Going from Working Mom to SAHM, Ways to save Money??

Over a year ago, while I was pregnant with my second child, my husband and I were on the verge of divorce because we were soooo stressed out! He worked very long hours, I worked a very fast paced, stressful job and we had pretty much had it with our lives! We had a 7 year old with severe ADHD and I really felt I needed to focus more on him. It was the biggest leap of faith I've ever made and I won't lie and say it's been as easy as pie but EVERY MINUTE HAS BEEN WORTH IT!
I found a "mommy makes calculator" and after putting in all of my "work expenses" (gas, second car note, lunch money, clothes budget, daycare costs...etc.) I was only BRINGING HOME approx. $300 a month. And I was making WAAAYYY more than that in my corporate job!

So, I did some online research and found a few website's that have helped me as we've hammered out our new budget.

Websites:
www.thegrocerygame.com
www.livingonadime.com
www.hillbillyhousewife.com
www.angelfoodministries.com
www.miserlymoms.com

I found that our food budget went down b/c we weren't eating out so much and I started making a lot of things from scratch (hillbilly housewife gave me a lot of neat recipes and tips on what convenience foods are worth it and what you can make yourself for much cheaper). We utilized a food pantry on a couple of occasions and also Angel Food Ministries as we were just starting out on this.
My second child was born with a physical disability so I'm not able to return to work even if I wanted to (I think God knew what he was doing when he put it on my heart to quit working!)So, we've had to make this budget thing work!

Give yourself a year of up's and down's before you get everything running smoothly. And try to use CASH for as much stuff as you can. Don't carry credit cards or debit cards with you to the grocery store or out to eat. Budget and don't spend over what you have budgeted!

- Make a schedule for your day so you get things done. Maybe clean bathrooms on Monday, kitchen on Tuesday, organize office on Wed....etc.(after you let yourself veg out for the first week or two after quitting your job...destress a bit!)
- Set a specific time that laundry will be done during the week so you aren't running load after load day and night. Your washer and dryer use up ALOT of electricity! I have 2 days a week that I do laundry in the mornings and that's it. Whatever dirties has to wait until laundry day to get done. (Unless it's a special occasion, of course!)
- Wash dishes by hand as you go to save on the water that a dish washer uses, or make sure you have a FULL dishwasher before running it. (and I mean full, organize dishes so you maximize the room) I only run the dishwasher once a week and handwash everything else.
- Eat Leftovers! Living On A Dime has WONDERFUL resources in their books and free newsletters that show you how to take leftovers and turn them into a totally new meal! My hubby "won't eat" leftovers but he has so many times not even knowing it! I'll make a meatloaf for dinner bigger than I'll need and then slice the leftovers for sandwiches for the next days lunch. Make a pot roast on Sunday that can be eaten on throughout the week as sandwiches and then turned into a vegetable beef soup for dinner one night.

I know alot of this info won't help you "Get there" but it will help you stay there once you have! Just make a budget now, pay off what you can and remember that your families happiness is what matters in the long run. STICK TO YOUR BUDGET AND SACRIFICE WHAT NEEDS TO BE SACRIFICED. We took a hit to our credit by returning my car that was a $450 monthly payment for a car that had a $150 car payment. We moved from a luxury apartment to a moderately priced apartment. It was TOUGH but we kept our eyes on the goal and found that happiness did not come from the things we had but by how much JOY we took in being with each other!
Good luck to you in this AWESOME endeavor!! It will be worth anything you have to do!

Oh my, yes. Port your home phone number to your cell phone and cancel that service. Cha-ching. Get your utility bills with the best, least expensive carrier and ask up front for them to average the bills so you can budget monthly. Shop and compare car and home insurance coverage.
Call every couple of months to make sure you're getting the very best cable TV or dish rates. Cut out the nickel-dime stops at fast food places and keep some tortillas for quick scrambled-egg tequitos or those wonderful little White Castle frozen burgers instead for super easy quick fixes. Search for wasted money. If you don't have time to read the newspaper, or magazines, don't renew those subscriptions. You can always catch up at the library. Spend a little time making occasional repairs to clothes.
Make a grocery list and stick to it in the store.
Organize a garage sale or put some things up on e-Bay for a little extra cash. Make your hobbies pay for themselves or find ones that do.
Your friends and family will of course think you have nothing to do and you will find yourself being asked for help with all kinds of things. For the more rediculous requests, such as house renovations or cleaning out closets and toys, tell them you work for 10.00/per hour and laugh and see if they bring it up again. At least get a dinner out of it...
Hat's off to you and best of luck!
C. S.

