mostly what we did was really downsize our lives... gave up one of our cars, moved to a smaller place, rarely eat out or do any entertaining that costs (kept internet for school/work, so it's easy to find local free events), use mostly hand me down and 2nd hand store clothes for us and our daughter...
basically there are no extras, we live extremely tight... but I'd rather get one haircut a year (that my mom gifts me for my birthday), have the hasle of taking my husband to work on days I need to use the car, and all the other things to make ends meat - and still be home w/ my daughter... she's 4 yrs old now and she's never needed a child care provider. I've baby sat in our home to supplement, on and off, and for a few months earlier this year I worked a retail job several nights a week - so 20 minutes after my husband got home from work, I left for work (plus some saturdays).
It is possible to do, it's a matter of how much do you want to give up. I'm happy I did it, I have no regrets... I'll continue to do it too. Kids are only in their formative years for a little while... we'll have time for financial security and all those benefits later, this is more important to me right now.
I am kind of in the same situation. My daughter is almost 9 months old and i have been a stay at home mom the hole time. I would much rather me be at home then some stranger that i dont know. My husband has recently had to take a huge pay cut to help out a family member get his buisness going. So i totally understand the money issues. I would just say to take up a hobby, get really good at it an turn it into something you can do that people will pay for. Like one of my friends arranges flowers for peoples weddings. Another friend goes to wal mart Buy patterns and materials and makes little baby clothes and sales them at yard sales or on ebay. Then some do scrap booking for people. Also another friend opened up her own cooking buisness from her home. I dont know how it will be taxes wise because i havent done anything like that before. But these are all great ways to work on your own time and still get some extra money in. At first im sure you wont make money because you will be learning and all but aftwerwards you will make money.
I think UPS has a position that is a "work from home" job. Also, you can google some "work from home" jobs" or you could go on unemployment for 6mos and maybe by then you'd be ready to put your child in day care and get out there and get a job again.
Maybe set up a small day care in your home... people charge $100 a kid per week for their in-home daycare from what I've seen, some more and some less. You do the math.
Do you have the temperment to watch other children in your home? Do you really enjoy children and have the ability to love them and treat them as you would your own? This is a great way to have others in the house with your children, make some money and be home with your daughter.
I am a single mom with 2 boys that works for a family with 2 boys. They bring the children to my house in the morning and in the afternoon, I pick the oldest up from school and take them to their home. I help the family with a little laundry and I make them dinner...then I go home. I have been home with my 20 month old from day 1.... this is a great income for us and I am able to be with my baby.
I had to work with my first child because I was single. Now, I am remarried and have my 4 yr old and a 4 mo. old and I get to stay at home. We just really cut corners and tried to stick to a budget. My husbands income is very good as was mine but still, it is an adjustment when you lose income. We lost around $3600 a month when I quit working and it was a change but we are managing fine. I was terrified at first, an absolute nervous wreck, clipping coupons, stockpiling change,etc. But, with some adjusting, it was easier than I thought. See about a WIC program . I think they have pretty high income requirements. You may qualify with just your husband's income and they give you formula, milk, juice, peanut butter,cereal, etc. If you qualify with one income, it is a good program. Be leary of home based business operations. You can investigate them online and alot of them are cons or bogus programs that require a large amount of "start up money". How would you feel about maybe keeping another child in your home ? Depending on where you live, you could earn $100 a week. I have a friend that cleans 2 houses 2 days a week for about 6 hrs each time and makes $250 a week. She does it to be able to stay home and supplement her husbands income.
Contact a temporary work service agency in your area. They might be able to set you up with some job gigs outside of the home on a part time basis which would coincide with your availability.
read the book, "the two income trap."
Think about what you would be spending money on if you were working. Some things might be
child care (expencive for an infant)
work clothes
gas for commuting
conveniance food-it's easier to cook from scratch when you are home
I stayed home with my kids and it is definately is worth it. Think about the cost of working outside the home and you may find that it actually costs more to work than to stay home. When you add daycare, eating lunch out, gas to and from work, wardrobe requirements, etc, a lot of working moms only "make" minumum wage.
There are many who are able to work at home, but there are also a lot of scams out there. Be careful in your search for work-at-home jobs, especially if they require you to set up your own business of sorts.
The "expert" advice I've heard is to live on one income (the income of the spouse who will continue to work) for three months to try it out.
When we were blessed with my pregnancy, there was no other option. I'm living my dream career. My husband is in grad school, and even if I worked, we had to factor in things like child care, gas for my car, new clothes depending on the job, etc.
