Need advice for my sitch...

[Greek]

The ring thing to me is important. I dont want to feel like a schmuck and not have one to give her.

But you don't have to wait until you can afford the Hope Diamond! Geez. So get her a ring you can afford and put your family together! Unfortunately, it appears you have a number of issues - resulting from the lack of commitment on both of your parts - that may preclude her from saying yes to a marriage proposal anyway. So you two will need to deal with those things. But if I were you, I would start with really looking at that particular issue from HER POINT OF VIEW and addressing that with her.
Greek