That’s awesome. Rich and poor are concepts beyond ones income. I think little kid you was pretty amazing to have picked up on that one so young. ;)

A person is only poor when their outgoings exceed their incomings

That’s wonderful!

Love this story! ❤❤

That is so true.

Similar to us, also in the PNW 🌲🌲🌲

Wow👏🏻

This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

Great. Congrats way to go…

wonderful post. i am working on the very thing you overcame. you give me hope.

God bless you!❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏

Way To Go! Doing the same here.

Bless you I too was a stay-at- home mom of 6 children that I had the priveledge of homeschooling them .

I cooked most of everything from scratch , I bought clothes second hand or clearance Shoes were purchased on clearance at Sears and a very good shoe store that had very good semi- annual sales. I didn't mind second -hand clothing , but not shoes. Our feet are the foundation for our body. We didn't have an overabundance of toys with 6 kuds, at least that is what people would say when they came to our home. They spent time outside all year round and also learned about housework and home maintenance. They are now in their 20 's and 30's and not one of them would say they didn't have enough toys

Bless you and your family, the Lord is amazing!

Thinking the same 😂 frugal life in US is normal life in Europe!

Je vis en France et travaille en banque, beaucoup ont DE NOMBREUX crédits et vivent au dessus de leurs moyens

Did they have sex in front of the children?

Amen.

I feel my job as a stay at home mom is to SAVE per hour. Saving 4 bucks an hour doesn't sound that hard. Worth the careful shopping and living creatively : ) What you really gain by staying home is a chance to better shape your kids yourself and grow with them. How much would you pay to have your kids raised to your standards ? No daycare will do what your going to be willing to do for them. Your not perfect, you don't need to be, you are however going to be motivated to be your best for your kids. How much would you pay to have time to make your family your greatest focus. Turns out it's free. As is your budget when it comes to entertainment. 😅 Best of luck!

Working from home is an amazing experience whether it’s for an employer Or you decide to be an entrepreneur.

Lindsay instead of working a 9-5 job consider offering service to friends and family like babysitting, cleaning, or anything your good at that way you can work around your significant others job :) you will not have to pay for childcare that way.

I was in the same boat after the birth of our second because childcare has become so costly. Doing the math, we realized that we would either break even or maybe have an extra $20/week if I went back to work. I think we are actually better off without me working now because I’m able to put the time into raising our kids, keeping our finances and monitoring our home to make sure everything is running smoothly so we aren’t impulse buying or getting takeout all the time.

Same! We just had our 3rd kid, and they’re all too young for public school still, so I can’t get a job right now. I wouldn’t make anything after paying childcare. I’d rather spend the time with my kids ☺️

I totally agree! Our home is 980 square feet, two kids, my husband and I, 2 cats and a dog and I am very content here. =)

My first home my late husband and I lived in was 3500 square feet. We spent most of our marriage slowly downsizing. The kids and I are now in a 900 square foot house and I cannot believe how comfortably we live. Society has been sold the lie that we need mansions to be happy, and it’s simply not true 💞

In my country if you have a 736 square feet apartment you are considered middle class. It is also common for us to live in such place with a combination of 2 adults + 3 kids + a dog/a cat... so I think people surrounding you may be a bit spoiled with luxuries and have wrong perception on housing size but it is fine :) it is great there are more prosperous countries than mine!

@@biza2571 In France, in you live in a big city and can afford a 70 meter square house/apartment, you're probably upper middle class. In the country side people Can afford bigger house, but it's really common to live in 100-200 meter square with 2 adults + 2/3 kids and animals.

Well said! I always say when I feel I would like to live in something better (which I could afford) I firstly know I don't like to be in debt to anyone, I have a roof over my head, a nice cozy bed to sleep in, heat and cooling, a car I Own, the house and property I Own. I hope more understand that less IS more especially when you can save what you would be paying a bank or others that interest. Pay Yourself first and save every month in personal and if married a joint account too. It is amazing what one can accomplish with proper planning. Figure out your life goal (within 10 years to start) and put it into play. Patience IS KEY but I am here to tell you and everyone reading ...so totally worth it! Unexpected things happen in life too...so I would rather give up on what I Want for what I Need and if there is left over then consider making improvements or hey, lease or buy that new car. I am glad to hear others think the same way as I do! Best to YOu

