Thank you!

Realistic to whom? Your user name suggests you don't live in Maine full time, which means you must have a certain level of income outside the norm for most Mainers.

I'm not trying to be rude, but your baseline for most Mainers is not accurate. $400 for groceries is not going to feed a family of 4 with today's prices. You left a little of $1700 for other expenses. That is not enough for car payment, sewer, water, electricity, oil Internet, gas, meds and other necessities.

I don't know your story, but with the evidence I have I cannot imagine you raised kids within the last decade.

$1k a month for daycare?! Where do you think you would find that? For two kids I was paying a little over $1600/month.

My wife and I leave the house at 630. Hence the 4 hours. If this guy thought it was working a typical 9-5 he might have been right, but im not.

$15/ hr x 4 hours in the AM is $300 a week, that's more expensive than a full time spot. Good luck finding someone for cheaper 5 days a week.

Changing work schedules is not an option as an educator.

Thanks for the help 🙄

I had to go back another day. It was Casco Bay Cutlery & Kitchenware. Very cheap I think it was 20-25 bucks for 5 knives.

Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn is great. Warm pool and great breakfast.

As long as you're not getting the room during hockey season. Hockey families are the absolute WORST in a hotel. Parents don't give a fuck what their kids are doing, in the hall, in the middle of the night and they bring in too much money for the hotels for them to care.

I only mention this because Hampton Inn in North Conway is a frequent hockey tournament stop, I'm pretty sure.