hi - good for you!

i really can't give a lot of advice on "making the transition" as i became a stay-at-home mom just before getting pregnant with my first, it was always our plan. we are fortunate that my husband alone makes enough money to afford us a very comfortable lifestyle, but i still make every effort to save as much as possible. so, i'll list some of the things that i do.

-sell anything that you don't need/use that's in good shape on craigslist

-clip coupons, i know some people think this is terribly time consuming, but you can get an organizer(7 pocket) in the dollar spot at target right now and just make up 7 tabs, i would probably do baby stuff, person hygiene products, cleaning items, refrigerated foods, frozen foods, nonperishable foods, and other/restaurants. you can also get the organizer with more pockets, i think mine has 13 or something like that. just every sunday, clip your coupons and organize them, and go through it while doing your grocery list.

-limit yourself to ONE grocery trip per week

-join costco, i save a TON of money there, and they are way cheaper on diapers than anywhere. i have a four week shopping rotations as follows:
Week 1: Costco $350, SuperTarget $20
Week 2: SuperTarget $25
Week 3: SuperTarget $120
Week 4: SuperTarget $25

-we do a "cash only" system. on each payday(1st & 15th), i put aside a certain amount of money in each envelope ,if there's no money in a certain envelope, well, tough luck for us! my envelopes are my money, husband's money, kids allowance, dog stuff, household, groceries, medical, new baby, haircuts, one for each of our birthdays, christmas money, vacation, easter, halloween, eating out/entertainment - i'm sure i left a few out, but you get the idea.

-move if you have to. move closer to your husband's job and go down to one car if necessary.

-don't run the roads just to be running the roads! gas, wear and tear, and more frequent oil changes will cost you.

that's all i can't think of for now...

good for you...you won't believe how busy you'll be!!

join the grocery game and clip coupons for everything!!! I save $50/week in groceries. also, I have a small organizer in the car of all the store coupons that I get in the mail for stores/restaurants--you'll save lots.

I agree--cut all the fast food--too expensive and unhealthy!

Shop resale clothes for you and your kids. Recycle your kids clothes/toys/books and sell them at resale stores---you'll get a credit and you can buy your kids clothes there.

I agree--clean out closets & drawers and sell it!!! Sell it on ebay or have a garage sale.

Have fun!!

Make a game out of how much money you can save...I'm always telling my sister because it makes me so happy...it makes me feel like it's the way that I can help my home meet the bottom line.

Also, big one....cut up credit cards!!! Biggest waste of money is paying to use other people's money!! (interest)

Good Luck!!!

go to www.daveramsey.com and he has a course you can take to learn how to dump debt; it was the best thing my husband and I ever did. I love being able to stay home with my kids!! Ever thought about selling Avon?? Easy to sell! The brochures pretty much sell themselves! Great commission and benefits including discounts for your own purchases. Work your own schedule. I stay home with my young children who are my helpers. I have alot of fun with it and it helps with finances. Check out my website and contact me today! Only $10 to get started! www.youravon.com/edithwood

R.,
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M.

Well I went from working Mom to SAHM overnight. We really couldn't afford for me to stay home but we couldn't really afford for me to work either.

I started figuring out having a toddler and a newborn in daycare was costing $300 week, about $100 in gas to drive to work for a week, lunch money and that was $400 plus. So that was my husbands whole check and basically only was of us was bring home a paycheck the other was paying for childcare and to get to work. So why are we paying someone else to spend all this time with our baby.

So, now I SAHM and I work at home Part time, around there schedule and I can raise my kids. My husband works fulltime and we save childcare of $300 a week and the gas money. I still have to cut coupons and anywhere I can but least I know my kids are safe and they are not around alot of sick kids either.

