BHA yeah it's basically an allowance. If you live in housing the the military "provides" they take it all. So if your monthly housing allowance is $1600 the house on base might only be worth $800-$1000 and they take all of it. Don't get me wrong the extra money that doesn't go into the house pays electric, gas and water. But you never see the money. So that's the reason we are in a house that we are renting out from the owner. We get his allowance split in 2 checks and I put it all back every time so when it comes time to pay rent and all the utilities they are paid and it doesn't come out of pocket. My husband being the rank he is is why it's considered low income to WIC. For here the most money you can have monthly for WIC is $3,747. My husband doesn't bring in nearly that much for 4 people. Even if I worked we would still be under. But they estimate you have to bring in this much for this many people to be able to qualify. I will look into CD because in the end it would be so much cheaper. @txyogagirl

@kyntonsmommy, cd can be super costly but just think of all I have wanted on disposable. To me it's not costly if I can resale for a good amount and crazy is sometimes I can even buy a limited edition let my son 💩 in it many times then resale it for 3 times what I paid for it that just blows my mind but collectors want certain ones. Now I know what I like so I don't really buy things for profit bc I plan to have more babies. I will add u to the CD group. 😀 so yea we have sams to I'm in dallas Tx we have a lot of both actually I went to sams growing up but the selection of produce is not for me and several products I like to buy sams don't carry to me Costco cheaper and has better things like Costco has entire lines of non gmo foods and they are all labeled in the store. Example Costco has dyson and vitamix while sams has Hoover and ninja. This might seem crazy but have u ever really broke down ur bills like when u say those amounts well depends on the house etc I mean I don't look at overall cost I look at kilowatts, drainage/sewage per gal, minimums, etc. do y'all have deregulated electricity? So question it sounds like the BHA is a paycheck or an allowance? That's awesome they just give it to u plus u get paid but it's a hard job. I don't mean this mean but it's kinda crazy that ur husband and all others are working so hard to protect our country and they aren't getting paid enough so much that your considered low income for the wic. I figured everyone in service was taken care of but like I said I really don't know anything about it. Yea I have heard things about wic here on this site but I was saying processed food bc cereal bread milk baby food formula is processed. I didn't realize u bought veggies and fruit. I leaned something new. Well it's good there are programs out there to help women trying to do right and especially protect our country. As for breastfeeding I hope u can do it with new baby it's amazing the longer we go the better I feel and my son is just so cute when he eats. They say your diet doesn't matter that's what I was taught at my breastfeeding class I honestly don't believe that I think it does matter but whatever. There is lots of good info on Kellymom.com when u say one mouth u know it takes 6-8 weeks for ur milk supply to regulate meaning nothing should happen in 6-8 weeks except ur baby on ur boob so no bottles no hand expression no pump nothing just mama and baby body working together they way god designed it to do. My son was born sept 7 and my milk started regulating the day after Halloween but didn't get really in que with baby until around thanksgiving so I started pumping the day he turned 3m which was dec 7. I only pump about 2 times a week if that bc he doesn't get the milk bc he is always with me so I got a freezer full. Also go on la leche league they have free support 24/7 they are on fb and also have meet groups I have never did a meeting but I'm on the fb site well this really long sorry.

@mami1234 I went on Zillow for fun while we were out and about and found a nice 4 bed 2 bath 2,000 sq ft for $850 a month. Looks like I am going to house hunt until I find something we can afford and fit in!

@txyogagirl We live in NC. And we have 2 acres we can use to garden. I don't know about Costco but we have Sam's Club out here we do like to shop there. WIC helps mother's/families with low income, you get a card or checks and when you go grocery shopping you have fruits and veggies fresh you buy, milk, eggs, bread, cereal, beans (dry) and there is more. They don't give anything out you go to the store and 'buy' it. But instead of you paying for it WIC does. It saves a ton of money. I couldn't breastfeed my son past 1 month old and they gave me formula on my card which he got 10 cans a month and it was just enough. Then once the get older they also put baby food on there. So instead of all that money coming out of pocket they pay for it. It's called the Women's Children and Infant program. They are the biggest help. Nothing is wrong with using them. It saves you money in the end. That's why I am using them. Our insurance isn't expensive we have 2 separate ones so we don't pay alot. Electricity is only about $100 a month Rent is $900 a month and Water is $23 a month (we use a ton of water too). But again my husband's BHA pays for it all and we have the extra $100 we don't use from his BHA put into saving every time. I considered cloth diapering and wanted to but they seem super costly to get started and I never really knew what to do or how to use them. If you could I'd love to find out because I'm not due till December and it would save a ton of money. The reason I couldn't breastfeed past a month with my first born is because I couldn't eat or drink right so I almost instantly lost my supply. I am working on eating right and drinking right so I can get to at least a year this time.

