How much household income is enough?

[Shoe]

The 1st trimester’s really grim but if she can hang in there for a bit, things will usually get better. If your wife’s intention, when she feels better, is still not to work, then I have to agree with Funz, quit on a good note and not burn bridges!


I am a firm believer of living simply and within your means.
I was jobless when I got preggy with my 1st and we were both starting out in our working lives.
Babies don’t really need that much stuff. I think I only used 30% of what I bought for my first kid… Try and get hand-me-downs and secondhand stuff…Breast feed (saves a tonne on formula). We ate at home and cooked all our meals. Even made hubby take a lunchbox to work… I gave tuition after baby turned 3 months to supplement income and returned to full time work after 1 year… Doable…

[limlim]

BeContented:

Gemini11:

[quote=\"BeContented\"]

OK, seriously, $800 may be sufficient if the family is really really frugal....but honestly, a difficult life :sad:

So roughly how much do you ladies think is enough for a joint account for monthly expenses?

Aiyoh, these kind of question really difficult to answer....like many said, all depends on lifestyle.

And by monthly expenses .... what are you including? What one include as basic necessity may be a luxury item to another.......
To me, it's always based on what I am able to afford. IMO, $5k is definitely enough but $800 is [/quote]restaurant, foodcourt or hawker center..?

[cnimed]

Alamak! Of course none of the above. $800 better cook and eat at home or pack from home! Do you know the selling price of cooked food is generally 3 times the cost of the raw ingredients? And bring your own water from home, no canned drinks or bottled water.

[cherrygal]

Funz:

:skeptical: And we wonder why pregnant women are being discriminated against. :razz:


If really don't want to work anymore, do everyone, boss, fellow workers and yourself a favour. Quit on a good note.

Not just pregnant women... all women of child bearing age are discriminated against. :sad:

I know of male and female interviewers who ask female applicants if they are even thinking of having kids... we won't want to work for such pple, do we?

And my ex-bosses in an MNC even revealed that they preferred to select single females (those left on the shelves) coz they can work late with no commitments and no need maternity leave. They were that frank.

Yes, while we may have had nice understanding bosses and want to encourage women to quit on a good note, let's not forget the many unwell pregnant women (like this mom with extreme nausea) who are stressed to the limits by unsympathetic bosses. These bosses just want to squeeze them dry first as the ladies will be away for 16 weeks. Then mark my words, when she returns to work, this same boss will cut her bonus as she was \"away\" for 16 weeks. It happened many times, even at MNCs.

I am sorry but this is the sad truth. I share this to show the other side of the coin. End of discussion before Mods chase us.

Sorry OFF TOPIC.

[Shoe]

Hi Cherrygal, off-topic again but taking advantage of the ‘pregnant’ condition gives preggy women and indeed, all women of childbearing age a bad name. Giving rise to even more discrimination. Vicious circle really…

[cherrygal]

Yes totally agree it is a vicious cycle. It's a tit for tat game. And who's to stop the employers from being \"smelly feet\" (say in hokkien)...


Nasty bosses are also taking advantage of the fact that preggies cannot find work elsewhere so must \"tong\" no matter what... when they cut your bonus, what can you say?

[Funz]

Just because someone is ‘smelly feet’ doesn’t mean you have to be one as well.


Ok back to the poster with the problem of to let his wife quit.

One advise, talk to your wife’s doc about how she is feeling. Never know she could be suffering from some level of pre-natal depression.

[Shoe]

nobodybutchiew,

I think the first trimester may be a bad time to make such a big decision as quitting. It is quite a lot of pay to forfeit. In addition, when your wife feels better, she may want to continue working.

I really love my work and would be very sad if I had to quit, even though during the 1st trimester of my 2nd pregnancy, I was dragging myself to work and wondering how I could ever make it through the day. I had very bad MS and fatigue and even needed hospitalization in the first tri ‘cos I couldn’t keep anything down. I tried a lot of things to quell the nausea. Chewing gum, sour plums, small snacks. I practically had my head over the toilet bowl in between meetings. I tried to keep my days short and at times when my physical presence was not required, I asked my superiors to allow me to finish my work at home. Thankfully, they were very supportive.

Anyway, when I hit around 20 weeks, I stopped having any nausea, got my energy back and really appreciated that I had my job to keep me busy and also, to not have to worry about the financial situation (unlike in my first pregnancy). I worked till 1 week before I delivered.

I was determined not to give pregnant women a bad name because I faced pregnancy discrimination in my first pregnancy. I was hired then fired within a week, when they found out I was pregnant. I did not know I was preggy when I got the job. It was really awful but then, if pregnant women don’t pull their weight when they can, employers wouldn’t touch us with a ten-foot pole.

Just my two cents’ worth.

[cherrygal]

well, my frens were sure of not returning to work ever so they left right after the maternity leave. Of coz there are consequences to doing that and the employee is always at the losing end if you leave indiscriminately…


Just be patient and get her checked out. If she can, hold out till the birth of the kid before deciding to stay or not. Ultimately, your wife’s sanity is more important than anything else (boss’ impression, bad name, whether your income is enuff etc). The boss is not gonna give you any compensation if your wife ends up with depression.

Take care!

[Oppsgal]

Shoe:

The 1st trimester's really grim but if she can hang in there for a bit, things will usually get better. If your wife's intention, when she feels better, is still not to work, then I have to agree with Funz, quit on a good note and not burn bridges!


I am a firm believer of living simply and within your means.
I was jobless when I got preggy with my 1st and we were both starting out in our working lives.
Babies don't really need that much stuff. I think I only used 30% of what I bought for my first kid... Try and get hand-me-downs and secondhand stuff..Breast feed (saves a tonne on formula). We ate at home and cooked all our meals. Even made hubby take a lunchbox to work... I gave tuition after baby turned 3 months to supplement income and returned to full time work after 1 year... Doable..

\"I gave tuition after baby turned 3 months to supplement income\"...any helping hands at home? If got then doable.