Stay at home moms?

Question

I am having a baby & it's very important to me that i stay home. However, i'm afraid that my husbands income may not be enough to support us. How did your husband do it?

Answer 1

Hi. Congratulations. Staying at hoem is the most beautiful thing.
I have a 2y/o. 10m/o and am 19 weesk pregnant.
I wouldn't change this for anything but i'm not going to lie, it can get rough at time, financially.
You just have to know your budget. Make sure that when you go shopping, you know you'll have enough in the bank to pay the bills.
See, my husband and i drew up a plan chart of all of our expenses. This included bills, payments withdrawn automatically and then groceries.
We know how much we have left over out of every cheque so this helps us to budget what we buy on our grocery trips and then see if we have a bit left over to buy the girls something.
As long as you can stay within your budget means you'll do just fine.
We made huge mistakes when our first was born. We didn't manage our account, we'd look and say "well, we have 2 grand in the account, lets go buy baby clothes and toys" and we'd do that to find we had nothing to cover the bills.
Over last year, we took a good look at what the avergae monthly income is, how much in total come sout of that in bills, we see how much we have left over and know if we save it, great, we'll build up for an occasion to spend on, or we can spend it and not have anything to save, does this make sense.
We cut back on all luxeries. We stopped going to restaurants, we only ordered out once a week as oppose to maybe twice or three times. We cancelled subscriptions we knew we wouldn't need when the baby came. We stopped buying for ourselves, if we knew we had it, and didn't need it, then it wasen't worth buying. All these things add into saving money. We made mistakes and it got very close to us either selling his truck or him getting a second night time job, last August got so bad, it got to where i nearly had to get a job. But we worked it out, our bills are caught up and now we know what bills have to be paid and when, we know not to buy stuff we don't need.
Congrats and good luck.

Answer 2

I was a Clinical Psychologist working 12 hr days 5 days a week. Then I got pregnant, my daughter got ill and I quit. I now stay at home with my 13yr old and now 8 month old. I am fortunate in that my husband owns his own business. However my best friend has 3 little ones she stays home with on her husband's salary which is 15 dollars an hour. She does it by buying as much store brands as she can, hitting all the sales, and buying only what is needed and not many things that are impulse buys. I have so much respect for parents who live off of one income it surely can not be easy. She uses coupons, shops the sales, does laundry only one day a week, and washes dishes only once a day I guess she feels in that regards she is saving on the water bill. Her baby is on WIC I don't know if you'd be able to qualify so they pay for its formula and baby cereal and juices. Just suggestions like I said I am fortunate that we aren't in the position as so many other families. I wish you luck and its been the best thing I ever did to stay home with my son, I couldn't w my daughter and man did I ever miss so much! Having the chance to experiance being a stay at home mom I dont think I'd ever want to go back into the work force again and have someone else basically raising my baby.

Answer 3

You can get by on less than you think, really.
Make sure you and the baby are covered on insurance from your husband's job. Get online and look into some budget helpers, such as Dave Ramsey...This can guide you in ways to cut down.
After you are comfortable with being a mom for a while, you can do a lot from home to earn extra money such as babysitting at home, do an errand-running service for those who can't drive.

Also, find another stay-home mom and use each other to trade out a few hours a week. She keeps both kids a few hours and you keep them at a different day. Stay home moms can start to feel very claustrophobic and confined. I loved staying home with my kids. At different times I have done various things to help with income. I love being available for the kids even when they are in school, to go to school functions, be here when they get home, and be available to pick them up for appointments or when they are sick.
You can do this. Good Luck!

Answer 4

I stayed home for the first 7 months of my babys life and again later for four months when we moved. There are some things you could do online to make money. Or, what I consider a wonderful option for a woman who wants to stay home is babysitting. It may not be a lot of extra money but it will help and maybe it will at least give you the money to go out and get a manicure at some point or do something for yourself since youre gonna be a full time mom.

