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Situations change. When I had my first child, I lived in a 400k house and had a husband that made very good money. Should I have predicted that we would divorce and not had my daughter? I do not own a crystal ball and life is made up of chances. Some pay off and sometimes you have to struggle for a bit to get back up. I am thankful I am able to collect assistance and not pay high taxes while I m getting back up on my feet. Until you have kids, it is really incomprehensible how expensive they really are to support.
1. My heart goes out to you.
2. Yea, I had NO CLUE what kids cost until I had them. I remember in high school some anti-pregnancy poster said something like 'The average kid costs $280 a month to raise, how much is your allowance'? I'd like to know where the hell I can raise a kid for that price!!
I feel the same way, esp. about Whole Paycheck. I went there a couple weeks ago with a gift card and was APPALLED at the prices. And by the fact that it was jam packed. All I could think was 'where are all these people getting all this money???"
Whole Foods often has good sales. I doubt most people are following them, but I certainly do. For instance, since battling cancer, I try to only eat organic, hormone free meats and dairy. Cancer treatment and the virtue of being young and in my first job makes me pretty poor, so I only eat meat a few times a week and rarely have dairy. However, when Whole Foods runs a sale on their meat, you can get a really good deal. A few weeks ago, I bought a few whole organic chickens to freeze for cheaper than I would pay for run-of-the-mill chicken at the grocery store. And then I use ALL of it - breasts for salad, dark meat for chicken pot pie, bones for stock, drippings and rendered skin for schmaltz.
I also can make out well on "specialty" grains like quinoa and black rice - or even just lentils and other beans - in the bulk bins. You can buy a little box of quinoa at the regular grocery store for $5 while you can get more than a pound of it for the same price in the bulk bins!
I also like to peruse their prepared foods to see how I can make them at home for cheaper. For instance, one of my favorite cheap meals is a quinoa, black bean, and corn "shake up" that sells at Whole Foods for $6 but I can make at home for under $1 a serving and bring to work for lunch. And one of my staple items in the summer is a low-fat guacamole that I once found at whole foods that replaces part of the (much more expensive) avocado with about 10 cents worth of cooked and mashed dry split peas.
Thank goodness my roommates really only use the freezer to store ice cream, or else I wouldn't have room! Never count out specialty stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's because while they might not make sense for a full grocery trip, they often work out to get you higher quality food for much cheaper -especially if you are like me and also have an Aldi's and Costco nearby to do the bulk of your shopping.
Shared housing, no car, cheap food, etc. We graduate students can get by without going into debt.
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My heart goes out to you.