For my husband and me, this just kinda happened. I have already more or less been home for the past two years as it was. The first year, I babysat for a couple of families in our apartment complex. The pay was only $5 an hour, but it was just under minimum wage, under the table, and I walked to the homes and I didn't need new clothes for "work". For a couple of months, though, I also worked as office support for one of my churches. I also donated plasma a couple of times a week, too. Since I'm cheap and only spend money when necessary (I need pliers to open my wallet), I built a nice savings account. Last year, when my grad school student husband was on internship, we were blessed with me not having to work. (He's in seminary and worked as a pastor, while learning [essentially, learning on the job], and the church provided us with a house and utilities paid, in addition to a financial stipend for my husband. That, my savings and some small student loans helped.) When we were blessed with the pregnancy, we decided that the only option was (is) for me to stay home, even though we had to take out more loans.
Thankfully the people of our old church were very generous and gave me a shower. Between that and gifts from those who did not attend, we were wanting very little. Even if we do want something for our daughter, we have plenty of gift money, too. Also, my mother is very good at getting free, second hand things and was able to give me stuff she had gotten. (She manages rental property. During my pregnancy, she had to clean out a house with baby stuff in it and a storage garage with baby stuff in it. What I didn't need, she donated to places like Goodwill and the local crisis pregnancy center.) My husband's mother is just tickled to have a infant granddaughter and has overbought stuff. (My husband's brother has a stepdaughter whom he treats as is own and whom my in-laws treat as a granddaughter. She has two brothers, one of whom is my BIL's biological son and my husband has a sister who has two sons.)
Also, there are places like Goodwill and the consignment shop chain, Once Upon a Child where you can buy what you need for very cheap.
I've learned that with faith, God will provide. We put our faith in God when we decided to go without birth control, saying that if God wanted us to have a baby now, we'll have a baby. Well, God blessed us. That's what I told my parents who asked why we didn't wait until after seminary. (My father went to the same seminary 40 years ago that my husband is attending.) Being grandparents, they're tickled to have another grandchild and give when they see necessary. (My brother and his wife have two kids; My sister has one.)
Also, my husband and I all but no longer do things like eat out anymore. For the most part, we can eat just as good if not better at home, for less. Also, we got the bigger cable package, but then, it is still probably cheaper than things like movies (even though we go to the cheap theater and daytime shows for the movies we don't want to wait to see.) Also, our local libraries have an extensive collection of movies, in addition to the collection we built up pre-baby. We're happy to stay home now. Also, I have "permission" to spend some of "my" money on post-baby clothes, since I needed some before my pregnancy. A friend gave me $25 to spend on me after the baby and that will go a long way at Goodwill. (If the prices here are still the same, I can get about five pieces of clothing for that price, more, if I get them 50 or 75% off.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
First I have to say You would be surprised at what you save being home. We don't eat out as much I didn't realize how much I was spending on extras, gas, and child care.
How about Direct sales? I didn't think it was for me I sort of fell in to it by accident. I love Mary Kay I have been using it for years about 10 now. Three years ago my consultant who also worked with me at the Large Financial Institution we both worked at the time shared the information with me at the time I blew her off and didn't give it any thought a year later I wanted to be home with my children I decided what did I have to lose I would just do it for the product discount and I was surprised at what I found. I love it. The flexibility to works as little or as much as I want, the friendships and personal growth is so hard to explain. It is hard being home with little ones even if you have friends and play dates extra you need "me" time I love being able to be someone other then "mom" and make money doing it:) If not MK look into some of the other out there.
It is very difficult not knowing your financial situation to tell you, but my experience was that having care for an infant was so expensive, I hardly had anything left at the end of the week to make working worthwhile. Sometimes you just have to tighten your purse strings up a little.
Cut back the fat in your budget, take a few days of work, go from there, then see if you can afford to cut out that work too. Simply write it all down (your expenses either way, vs. your income either way) and see what makes sense. I am a SAHM, have been for almost 2 years- not because we're rich, because we're CAREFUL with our $, and forgoe a lot of stuff other people 'have' to have, like designer labels, frequent vacations, new cars.
My son is 9 mos old and I've had success being a Rep with Silpada Designs jewelry. I set my own schedule and I run my business how I want to. There is definately money to be made here. I mostly work on the weekends for 3-4 hours at a time so my husband stays home with our son and we skip the babysitter thing. You earn cash on the spot and free jewelry. They have a huge support team and incentive trips for excelling. Oh, and it's fun! Check out the website below for more info.
www.mysilpada.com/jennifer.furse
My daughter is 6 months old and I also just moved, so I have not been working sence she was born. It has been hard but my husband has put me through a at home transcription school and I am almost finished. So I will be working from home soon, in the mean time it has been hard finacially. We would rather have me home with our daughter than some strangers watching her, and not knowing what is happening while I am not there. So good luck and do what you feel is right.
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