Hubby and I filed to have his child support lowered while he is in school. He is not working because he wants to focus all of his attention on school so that he can do well. I completely understand this, as I went to school full-time and worked full-time and it was HELL. My grades suffered and my education suffered. If I had it to do over again, I would not have worked so much.

He also does construction, which in our area has been hit very very hard by the economy. Where there used to be a plethora of construction jobs, there are now none. I am supporting our household on just my income. It is extremely hard and extremely stressful. The majority of my paycheck every month (I'm only paid once a month and don't make much) goes to my bills; student loan payments, car payments, cell phone, rent, food, and his child support. We do not in anyway live above our means. The most outlandish thing we have is our cell phones, but even that is the most basic plan that we can afford without going over the minutes. We don't have a home phone.

This will be the second time that we have attempted to have his support lowered. He has been out of work for about a year and they refused to lower it previously. I don't have many high hopes for this time either, which is complete CRAP in my opinion. BM does nothing all day long. She has never held a job for longer than a month or two (something always comes up so that she has to quit). She lives off of the state. She gets LEAP, food stamps, TANF, WIC, and whatever other public assistance program they offer I'm sure. She is worthless. She keeps popping out kids that she can't take care of and continues to rely on others to pay for them. She started having kids when she was 15. FIFTEEN! She had two before she was even an adult!!! It is just so frustrating. The "system" seems like it is only geared towards getting the Biological Mom anything and everything they want. I WISH WISH WISH that they could or would go out to her house. See the giant flat screen TV that she has, the Wii, the brand new washer/dryer she just bought and then try to rationalize why she needs to amount of child support she gets AND all of the public assistance she is getting. What a bunch of baloney!

I originally took over Hubby's payments when he lost his job because I felt bad for SD. I felt bad for BM. Then I found out I was being manipulated. I kept paying because I didn't want Hubby to get behind in his support. But now, I don't want to pay it and I don't think I'm going to! I realize it does nothing for anyone, except for me. But you know what...I don't care! With that extra income I would not have to stress so much about trying to make ends meet. Less Stress=Happier Me!!!