Sierra 2: Pregnancy Rumors Again?

[OhNoNike]

6 hours ago, Seculardaisy said:

Full disclosure my husband and I are pregnant with baby number 5. We have two dogs. We also have two pretty high income, full-time jobs in a Midwest area where cost of living is reasonably affordable.

I know for certain we could not afford our lifestyle without both of our jobs. I do not know how Sierra and Mark are doing all of this on Mark’s salesman salary. Maybe he’s really, really good at it, because my co-worker’s son works in furniture sales and he struggles fo support his two kids without his mother’s help. She pays for his car and many of his kids clothing and toys.

Sierra’s lifestyle doesn’t add up to me.

I am with you.  Not 5 kids and since our last pet died last year we haven’t gotten another.  We both work full time and make decent incomes.  We live in a reasonably priced area.   I don’t get it either.  I use coupons and buy stuff from yard sales and thrift stores.  

One big difference, I think, is that we do have college funds for the kids.  We also pay health insurance, life insurance, and put into retirement funds.  I am guessing these folks don’t really consider the future and assume the lord with provide then. 

[FunFunFundie]

We waited until my youngest was almost 2 to get a puppy. I wanted to wait longer (I always said until she was 3), but our older dog died and it felt like the right time.

I am writing this as I take said puppy for our morning off-leash walk. Thirty minutes of her running at a full sprint after birds and squirrels and leaves, and several months ago, I was doing it twice daily (I’m down to once, if I could manage more I would do more, but I’m super time strapped). Plus she does “play dates” with the neighbor’s super energized dog. 

I try to get up before 5 so I can do this before the kids wake up. For the first several months, they woke up anyway when I was gone, but now, thankfully, they sleep through it.

It just takes the edge off of her energy, and for months, all three of my kids would screech whenever the puppy was in the room because she jumped on them and she was bigger than the younger two kids (she’s not even that big, about 40 pounds). We are moving through that stage, but if friends come over or something exciting happens she has to be put outside because she just becomes too frenzied. And this is while being relatively well exercised.

I would not recommend that anybody with young children get a puppy, unless they have tons of time to wear the puppy out, money to send the puppy to a trainer/day care, or the puppy is small enough that it can’t knock kids over (but then that’s dangerous too, because young kids can hurt the smaller dogs).

I nearly rehomed her many, many times. She’s better behaved now - but it’s been a year and she doesn’t go a single day without sprinting literal miles. I can’t imagine trying to do this with seven children and/or a newborn.

[Fundielandobserver]

9 hours ago, JillyO said:

Right? Someone asked her how they afforded seven kids under her recent swimming pic, and she answered the following:

I mean, I get that their finances are ultimately no one's business but their own, but I honestly cannot possibly imagine how soon-to-be nine humans and two dogs can live off of a furniture salesman's income. And just going through Sierra's Instagram, they don't exactly live the most frugal lifestyle. Just in July alone (and obviously only from what she's publically shared):

• they went to a waterpark with two adults and six kids
• they all went on a mini vacation to Kansas city that included Legoland Discovery Center and food at a cafe (jury's out on whether they actually went to Great Wolf Lodge or just took pictures at the entrance - I'm leaning toward the latter)
• Sierra took the oldest three boys out the eat crepes and get slurpees
• and as others have mentioned, they got a new puppy (no word on whether he was adopted or bought from a breeder, but either way, that's not cheap)

Not that anything they do is particularly frivolous, but I just cannot make the math work for the life of me.

And Mark took the older three boys to silver dollar city !

[HereticHick]

And even though Sierra often gets free clothing and accessories in exchange for Instagram promotions, she often pictures the kids in matching shirts/outfits--that she seemingly paid for. I am also guess that, like most MLM participants, she made no profit when she tried to sell LuluRoe and Lipsense.

I firmly believe that either Sierra and Mark's parents are subsidizing their lifestyle, or they have significant credit card debt.  Very possibly both.

Maybe they borrow other people's Silver Dollar City season passes. Maybe Sierra makes a few bucks here and there by reselling free outfits she gets via Instagram promotions. Maybe she still makes overpriced chocolate dipped fruits for parties and showers.  Maybe their landlord is a fellow fundy who charges them below market rent.  But even with all that, this lifestyle cannot continue.

Edited July 25, 2019 by HereticHick

[catlady]

2 hours ago, Fundielandobserver said:

And Mark took the older three boys to silver dollar city !

And don’t forget the scooter. Because that was a necessary purchase too. 

I’ll give them a pass on that only if Mark is consistently using it to get to work. But the photo Sierra used to show it off made it seem like a recreational toy. 

[Ticklish]

I recognize a lot of the clothes Sierra's daughters wear as being from Walmart so they are likely not very expensive. I assume the boys clothes come from there too. My daughters have a few outfits from there and it's usually around $6-$10 for an outfit so not too outrageous to clothe them. Having said that, it does seem kind of odd that her little boys seem to match the elders instead of wearing hand me downs. 

