Recession Mom

I am a stay at home mom of three. Well, three if you count my husband. But, since he does "bring home the bacon" I guess I won't count him (this time). So, I am a stay at home mom of two. I love thinking back to the forties when moms stayed home baking cookies, scrubbing the floors, and keeping up an immaculate kitchen all the while having perfect hair and nails. I also loved the style of the forties; dresses. Woman always wore a dress. They wore one literally and figuratively. Ah, how I would have loved to have raised my family in that simpler picturesque time. However, this is not 1945 it's now the twenty first century and it's 2010. What does that mean? Well, for starters it's hard finding time to scramble eggs let alone bake cookies, my hair gets washed less than the dishes piled in my sink, and I may wear a literal dress more than the average woman of the day, but definitely not figuratively. I am the woman and the man of my household. What does that mean? Simply, I am the head of the house, I make all household decisions, and I stay at home with my children. My husband brings home a paycheck and then falls into the list I have set. On top of being a modern twenty first century stay at home mom I'm dealing with issues that moms of all shapes, sizes, color, and economic backgrounds are struggling with. See, the problem is that my husband brings in a decent amount of money (not to brag, but he brings home a larger paycheck than most people his age), but it's not enough to cover our costs of living. I can no longer finagle my bills. The electric company has me on a payment arrangement and if I don't meet their due date my family doesn't have electricity. If my car isn't paid on time I owe late fees which I can't afford and they send me repo notices. Why don't I go back to work? Well, have you checked out the cost of child care lately? On top of only bringing in about twenty bucks after childcare, work clothes, food, and gas are deducted from a theoretical paycheck my husband and I decided on never sending our children to a daycare before we got married. Plus, even if my mother was miraculously able to retire from her career tomorrow and was able to watch the children while I worked it would be just about impossible to find a job. There are only two job listings in the local paper at the moment... The thing is I'm stuck, the thing is, I'm a recession mom.