It has been a few days since I last posted . . . Though I’m done with the daily grind of a 90-minute commute and hospital chaplaincy, life hasn’t gotten any simpler.
I’m currently in northern Virginia (sans wife and kids) looking for an apartment or condo to rent. We move in late August. While on internship we will have the following expenses: up to $2000/mo in rent and utilities; $2000/mo in childcare for two children (if we go with standard child care centers), over $3000 once Baby #3 comes along. That’s $60,000/yr in housing and childcare for three children – and we haven’t even eaten, driven a car, or bought diapers yet! That’s a tough way for a pastor, let alone an intern, to live. How do people do this?
These transitions – new jobs, new home, growing family, new child care, etc. – are daunting. Where is my fairy godmother when I need her? Perhaps she could wave her wand and turn a pumpkin into an apartment . . .
The Lutheran Zephyr 
Does the intern place provide housing and/or an allowance for this? We did when we had intern pastors. I know that many churches don’t.
One of the intern pastors we had had already learned frugal living due to having been a teacher in a private Christian school. He said it was something he used when counseling couples seeking to be married.
You-know-who is receiving about 1/5th of what you mention as your possible expenses.
PS–Although in the ELCA interns are supposed to get housing, the reality is that many don’t, because churches simply can’t afford it. The students have to choose between getting an internship without housing so they can continue with their education, or having no internship at all.
LZ–have you considered a nanny? I’m not sure what the rates are in VA, but with three little ones it may very well be less expensive than a daycare center (and more flexible!)
I think if you hire a nanny you have to pay the social security tax, etc. so that ups the cost.