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Can an Army E4 and 1 dependant survive on decent income?
I am soon to be married to a wonderful young man in the Army. We both are fairly young. I will be 23 when we get married, and he will be 22. We are waiting until I graduate from college before we tie the knot. In the mean time he will be making the switch from National Guard to Active Duty. I am fearful that I will have a hard time finding a steady job because we can not guarantee how long he will be stationed in one area. My aspirations in life are to be a Public Affairs Specialist with the DoD or any portion of the military. But because those jobs are listed as permanent, I now face the issue of do I get one, and so...he and I figured that before we get fully settled and he gets his footing, that he would support me, however, I fear that it would not be enough to manage a household, utilities, cars, etc.
Just have to watch how much you spend and what you spend it on. It can be done.
We were married with 2 kids when he was an E4. Of course there were times that we didn't think we were going to and a couple times we had to skip one payment to make another but always caught up and eventually are able to be ahead of ourselves a little bit. With time should come rank and more pay.
If you need help on budgeting on a military pay check with your local ACS they offer a AFTB class on finances and budgeting. And they also offer other classes and training during their AFTB classes. You can take them online or face to face:
http://www.myarmyonesource.com/FamilyProgramsandServices/FamilyPrograms/ArmyFamilyTeamBuilding/default.aspx
Level 1 Class Descriptions:
Lesson 1.1 - Expectations and Impact of the Mission on Family Life
Lesson 1.2 - Military Acronyms and Terms
Lesson 1.3 - The Chain of Command
Lesson 1.4 - Introduction to Military Customs and Courtesies
Lesson 1.5 - Basic Military Benefits and Entitlements
Lesson 1.6 - Introduction to Military and Civilian Community Resources
Lesson 1.7 - Introduction to Family Readiness Groups
Lesson 1.8 - Supporting Your Child's Education
Lesson 1.9 - Introduction to Family Financial Readiness
Lesson 1.10 - Basic Problem Solving
This is all of Level 1. Very useful especially to a new army wife.
ACS (Army Community Services) also has an employment department and they can help you put together your resume and find employment on and off post. They list jobs like almost every week. Good place to stop by.
Living on post can help. You will get free housing and utilities (for the most part. Some bases are charging for electricity if you go over a certain amount, which is set quite high. Just turn off your lights when not using them). Or you can live off post and pocket any extra money. I know several people who rent the s h i t t e s t place for really cheap (they don't mind sharing with the roaches and other critters), just to pocket some extra money. My family, we can't get rent from roaches and critters so we don't like them so prefer to get something decent even it means we don't pocket anything. This money is called BAH
and BAH is dependent on where hubby will be stationed from and his rankhttp://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/basic-allowance-for-housing-rates.
Then he will get BAS, which will help with food. This is usually about $323.87/month http://www.defenselink.mil/militarypay/pay/bas/index.html
He will get a clothing allowance once a year to help with new uniforms
Pay raises every January (well so far we have been getting them that last so many years, we will see about this January)
When he gets promoted, you will get more money. However you will not get any more money for kids you have. The army doesn't care about how many kids you have (except for housing (bedrooms) and when you are stationed overseas for COLA (cost of living allowance)).
You will be married, I wouldn't say that he is supporting you, you both will be supporting each other. Trust me on that one.
Good luck on the wedding and welcome to our side, the life of an army wife.
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