If you want to know more info on the company I work for just let me know, they are having a career fair this month.

Good luck

i quit my job in august of last year and i am loving being a stay at home mom!! i actually get to see my kids do things instead of hear about it from a daycare teacher. it is awesome, but there are financial cut backs that we had to do in order for me to stay at home.

have you ever considered starting a stay at home business? i have stumbled onto a really great one. there is no sales, or inventory to keep, no parties to throw or magazines to pass out. you can do it full time or part time and basically make as much money as the effort you want to put into it. if you are interested in some more information please visit my website at www.formyrugrats.com. i would love to share this amazing opportunity with you!!!

D. Mattern
The MOM Team
Raise your income and your rugrats at the same time!
www.formyrugrats.com
"The only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself through love," Galatians 5:6

Good for you!! :)

We've cut our grocery bill in half by doing The Grocery Game (www.thegrocerygame.com) .

We live in a modest home and have one car. My girls aren't involved in tons of activities & we don't wear expensive clothing/shoes/etc. Very modest living.

And every single day it's worth it.

I don't think I have anything new to add, but I wanted to encourage you to follow the suggestions people have given.

Buying generic really does help tremendously, and 99% of the time you still aren't giving up quality. Costco is awesome (even for name brand) for diapers, wipes, formula, cereals, and many other things that a young family needs. I also do almost all my gift shopping there as they have some very nice things in general. I admit to rarely clipping coupons, but I do check the circulars weekly and choose to shop wherever has the best prices on things I need that week.

Some people feel a little weird about shopping resale. There are great deals at those stores, and you can often find things that are brand new with tags that people just weren't able to use. My MIL hates that I shop resale, but so what. She'd never have known if I hadn't told her. Check out local consignment sales too such as Divine Consign. I never pay full price for anything. Shop outlet stores and sales!

Also do research online for large ticket items. A great baby store online is www.albeebaby.com I haven't found anywhere to beat their prices for things like strollers and car seats. Amazon.com surprisingly also has some good deals. Overstock.com sometimes has great prices too, but you have to be careful there. Sometimes they aren't as good as they look. My definition of a good deal is, "A better price than WalMart!" And never pay for shipping!!!!

The suggestion to get rid of your home telephone line is also wonderful. Or even the other way, if you think you can live without a cell phone. Cut back on the cable or satellite too. You won't have time for premium channels anyway. In fact, if you aren't a huge TV watcher, you could forgo cable completely. Get some rabbit ears for your TV and (depending where exactly you live) you still get the major broadcast networks and KERA. I am trying to get my DH to do this, but he is still holding out because he needs his ESPN and FOX News :)

Call you car insurance company and find out how much they'll reduce your rates if you become a SAHM. I got a nice big discount even though we kept my car, just because it was no longer used every day. They'll probably ask you to estimate how many miles per week you will drive. You may also want to call around to be sure you are with the company that will give you the lowest rates.

Best of luck to you!

We cut our income in half when we decided I would stay home with our baby. It is so much more important to me that I am the one at home every day with my gorgeous baby girl. No regrets whatsoever!!!!

Things I have learned:

The generic formula made by target is the same as the enfamil that I was using at the hospital and it is $13 vs. $23 per can.

Buy diapers and wipes in bulk. I have found that Babies R Us (BRU) has the best deal on these since the bulk packages they carry are bigger than any other store, even walmart. I called around to get that information. Also, nearly every month, BRU has some kind of coupon on diapers and wipes.

Shop resale stores like Kid 2 Kid for other baby needs or eBay.

I don't make dinner plans until I go to the grocery store. I shop at Tom Thumb with their card because it is right around the corner. Each week I buy meat and produce according to what is on sale and I plan dinners accordingly.

We have our cell, internet, home phone and tv all combined and this reduced our bill.

I have been meaning to start clipping coupons, but have not found the time yet. :(

Anyway... those are my suggestions. Financially, find either the lowest balance you can pay off first or the thing with the highest interest rate. Once you pay something off, role the payment from the item you paid off into the next bill until all is gone. Also, look closely at your interest rates. You may be able to find a better rate on another card, but be careful of % fees on balance transfers.

