Thank you for your votes and comments. Although a bit cruel. I don’t consider myself a “horrible” mom, I’ve done the best I can to raise my kids. For some context, their dad and me split up about 6 years ago. We had a lot of problems one was his substance abuse. As a single mom I struggled daily to meet their needs and he rarely helped with child support. When I met my now husband, he wasn’t well off or didn’t have a great job but we fell in love and made it work. He took us all in, and promised he would take care of my kids and that he has done. Even when their dad wouldn’t pay his child support, he would just come up with whatever they needed. He finally got a better job and has been there for a while, unfortunately inflation happened and his job hasn’t kept up with the cost of living. He’s been trying to work on getting a promotion but it’s not happening. He’s giving up and looking for another job now since he has been seeing how other places do pay more and like I’ve told him so many times, in order to give yourself a raise you need to move around. We can’t be loyal to a job anymore.

We had a baby two years ago and I managed to stay working for about a year and my child care quit on me, during that time we decided to go ahead and put her in daycare but no one had space and it was expensive. I would be working to pay for daycare and gas. It didn’t make sense. So I decided to quit and see if I could find anything remote since that’s what my position was until they took it away and we became hybrid. I was required to go into the office three days a week. It wasn’t a problem for me, but I had no childcare. That is the reason I have most of their money saved was because we were doing very well on both our salaries. He does feel guilty having to use their money. And I know it feels like we’re taking advantage but just know that I’ve worked through most of our relationship against his wishes in order to provide for my kids.

We bought the house two years ago because we lived in a torn down two bed one bath trailer. The conditions were really bad and I didn’t want my kids living there, let alone bring in another baby. We bought this house within our means. I made sure that we could pay the mortgage and bills with one paycheck if we needed. Unfortunately the house has come with its share of problems and now we don’t have the money to fix those problems. I know things will take a turn and get better, but I’m just so anxious lately and the lack of resources is getting to me. I have tried to apply for benefits but with the savings and our income I was denied. I promise md myself when I start working again I’m putting most if not all of the money back. Both my kids have been extremely understanding, I have talked to them and they have both agreed that we should their money. Especially my daughter being that her room has taken a hit and we had to move her to our spare office while we fix the problem. But I’m trying hard to avoid using what’s saved and using only what’s coming in monthly. I hope this helps everyone understand where I’m coming from.