I have no clue how they would afford to go on all these outings and trips on one salary though. My husband and I both work, and we would have to seriously pinch pennies for our family of 4 to do as much as they do. 

[grandmadugger]

So I did a little research trying to figure this out. Thanks to Glassdoor I found that the top end of the salary range for Ashley furniture, I know that’s not where Mark works but should give us an idea, is $64,000. The median income for males in Springdale is $31,000.  So monthly he is making $2500 - $5,300 before taxes and $2,000 - $4,240 assuming 20% in taxes  

Rent - $600

Utilities - $300 

Insurance - $300

Food - $2,100 (three meals a day per person at $3 a meal)

Gas - $200 (not sure what they drive so 80 gallons) 

Cell Phone $100 

That’s $3600 and I feel like I underestimated several expenses. That means he has to make above average for the area and close to the upper end of a furniture sales person. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

On 7/24/2019 at 1:46 AM, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

Hey, now! I'm 48, soon to be 49!

     

Me too, but hey wasn't 1970 only like 20 years ago? Oh, no that was 2000. 

[princessmahina]

11 minutes ago, grandmadugger said:

So I did a little research trying to figure this out. Thanks to Glassdoor I found that the top end of the salary range for Ashley furniture, I know that’s not where Mark works but should give us an idea, is $64,000. The median income for males in Springdale is $31,000.  So monthly he is making $2500 - $5,300 before taxes and $2,000 - $4,240 assuming 20% in taxes  

Rent - $600

Utilities - $300 

Insurance - $300

Food - $2,100 (three meals a day per person at $3 a meal)

Gas - $200 (not sure what they drive so 80 gallons) 

Cell Phone $100 

That’s $3600 and I feel like I underestimated several expenses. That means he has to make above average for the area and close to the upper end of a furniture sales person. 

That’s some interesting math. Things have got to be really tight unless she has some kind of ultra profitable side hustle that she’s keeping uncharacteristically quiet. 

I quit my job a few months ago because of being pregnant and things are TIGHT on one income. We do pretty much nothing and have had to dip into savings more than I would like. There’s absolutely no way we could sustain anything like this on one income— and my husband doesn’t even make bad money. Life is just expensive. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

7 minutes ago, grandmadugger said:

So I did a little research trying to figure this out. Thanks to Glassdoor I found that the top end of the salary range for Ashley furniture, I know that’s not where Mark works but should give us an idea, is $64,000. The median income for males in Springdale is $31,000.  So monthly he is making $2500 - $5,300 before taxes and $2,000 - $4,240 assuming 20% in taxes  

Rent - $600

Utilities - $300 

Insurance - $300

Food - $2,100 (three meals a day per person at $3 a meal)

Gas - $200 (not sure what they drive so 80 gallons) 

Cell Phone $100 

That’s $3600 and I feel like I underestimated several expenses. That means he has to make above average for the area and close to the upper end of a furniture sales person. 

You aren't even including, things, like household supplies, you know, like TP/soap/shampoo/laundry soap/etc... That will run you in a house hold this size $100 a month if you go cheap.   You are also figuring way low on rent. I would double the rent/mortgage for a house the size they need for a family of 8 (soon to be 9) to $1200 a month, I would also add another $50 to the utilities and insurance for a family that size will be closer to $500/600 (for just health insurance add another $200 a month for car insurance.  There is no car payment figured in this either, They have to have 2 cars, so I would add $400 a month for car payments, and add another $200 for car maintenance.  That is $5150 a month in expenses, meaning they are running approximately $900 in the red a month.  So unless they are getting help from his or her parents, they are living on credit big time. 

[Snarkasarus Rex]

Ten bucks says that neither of these clowns have life insurance on each other and there’s no disability insurance on Mark.  They better hope ‘god’s provision’ keeps them out of financial ruin.

[grandmadugger]

1 hour ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

You aren't even including, things, like household supplies, you know, like TP/soap/shampoo/laundry soap/etc... That will run you in a house hold this size $100 a month if you go cheap.   You are also figuring way low on rent. I would double the rent/mortgage for a house the size they need for a family of 8 (soon to be 9) to $1200 a month, I would also add another $50 to the utilities and insurance for a family that size will be closer to $500/600 (for just health insurance add another $200 a month for car insurance.  There is no car payment figured in this either, They have to have 2 cars, so I would add $400 a month for car payments, and add another $200 for car maintenance.  That is $5150 a month in expenses, meaning they are running approximately $900 in the red a month.  So unless they are getting help from his or her parents, they are living on credit big time. 

I know I left out a lot of basics like household supplies. They don’t have a huge house. I used cost of living calculators to figure rent, you can find a house in the area for $725 a month and since they are probably renting from someone in the church it probably is lower. I don’t know what they drive so I can’t say that they have a car payment.  I also don’t know what they have for insurance. Our family plan is $300 a month no matter how many people are on it.