@kyntonsmommy, we co sleep as well bc breastfeeding yea I understand bc some rooms are small. Maybe consider bunk beds when they are older. So I plan to keep baby in crib for a while that's good. I hope I can too. He don't sleep in it now only for naps and is starting to stand which is scary. Yes gardening u will enjoy. Where do u live? Do y'all have CSA farms that's what we do. Or next best is bountiful basket which is what we used to do? Also what about Costco? I don't know anything about wic just that's it's a food program but I know they give processed foods. On the car situation maybe lower ur ins by increasing ur deductibles. Also how conservative can I be with ur electricity? I have my metered registered on smartmetertx and can track my usage. Have u considered cloth diapers? they save u so much we even have a cloth diaper group on here if u would like to join I can add u. They even have programs that u can get loner diapers from so basically u could diaper ur kid from birth to potty for free I have never use da program bc I have my own stash which I can show u how to cloth birth to potty for about 100 bucks. Also if ur storing breast milk do buy bags that's a waste to the environment buy canning jars so after baby has the milk u can use to can food from ur garden so it's never wasted. Or u can shop or ask for glass baby food jars a lady at my church just gave me like 30 I sterilized them and store my milk in those u can't safely can baby food with them I have tried. Are u conservative with ur water? How do u save money on ur water bill? Also thanks ladies I have no clue about any military stuff except that I'm thankful that they protect our country.

@kyntonsmommy awwww man I'm sorry girl I hope you find a good place.

Lol, military lingo is weird. I grew up with the Navy, my dad served for 23 years. Then I joined the Army and everything I thought I knew about the military was called something different in the Army.

@andrea.herrington Everyone I have been around in the Navy calls it BHA, guess it depends on who your around lol.

@kyntonsmommy its called BAH in the army, basic allowance for Housing.

@mami1234 That's why we are in this house. But little did we know when he got stationed out here that we would run into so many problems with this house. I have to have maintenance here every week or so. I know there are a select few decent houses in Jacksonville that are 4 bedroom and cheaper but they are more cramped houses. I just can't stand the idea of living on base out here. In VA housing was off base and out here it isn't. Trust me they have super beautiful base housing out here but I also don't want to get rid of my puppy just because base doesn't allow pits. And that's the other reason we are in this house. Nobody accepts pit bulls. 😞

@txyogagirl BAH is the housing allowance that a military service member receives each month. The amount depends on the cost of living at your duty station, your rank, and if you have dependants or not.

@txyogagirl I didn't want to get rid of our only spare bed and it's queen size. It takes up the whole room in itself. I am going to co sleep to begin with for breastfeeding. I did it with my son, but my son won't be ready for a bigger bed any time soon. He will have his crib for quite a while. But when it comes to saving it's hard. We live 40-45 minutes from base, which takes a lot of gas. We have 2 vehicles but one sucks down a whole tank in a day or day and a half. So I have to wait until my husband is home to do anything. We have a deep freezer and are starting gardening. I have an appointment Tuesday so I can get on WIC while I am pregnant, and since my son just turned 1 he can also have his own WIC. In hopes it helps us out money wise. She meant BHA which is basic housing allowance thru military.

@kyntonsmommy, well u could always make a kid room a guest room if needed. Even just a full size bed for the older kid is better than not having nothing but a crib or twin. We have extra rooms to fill bc we're just starting our family but still plan to get our son a full once he is out of crib just bc it's good to have the extra sleeping space for if he has a friend or around the holidays. I understand it's hard to save u just need to get good at it. I love doing budget I have a small garden, do canning, a deep freezer, part of another farm, buy in bulk, recycle, cloth diaper, breastfeed, harvest water in rain barrels, am water and electric conscious, line dry my clothes except towels, made our home energy efficient, use hand me downs from my sis, stay home a lot I'm happy to share any ideas with u. Also I try to make post about it. @andrea.herrington, silly question but what's a bah if u don't mind me asking

Check out AHRN.com. it is only for military and they give you options based on location and rank (bah). Every house I lived in for the time I was in I found on their website. Don't move on base unless you are okay with being given the bare minimum for all of your bah. I always found that living off post I could pay all rent and utilities within the bah. I lived on base one time and the house was tiny and they took 1,600 a month for it. Also, theres the option if getting a loan from AER for a deposit, I've used them for that reason as well. They will give a you $1,000 and they don't charge intrest and it just comes out of the monthly pay.

You can save but honestly i would get what you can afford for now because if you do have a girl she won't need her own room till she gets a lil older anyway

Find out if you can go on a month to month lease. This way once you find a bigger place, it's not a hassle to get out of your current lease.

@txyogagirl My husband said they could share a room. I told him if we have a girl I don't want them too. I want to have an extra room because there is always going to be a point in time we need a guest room. Plus I want to move closer to town, so we can save gas and what not. We are trying to save but with me not being able to find work it's so hard.

@kyntonsmommy, save save save I believe every kid should have there own room unless they r twin ms or really close and age and the same gender. I would want 4 as well we will never have more kids then we do bedrooms easier to move with 2 kids than 3