God bless your mother

God bless your mother and her greatful kids,

Having a low mortgage balance isn't necessarily a good thing. If you can get a mortgage for 4% and put the loan proceeds into a diversified index fund ETF like IVV, which over time averages 10% gain, you will net 6%, on average over the long-term. If that's a 200k mortgage, that's making 12k extra per year with hardly lifting a finger. And you can also then leverage that stock fund to take out a loan to invest in more index funds (turn that 12k per year into 20k per year, as long as you request and get a low rate ). I work in finance for wealthy people and most of them have 4 homes with 4 mortgages (plus other low-rate secured loans). If you don't have a long time horizon, then it may not be the best strategy because the market could fall 30% or so in the short term. But if you have 20 years or more or if the market has already had a large fall and is under-priced, it's a good strategy. You also may get to deduct mortgage interest on your taxes.

Why Thank you Chris n BINGO.

The financial wisdom of paying off your house depends on the interest rate you are paying, what the term is and what real inflation is running at. If inflation is 2-8%, but you have a long term fixed rate mortgage that is 1.5%, then you are paying the bank back in devalued currency, and gaining on the spread. If inflation is 2%, and the interest rates are 12%, you want to pay that sucker down asap. It is the seen and the unseen consequences of the environment that you need to look at.

@@jeanetteinthisorn4955 I think for the average person, the peace of mind of paying off the family home is probably going to outweigh figuring out which is better in the long run. You also have to factor in that once a house is paid for then all of that extra money can go to something else and that amount will be much larger. I am not a numbers person so if I was starting out, I would focus on paying off my home and maintain my small and steady investments. Once the home was paid for then I would probably kick in substantially larger amounts towards savings and retirement, but everyone has different priorities.

Absolutely. My home isn't large or in a smart area but I own it and that's why I'm able to work less than five days a week and still be comfortably within my means, with a reasonable amount of luxury. If I hadn't focused on paying off my house I wouldn't have the incredible luxury of part time work. I could not afford to rent my little house

I cannot wait to feel this one day.

So true. I became debt free two years ago... It’s definitely a game changer!

That is funny that your nephew told you that you were un American. My sister told me I am un American because I have never been to Starbucks and she goes every day. It's all about priorities and I don't even like coffee or fancy drinks.

@@kellywilliams7214 Haha that gave me a chuckle, and I'm "un-American" (but not anti!), I'm Australian😂🇦🇺

Please God help Claudia be a stay at home mother, your will is for a mother to raise her kids . Make a way for this family to be able to do your will . Amen

@@Mamacatholica thank you so much!☺️🙏🥰

I prayed for you. Please pray for me as well. I have been a stay at home mom for less than 2 years and I’m feeling the pressure to go back to work.

@@jessielynn Lord I ask that you would make a way, as our Miracle Worker, to allow Jessie to stay home continuously with her kids; that you would supernaturally provide everything they need and supply in abundance so that she can stay home and continue to raise her kids for your kingdom and glory, building memories and training them up in the way they should go. Protect her and her family and bring peace and goodness to their home and thank you in advance for Your answered prayer that and the way You respond according to Your Will. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 🙏🤍

@@claudiawangfitness I’m just seeing this. Thank you so much for your prayer! My husband received a job offer that will give him a comfortable increase in his income. God is already answering your prayer. Thank you! I pray God is working behind the scenes in your life to afford you the opportunity to be a SAHM.

that's amazing! & so true.

Depends on the one income. My husband’s paycheck only covers rent, health insurance and our electric bill. That’s it - there’s no money left for things like groceries, diapers, car insurance etc. I could be the most frugal woman on the planet, but before we could live on one income, he would have to change jobs and make more money or pick up a second job. There are plenty of families in a similar situation.

Hearing that is always crazy to me. I couldn't work if I wanted too. There's no ways I could make enough above child care for it to be worth it.

@@allthechapters I hear you. This kind of lifestyle is literally impossible where I live in Australia unless you're in the red dirt country, and our farmers are literally taking their lives because of an actual, biblical proportion mouse plague and drought decimating crops. We want more than our one beautiful child, but she has multiple health needs and her special food and medication is expensive. Almost no one can afford to own their own homes in this economy, people on one or two wages are living in tents because a normal 9 to 5 job might give you $600 a week, rent can be over $500, then there's food and bills. I cook from scratch, our car is just a reliable rust bucket, we scrimp and save for everything and even use cloth nappies and sanitary products. The society here is very anti-tradiitonal family, anti more than 2 kids, and pro dual wages. It's so different to what I see in other countries.

