I didn't know you could get your RN with only an Associate's.

Sure can. A lot of the RN's around here only have an Associates. Funny thing is that a RN with an Associates degree makes the same money as one with a BS in most, if not all cases. The BS is basically paving the way to something bigger like a nurse anesthetist, or practitioner. To go 4 years only to become an RN from a salary standpoint is useless. The material covered is essentially the same just with more emphasis and more time to learn it from what I understand. I could be wrong.

I hear ya brother! I hear ya!

Mine got her BS in Animal Science after following the advice of her teachers/advisors of all the job opportunities in that particular field. That is the whole reason she went down that road! I just have a HS education but have a pretty good job considering that. Even still, this will be the first year I clear $40k a year on my own...which ain't a whole heck of a lot. My wife on the other hand, after she graduated...guess what! All those jobs her degree was suppose to open the door to, suddenly disappeared. She now works at a local feed store barely making min wage. And I will tell you this: I paid for our house cash, and we've never had a house payment. I bought a used truck and we paid it off quick. And if it had just been me working on my own, we would have NEVER made it. We would be so far in the hole we would never get out. And that's just from the things that have came up over the yrs!

we didn't do the daycare thing until the kids were in the 3-7 years time frame and then, they were kept by trusted small in-home daycare run by folks we know from church. My mother-in-law kept ours while they were in diapers.

My wife hasn't worked a public job in many, many years. We chose do have it that way. I wanted my child to be raised by her mother and I. Our daughter hasn't spent one minute in daycare. I also didn't want my wife to have to deal with all the pressure of the work place. It has been tough financially through the years, but we have made it with God's help. I wouldn't trade it for any other lifestyle. I'm just saying, there could be a lot of good come out of her not working on the job so much at this point in your life. Life is not all about money and toys. I hope you two can work it out. Please take this in the spirit it is intended. I am not being judgemental nor a smart alec. I just hope you can make the most important things, the most important things.

I hate to tell ya this but an rn will start on night shift unless she works in a doctors office and that will be LPN pay.

Referring to the 10 hr/wk and daycare thing...She is PRN which basically means she works as needed. Therefore, one week she'll work 10 hrs, the next 20 hrs, the next 40 hrs, and the next 5 hrs. Lately it's been 10-15 hours/wk or less (last several months). If we could find a daycare that has a daily rate and didn't charge for a full week and worked around our schedule that would be great, but there aren't any of those convenient to us.

Referring to the 10 hr/wk and daycare thing...She is PRN which basically means she works as needed. Therefore, one week she'll work 10 hrs, the next 20 hrs, the next 40 hrs, and the next 5 hrs. Lately it's been 10-15 hours/wk or less (last several months). If we could find a daycare that has a daily rate and didn't charge for a full week and worked around our schedule that would be great, but there aren't any of those convenient to us.

That makes more sense then.

I did not like it but if we wanted our child to have a spot at the daycare we had to pay for the full week.

Is there a chance you wife could find another part time job like in a Doctor office to work on the day she is not working in her current job? It might not pay great but it might get her into a job down the road that will work better for both of you.

Well baxter here goes,and I dont mean to offend you, but this is the way I see it, and I have seen it many times before. There are too many people out there that think they deserve the perfect job, just because they have the degree. The fact is the people with the jobs they want started out by doing the jobs no one wanted. My mom and my sister are both RN's. Both of them have worked every type of job available to an RN, from night shift to doctor's offices to giving sponge baths and changing bed pans. NEITHER of them EVER had a problem finding a full time gig. My mom has retired, but my sister still works. the fact that she is willing to do whatever is available has opened up the cushy jobs, and she can now be selective. It sounds to me like she is not willing to "pay her dues" to work her way up the ladder. So what if she has to work night shift for awhile to make a good impression to get another shift. The sacrafice the two of you would make is nothing compared to what you have already made yourself. Besides, the differential for night shift would substantially raise your income. Heck you might even like it, my mom did it for 30 years. Tell her to get in there and get after it and the right job will come her way.

Remember too, the longer she waits the more competition there is for those jobs. The nursing program is one of the largest programs at almost all of Tennessee's community colleges.

very hard to make it off one income unless your making 100k

very hard to make it off one income unless your making 100k

Unreal hire people and then cut hours. Go figure.

very hard to make it off one income unless your making 100k

First, look in her purse, in that little velvet bag and get your balls back.

Second, put your foot down, then put it down again....

She may wear the pants in the family, but you have to pick them out...

Diehard Hunter -- They think that way because they are TAUGHT that way! When I was in high school that is all they drilled into our head...if we went to college and got a degree that the doors would just open wide open for us, we'd go right out of college and into a $60k+ yr job versus the other people with just a HS education that would be making min wage and barely clearing $30k a year. I'm not lying or stretching the truth! That's why so many come out of college with that way of thinking IMO...because they have had it drilled into their head ever since HS.

No granted, some people did do exactly that. I can think of about two out of my entire graduating class that is doing well these days. Most of the rest of them are down there at the factory with me, doing the same basic jobs for the same pay I make with just a HS education. The only difference is...I have seniority over all them cause I went there right out of HS and they put in 2-4 yrs of college before they came there.

My cousin is another example. She finished her school in Asheville, NC and she was working into radiology field. Well she got a job at a hospital there while she was in school and as soon as she graduated they hired her full time as their X-Ray tech. Her first full time year she made $80k. Last time I seen her she was driving a brand new Porshe lol so she is doing very well.