one of your kids' schools would be a good option. I know you don't want to return to teaching, but it's a bridge that allows you to earn some money until your kids are all in the same school and you can use aftercare for all of them.

I signed up to sub this fall. But can’t do full days bc of preschool pick up.

Do you know any SAHMs at the same preschool? You could offer to pay one to pick up your kid/s and keep them a few hours until you get home on your subbing days.

[Anonymous]

Check out Jewels by Grace . . . it's a good place to consign an expensive ring. If your ring is GIA or AGS certified it shouldn't be hard to sell it. The only factor impacting you may be the rise of lab diamonds, so someone is thinking, oh, I can spend a fraction of this for almost the same thing. If being without a ring would make you sad, there are a lot of options ranging from amazingly cheap (check out Kalala Official on Alibaba for moissanite rings . . . my 2 ct "travel ring" from them looks amazingly like my diamond) to moderate (check out lab diamonds on James Allen).

I do think you should try thinking outside the box . . . how much would it cost to switch your preschooler to daycare instead of preschool? Does your preschool offer extended day? Can you get a babysitter to do preschool pick up and put the elementary kid/s in aftercare?

[Anonymous]

Look into selling plasma

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your situation and circumstance is the norm.

Agree. This is normal! People in DMV forget how people struggle with childcare, finances, transportation, lack of jobs & opportunities in their area, and so on. Instead of criticizing, encouragement and sympathy work better

[Anonymous]

Dang. 50k for a ring! Wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the whole thread but trying to understand how or who or why you could have a 20k engagement ring when you apparently aren’t wealthy. Mine was less than a tenth of that!!

I guess this explains why so many Americans are in deep financial trouble.

But yes, sell the ring. Even if you can’t recover the full cost. You can’t afford that ring.

50k ring and this woman doesn’t work. She’s a financial mess of her own doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get an adjunct job for evenings at a local college. It’s not a great salary, but it’s very flexible and you can do it after your partner returns from work or while the kids are in preschool. Do that until they are all in school and then move to full time work.

That pays next to nothing, and OP probably isn’t qualified anyway.

Not a great salary, but the adjuncts i know make anywhere from $35-50/ hour with part time evening hours. Establishing a tutoring business takes time. Plus people want hours from 3-6 for tutoring snd she’ll have to hire a babysitter. She either needs to go back to work full time though, prob as a teacher.

Even if she can get $35 (since she doesn’t appear to have any adjunct teaching experience), if she gets two course sections that’s likely 6 hours a week, so about $210 a week pre-tax.

Do you know how much grading and prep there is? She would make more at Starbucks hourly.

1. Montgomery College adjuncts are union. A three credit course pays about $4000 over the course of the semester. I think a semester is 14 weeks. Two courses would be $8K for the spring. That's certainly enough for the window repair.

2. There are often noncredit classes at most community colleges that do not have grading and have very little prep.

3. You might make more working at Starbucks, but if she has to pay childcare when the manager changes her shift, what does she do then? How does she manage drop-off and pick-up? How many managers do you know will schedule a Starbucks employee for the 10am - 12 pm slot only while their kid is at preschool? Also most community colleges now have online classes you can teach from home.