I think it depends where you live, in Australia the average house price is $800,000 and everything is very expensive. You will be below the poverty line and without either food, electricity or housing on one wage for a family

@@willow4191 if we ever move jobs, I think that’s the situation we will be in - I’ll have to stay home. I work for a school that has a daycare facility on a separate property, and part of my benefits package is being able to send my kids there tuition free. If we didn’t have that, I don’t know what we would do. Childcare is expensive!

we are 8 in the same size home and get asked the same thing. Unless you wanna buy me a new house, we are staying put! It's almost paid off! lol

@@Conspiracymama88 yes that’s exactly what I say too

I get this too! We are expecting #6 and the first thing people ask is “are you getting a bigger house!?” No. We fit just fine here and love not having a huge mortgage payment.

@@samanthajoanna72 yes our mortgage is less than most people’s rent in our area

I’m about to have my fourth child and currently live in a 1000 sq feet open floor house. At one point i thought it was too small but i learned that i was always accumulating so much clutter. When i threw so much away it was like a breath of fresh air. A house is not small …it’s the mindset i learned. Always appreciate what you have will be happy and feel blessed

You are such an inspiration! why would your friends hate you?! They are so silly.

People ask but do not want to make the sacrifice. Congratulations

It’s inspiring to see all the things you can do when you have no debt

Yep this is us. We bought our first home when we were 23 (25 now) have one kid, no debt, I’m a SAHM and husband is software engineer. Living in a low cost of living area really helps.

@@anointedtheoryofgospel6012 I agree with you

The difference is that real wages haven’t risen since 1970…

@@qfason5836 I had my first job in 1972, I made $1.85 and hour, minimum wage. I understand the wages/ cost of living. But the requirements for a family was a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 car garage with an average of 1100 sq ft. No upgrades. Today people require at least 3/4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, granite countertops, smart homes and at least 2000 sq ft. Most with pools. There is a big difference in want and the cost to provide it. That was my point.

@@gegeschannel8836 how much did ur housing cost in 1972?

Depends on where you live. The average house price in New Zealand is $900k and incomes are low. Massive housing crisis there. And if you don't own a home, rent is so high, it's very very difficult to get ahead. Yes frugality has a part to play but you also have to give credit to privilege where it's due. You'll find those scraping the bottom of the barrell are most certainly not holding out for a luxury house with 2 garages and 3/4 bedrooms. We would have been happy to get anything and made offers on many many properties that were at the lowest end of the market (some over 100 years old, mouldy, holes in the floor etc) simply to escape the rental market. In the end we gave up as we were priced out with no signs of the market slowing down. It's so disheartening and change is not as easy as it seems.

❤

Amen! Good to hear, thank to for sharing

My husband and I will be married 40 years this August and we too built our own home (with the help of family and friends) three months before our wedding. It was in 1980 when Lowe's sold kit houses and was the smallest one at 36'X24'. It was hard work for two 19 year olds, but we did it and paid it off within 5 years. Yes sometimes there are challenging periods but just keep your financial goals in focus!

💯

Military family here too! We have 4 children, and I’m so blessed to be at home with them! Def agree on the bunk beds ❤️

Some kids have no idea what sharing a room is like! I was raised a one and only and some of my favorite memories were going to my girlfriends’ homes for a sleep over. Two friends came from really big families. One had three girls in one bedroom, sleeping in tri-bunk beds. Her Dad was an architect so they had fantastic study cubes attached all up on the super high Victorian walls. It was amazing! The other friend came from a really girl populated family and all of the girls, except for her oldest sister, slept in the same room. They had several beds and one was a trundle bed. That was equally as cool! You had to walk over all of the beds to get to the door! Both of these rooms were filled with sisters, fun, love, and friendship. After all of the fun we shared, I went back home to my Ethan Allan curated bedroom with matching furniture and a double canopy bed (for one kid!). I loved and appreciated all that I had too. What really gets me chuckling is that my DIL was telling me something our son said to her, prior to their wedding, and her comment to me was that he said that I grew up poor. I didn’t, but compared to my son, maybe I did? His own daughter will have millions one day, but hopefully she won’t be poor either. One day he will realize that everything is all relative to something else. What really matters is our own perception of our circumstances. This is the key to happiness. Bills or no bills, do we have God in our hearts, minds, and especially in our motives? Do we truly trust God with the unforeseen in our lives? Life is always both bigger and smaller than we perceive it to be. Thank you ladies!! You are shaping future generations into great young adults. ♥️