Another reason that I think this would be good is that I am a HUGE advocate of daycare. We read at home with my son and do puzzles and try to teach him things constantly, but he learns so much more from other kids at daycare. There is a ton of research about how children learn from eachother (it doesnt have to be daycare it could be sibilings or kids you babysit or playdates..mine is just an only child right now) If you watch another child (maybe after yours is a few months old...not at first) they will thrive off of eachother, give you a little bit of a break sometimes by playing together, still allow you to be home with your child,and give you some extra money. Hope you like this suggestion!

By the way, while I think it is okay for a mom to want to stay home with her child, i dont think it is right to tell your husband well i want to stay home so youll have to get a second job. when is he going to get to spend time with the baby? Thats important too. and after working 2 jobs hes going to be exhausted and just want to sleep .we have to think about him too. hes funding our family and is also adjusting to being a new daddy...probably getting woken up at night even if he doesnt get up to nurse the baby and he needs time to relax just as much as you! Lets not overwork daddy and not let him have quality time with baby and mom

Answer 5

That was my worry also. I did ask my friends and family if I could babysit their children while they are at work or whatever. So I watch 2 children 5 days a week. I make $25 a day per child. So that is around $1000.00 /mo. Pending if I watch the kids for a full week or not. In Colorado you can only have 3 children per adult in a private home. So including my child I have a full load! I would try to see what you can do. Or you can try and find a job online, but you have to be careful, MOST of them are scams. I have applied for this job at www.alpineaccess.com but I could not dedicate the time needed. With Babysitting and all. But you should check it out, they do have flexible hours just not for me! Good Luck!

Answer 6

Trust me you can get by with less then you think. I have been home for almost nine years. My husband worked two jobs for a long time. One of the smartest things that we did was bought a car outright. My husband has a good job but does not make a lot of money. We don't go out to eat very often, none of us have "high end" cloths and do not go on big vacations. I don't know when your due but try to only live on what your husband is making now and go from there.

Answer 7

You just have to live frugally!
Breastfeed-don't have to buy formula, bottles, etc plus the child will be healthier so you don't have to take him/her to the doc as much.
Plan out your meals-make a list of what you're going to eat each day and buy only the ingredients for that. Pack your hubby leftovers for his lunch.
We cloth diaper-there are many options out there for you, check out www.diaperpin.com, we will be able to reuse them on our next child too!
If you have cable tv-get the bare minimum-it's so expensive and you really don't need all those channels when you have a kid-they keep you real busy!
If you husband can work overtime, do it!
Also consider the cost of daycare-most stay at home moms will agree that if they went to work, they'd only make a few bucks after paying for daycare!
Get involved in playgroups to keep your sanity-your kid will get socialized and you can talk with adults-after days of baby talk it's nice to have a conversation!

Answer 8

Hi,
It's very hard. I am on maternity leave, 40 weeks and one day pregnant. : ) And I know I am not going to want to go back to work. So I decided to expand my current business, hoping I will not have to go back to work, atleast not when I am scheduled to on March 1st.
Not sure if you've ever heard of BeautiControl or not, but it's an excellent company. The products are absolutely wonderful and the parties are fun and relaxing. I love all the products, and they have a very large variety to choose from. This gives me a nice break for myself and allows me to be home with my family and still feel like I am contributing financially. Please check out their site, it says $179 to join, but this month there is a $179 rebate offer, so it's like joining for free. Amazing offer if your serious about building a business for yourself. When the site prompts you to find a consultant my number is 1029211, or email me at [e-mail] for more information.

Good Luck!
Barbara

Answer 9

im a mother of 3 and have no daycare so i have to stay home. We budget every thing to survive. We make it but we never have extra money to go out or anything like that. you could maybe work like 2 days a week on your husbnads days off just to have a few extra bucks.

Answer 10

I believe it's very important to stay home with the child, you could offer to baby sit other mothers kids who are your husbands friends kids from work. Save save save!. I babysat for years after mine was born and used the money to pay bills, buy diapers, and clothes. I did fine!