My point was that even living in a super cheap area they still would be struggling. 

[catlady]

didn't they post recently (maybe 3 or 4 months ago) that they had a new (or new-to-them) van and a bunch of new car seats?  true, if the van is used, then they might not have a payment, but i can't imagine those things are cheap enough that they have cash.  of course, a parent or two may have helped out.  

[nst]

6 minutes ago, catlady said:

didn't they post recently (maybe 3 or 4 months ago) that they had a new (or new-to-them) van and a bunch of new car seats?  true, if the van is used, then they might not have a payment, but i can't imagine those things are cheap enough that they have cash.  of course, a parent or two may have helped out.  

in this day and age what parent  doesn't help out with how these two live their freaking lives despite the leave and cleave

[Daisy0322]

It's things like this though that glamorize fundy life. I would 2 night le a week at a hospital and my husband had a 9-5 type job 5 days a week. We are about to have our second baby and we have one dog and we couldn't afford to do all the stuff sierra does! I mean we go on vacation about once a year sometimes twice and we have one new car and one older one and a 3 bed 2 bath house in a "nice" area so it's not like we are struggling but still! In July we have: 

- taken our son to a ball game and bought him a new glove to take to the game

- went to a few festivals 

- ate out on weekends

- bought professional family pictures/ maternity pics and did a down payment on newborn family pics

They've done way more than that with way more people and I just can't fathom how it's financially possible and fundy families do this frequently. I feel like it draws people to the life style because they make it seem so perfect and effortless to support umpteen children. 

[FecundFundieFundus]

I will DIE if Mark is secretly some kind of fundie kingpin. Secreting booze to Baptists? Escorting pastor's mistresses to abortion appointments? Hiding coffee in the walls of his scooter tires to bring Mormons their java on the down low? 

[snickerz]

Do they pay taxes with that many kids?

[princessmahina]

1 hour ago, FecundFundieFundus said:

I will DIE if Mark is secretly some kind of fundie kingpin. Secreting booze to Baptists? Escorting pastor's mistresses to abortion appointments? Hiding coffee in the walls of his scooter tires to bring Mormons their java on the down low? 

I’m picturing Sierra serving up those chocolate dipped strawberries at a fundie speakeasy ?

[Seculardaisy]

1 hour ago, snickerz said:

Do they pay taxes with that many kids?

I pay taxes on 4 kids. (Baby 5 isn’t born yet but we will for that one too.)

It’s about income ratio though not just number of kids. I presume Mark does not pay taxes.

[AussieKrissy]

1 hour ago, Seculardaisy said:

I pay taxes on 4 kids. (Baby 5 isn’t born yet but we will for that one too.)

It’s about income ratio though not just number of kids. I presume Mark does not pay taxes.

Huh pay taxes on kids.....??????

Is that like being in a higher tax bracket because you have more people in your family using government resources?

[Seculardaisy]

9 minutes ago, AussieKrissy said:

Huh pay taxes on kids.....??????

Is that like being in a higher tax bracket because you have more people in your family using government resources?

No I just meant that even though I have four kids we don’t receive a huge amount of money back from tax returns. We owe on taxes at tax season as opposed to receiving a refund that is higher, many people with kids will get a larger refund because they have kids. We used to for years but now we’re in a higher income bracket so we still have to pay. 

 

Excuse me if I’m explaining this poorly. I’m hardly a tax accountant lol.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Seculardaisy

[Satan'sFortress]

19 hours ago, Seculardaisy said:

Full disclosure my husband and I are pregnant with baby number 5.

Congrats to you!  I am the #5 baby in my family, so I have to give some extra to you for this new little one! 

[Seculardaisy]

2 minutes ago, Satan'sFortress said:

Congrats to you!  I am the #5 baby in my family, so I have to give some extra to you for this new little one! 

I love that. Thank you!!

[WarriorJane]

4 minutes ago, Seculardaisy said:

No I just meant that even though I have four kids we don’t receive a huge amount of money back from tax returns. We owe on taxes at tax season as opposed to receiving a refund that is higher, many people with kids will get a larger refund because they have kids. We used to for years but now we’re in a higher income bracket so we still have to pay. 

Well they sure have a lot of deductibles,  but with this new trump bullshit,  who knows.  We always have more taken out so we don't end up owing, but this year we got about half what we normally get back.  And no, we do not see it in our paychecks.   I know so many people who ended up owing. 

Edited July 25, 2019 by WarriorJane
Clarity

[FecundFundieFundus]

2 hours ago, WarriorJane said:

Well they sure have a lot of deductibles,  but with this new trump bullshit,  who knows.  

My in laws voted for you-know-who. My immediate family ended up benefiting from the tax fuckery and got a larger return (than we deserve or need- fix the damn bridges! Feed the hungry! Burn the concentration camps to the ground!) while the in laws owed more than they were used to and were pretty upset. It was hard not to make a comment about crab buckets.