Same here. We raised 8 children on one (military) income. I stayed home, homeschooled, cooked from scratch, we hardly ever ate out, had a garden and chickens (plus put in edible landscaping) etc. We spent less per month on groceries than many of my friends with fewer kids. I had my 9th and last post military and he is the only one still at home now.

Military is easy to do. A lot of that money is tax free. Also there is a lot of support on base. Also deployments pay a ton of money.

Amen! Same here 🙏🏼

Yeah and 9-5 can’t give you the freedom you need . An extra income stream (passive income)is a great option , keep it going 👍

@@andreamilan5471 yes I make 2k weekly as extra income from my Investing trying so much to build more side hustles and extra income

@@eiraantoinette6793 that's great, how did youu do that, you're making quite a fortune

@@eiraantoinette6793 Hey speaking of investing. I've heard so many people talk about it but I don't really know how to start and make a good investment. Share more info please

@@marcosalvatore673 there's a lot of investing options real estate cr ypto ETFS. But my best advice get a professional lead you into profitable one

Amazing!

So you essentially got lucky to buy your home in the bottom of the market and sell it at the top. A lot of people found in the past couple years that they are finally ready to buy and now they are being priced out of the market. Just realize that you were lucky and not everyone is that fortunate. Even people who have been very frugal and saved for years.

Congratulations on your new baby!

Where do they pay only $12 an hour? Our teenagers are looking for their first jobs and the lowest one so far was $12.50 and hour and that’s for a 16 year old. Most jobs are at least $13 to $14. That just seems crazy low even to me and I’m a teacher! (So I know low salaries! ) 😁

@@lorimanha2628 My son has a Bachelor's degree and his current job (working in the health care field) started out making $10 and now only makes $12 in West Virginia.

My parents bought it their house in 1986 for 50,000 and it is now worth $769,000

What area did you purchase land in!?!

Girl you’re hard working, im glad you knew early that’s what you wanted. I’m trying to stay at home with my little one noe

I'm a SAHM and have definitely battle with those feelings of feeling like you're not contributing enough and also worrying what other may think of you. As homemakers we have a billion and 1 daily responsiblities, yet we still feel guilty. I also homeschool my children and this is way we've agreed to run our home just trying to make it work and make memories!!

@@annepierre9762 you can do it. Focus on yourself and don't try to keep up with the Jones'. For me It takes sacrifice, thrifting, shopping sales, and frugality but its doable. Good luck!

I was a stay at home mother for most of the years of raising my children all six of them. It definitely can be done and you are amazing! God bless you

Don't listen to anyone accusing you of being lazy. Being a stay at home is hard work and you found ways to save money so you could be home and that is not easy. Those people were just jealous that you got to stay home.

BINGO. N PEACE

Where in Europe are you?

@@jenross37 Czech Republic 🙂

We visited Croatia and our cousins have your same living situation. 2 kids and a one bedroom apartment. Then the whole family has a home in the countryside. It seemed common for more people to live in smaller spaces. And for people to stay home or with a relative well into adulthood.

@C. Lord That is one option. We personally do that mainly because our children are very young (7 months and 27 months), I nurse the baby at night and our oldest sometimes wakes up because of bad dreams etc. The other option (when your child/children is/are a little older) is to arrange some kind of sleeping space for parents in a living room (a sofa bed or a Murphy bed can work really well). It can be a little crowded sometimes and you definitely need to take your kids outside often but it is doable.

20?? 20!?!? Your poor great grandma! 20? Wow

@@user-zp6ky3vt7t Why is 20 bad? Thats a lot of love surrounding her through life.

@@emelinee2066exactly! Such a blessing!

Yes, it is possible with planning and sacrifice.