I'm an older mom who has stayed home with my toddler for two years.  Before I get my license for Massage Therapy, any job in NM I get wil pay about seven or eight dollars an hour which would just pay for childcare, gas and taxes.  Once I get my license, I can take class in certain modalities that would complement an Oncology department and start making a lot of money.

My husband has an excellent work ethic but isn't great with money.  We spend about 300 hundred a month paying off a large screen tv he came home with one day.  240 dollars a year on his WOW subscription, about 1200 a year for cable tv and internet, and he eats out each day just about the weeks we have money.  When we have money, its spent, not thinking ahead to the two weeks a months things are short.

But everyone has their own strengths and challenges.  I'm good at school, writing, Weight Loss sales and counselng etc but not very domestic. Which I told my husband from the beginning - including on our way to be married.  And told him if he wanted someone like that - choose someone else, he said he chooses me.  So now I spend my days doing laundry, cleaning up a million messes, wiping down the bathroom several times a day and deep cleaning it twice a week, washing the floor all the time and repeating this and more each day.  I'm not super housewife but I get by.  Of course, rather then mention how I never sit down, he complains to his mom and brother on any negatives - days I "take off" and don't clean up every mess Robbie makes as he makes (while I'm cleaning one - he's usually making another) and just clean it up once at the very end of the day - but he mentions the mess. She stands up for me though.  So nice.

Anyway, my point is we all have things - money for him, being domestic for me.

So rather then feel and be all negative about this and go tell my mom I try to look forward to the future when I'm working in my chosen profession - and even further when I have my own practice -  and he and I can split things.  He can buy cool electronics for us and pay the rent, I can make sure the bills are paid, money saved,  and I have enough for nice moisturizers and such.  And we can get teh home we both imagine. Try to focus on positive things! And creative solutions!