Question for SAHM

[MandyTee]

How can you possibly afford to raise a family off of one income??? I am interested in possibly staying home after the baby is born, but we barely make ends meet now!!! How do you and your families manage??? This is not me knocking you. If anything I'm impressed!!! Just curious if you have pointers i could use.

[knufrio]

I am with the original poster, I am impressed by people who can budget well and make it work. My husband has a very good job (makes six figures) and get I still find it difficult to imagine living on just his income. We also live in NJ where the cost of living is quite high. I personally don't think I could do the SAHM thing full time. I plan on going back to work part time after baby simply because I like the lifestyle we have and I worked too hard to become a nurse and not work

[darbel]

SAHM doing child care! :) im able to stay home,with my children and we still manage our bills just fine :)

[GodisGood44]

Nothing is most important than having a budget, but also always keep your eye out for a better job. I don't work but I was always on top of my research looking for a better job for my fiance. Thank The Lord we got blessed with an amazing job for him. There will always be something better out there you just have to look for it. I wish you the best.

[sdhx2]

I am a stay at home mom. We barely get by.. But we do get by. I shop at yard sales.. Eat very cheap. We are often behind on bills and things do get stressful.I would love to work and contribute finacially but with the cost of childcare it doesnt make sense. Next fall i plan to go to school so i can make a decent amount of money when i do go to work.

[vanessacz]

Its easy. Learn to buy only what you need. If you think you only buy things you need then start writting down everything you buy and after a month look at it. Trust me you'd be suprised if your honest!

[bholcomb]

Learning how to manage your money is important!!!My hhusband is a truck driver and makes goodn money. I have always worked but when we had our first child together he wanted me to stay home. At first it was hard because I was used to doing things. We don't hardly eat out or biy things for ourselves. My daughter and our son has everything they need and want most of the time. While your working save your income to have some money for hard times. It will possible to raise a family on one income if you learn how ton spend and manage

[mami0414]

My fiance works full time,  and my future mother in law gets ssi. After the baby I plan to get W2. So I think it should work sone how with the grace of God.

[cecilia_morgan]

Yes r4nd0m lol! Exactly.  my husband has a really good job 43000 a year but like I said in our particular situation with the bankruptcy we see less than 1400$ a month and pay 1250$ a month to that. But it's Important to us and if we didn't do it this way wed. Worse off! So were making it work.

[r4nd0m]

@peaches Then u or ur man or whoever has the one income has a very well paying job. That's the point we were making.

[cecilia_morgan]

Like girls above said exactly. No eating out, we don't even have cable or internet! Can't afford it. I manage our finances and budget out a month at time. Coupons, thrift stores, buy everything I can second hand, sales etc. We even had to file bankruptcy last year top keep our house and car! Thankfully husband went into management and doubled his salary bc half of it hours to paying off bankruptcy. We live off of about 1400$ a month for gas, grocery, gas bill, electric bill, son's life ins and home and auto ins our mortgage and car are part of bankruptcy. But like another girl said if we worked bc of where I live drive time in gas and daycare id be lucky to make 200$ a month! Not worth it! I also cloth diaper and breastfeed to save money. And mainly use cloths for baby wipes instead of buying them. I plan to make our baby food this time also. We dont qualify for wic or anything!

[peaches0329]

You can't knock anyone. Bcuz u guys have two incomes in the house n ur ends aren't meeting. I have one income in my household n my kids get everything they want n need. I get mani n pedis. All my bills are paid. N I have savings. It's what ur income amount incomes and of your living above your means. Know what you can afford n can't afford.

[kuhlmand2]

It's definitely hard,  that's for sure.  And you just need to know how to budget.  Make a budget worth your expenses and income,  figure out where your over spending and where you can save.  No more starbucks, nails,  hair etc. Just essentials.  Food,  gas,  bills.  In the end it's SOOOOOOO worth it to stay at home with your babies.  I cannot express that enough.  Even with all the struggles my family has been through financially,  I still wouldn't go back to work!  Pick up a babysitting job or something.  That's what I do!  

[r4nd0m]

Unless ur partner makes alot of money, it is hard. My husband has two jobs. The only way my staying home is justified from a financial perspective is that if I did go get a job, all money I would make would go straight to daycare and wouldn't b anything extra. So y do it? Other than that being obvious, I'm pretty old school in how I think a family unit should work. We do struggle...alot...but it is possible to make it thru....just don't think ur gonna b getting ur hair and nails done all the time. I've gotten my hair trimmed once in the past year. To me, it's an unnecessary expense unless I absolutely need it.

[babybrown2]

Before I got this job I did daycare

[babybrown2]

For me I work on call which can be full or part time I pick my own schedule while my boyfriend works full time we just work opposite shifts otherwise we couldn't really afford only one income

[3rdNdone]

The pay has to be sufficient and you have to know how to budget and save. It's really not hard depending on the spouse's or partner's job. It's apart of some families value system that a parent be home to help raise the children and people have made it work sometimes  regardless of the income.