Good luck! It is totally worth it!!!!!

Hi R.,

You've gotten some good suggestions. Cutting the household income can take some planning. One of the best things we did when I decided to stay home was attend Financial Peace University. For info check out www.daveramsey.com - if you don't want to attend the classes, he has some great books that can help. He also has a radio show on every weekday afternoon, I think on 570 am.

Good luck!

C.

When I first started staying home my son was 17 months.
My salary was about $60K. It was a tough decision, but my son has a compromised immune system (I do to, and we are the people that no matter what we do, vitamins, meds, etc... we get sick if anyone breaths around us when they are sick). I recommend reading a book called "Becoming Chief Home Officer". It helped me a lot.
ANyway, 1)we sold my husbands car that was paid off and used that money to pay off my car. Then, I drove him to work at least twice/week so that I didn't feel like I was housebound. Sure, I had to get up earlier those days and wake up baby, but we worked it out. 2) Clip coupons and shop sales. 3) learn to do your own mani pedi, or at least make yours last longer. 4) Meal plan. I do a monthly meal plan. This cuts down on "what do we eat tonight, let's order out". 5) Be prepared to eat out less. And when you do, SWAP babysitting with another couple. There are studio grilles where you can eat while watching a movie, thus cutting babysitting time. 6) buy lots of bar towels at Target or wherever, to use in place of papertowels. This saves money & is "green". 7) make your own cleaning supplies (look up uses of vinegar on the internet). Again, saves money & is green. 8) Make your own greeting cards/Christmas cards, etc. 9) sell things on eBay that you don't need. 10) Before you quit your job, pay off as many credit cards as you can and only use your bank card for purchases.
That is a start...
GOOD LUCK.

Yes! Being a SAHM is the best thing ever. Especially when you have a strong stream of income coming in to support your family.
I've been a stay at home mommy through a beautiful opportunity. When you get a chance, check out my web site and click on the opportunity presentation on the lower right corner.
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The Dave Ramsey book is great, also getting a VOIP phone service reduced our phone bill from $120 to $23.00 a month. I left my teaching career to stay home and raise my children and it was the best decision I ever made however I missed the money so I work part time flexible hours from home so I can have money to do what I want with my children, save for their college, go to Disney, etc. I was miserable at home with no money, now I have both :) Visit www.workathomeunited.com/jobs if you want to request more info or talk with other moms who have made the transition.

Go to the library and try to find 2 books:

"Miserly Moms" and also "Frugal Families". They are written by Jonni McCoy. Give great ideas on living on 1 income. Also remember that you are doing this to spend time with your child/children, not to put them into every possible activity. I am a stay-at-home mom and have never enrolled my children in any type of activity. We enjoy being at home and playing with each other.

www.angelfoodmonistries.com is WONDERFUL and has cut our food expenses down like you would not believe!! Anyone can order and they only use churches for hosts sites because every city has one so you dont have to attend there to order and they arent allowed to pressure you too either. :) We have been pleased with the food as well. Most people dont realize that big lots sells food and I have saved a ton there too on things from bread to nonperishables to diapers and wipes to house cleaning stuff garbage bags etc. Dollar General also sells food like milk and juice etc. Braums also has great deals on milk juice etc. I also get most of my produce at the flea market in ft worth and sometimes at the farmers market. Since we go to the same guy now all the time he reconizes us so we always get a deal and or free fruit. I also have a small garden that helps a lot as produce is always the most expensive it seems. Even in an apt I used bins and grew small things like peppers and tomatoes? If you use formula sams and costco will save you a lot on this as well. your local freecycle group will be heaven sent too when you need stuff. Jusy go to yahoo.com click on groups and then type in your city under search and you should find at least 1 or 2 freecycle groups to join. This is where people offer stuff they dont need or want anymore or request stuff they need or want. I have gotten clothes toys even a swimming pool and double oven from this site. :) I also use www.kraftfoods.com alot. Most of there stuff is inexpensive to make and really tastey. I also love my crockpot. Less expensive cuts of meat are great in crockpots, it makes a lot and life as a busy SAHM. . .well you get the gist. ;) As far as credit cards I agree get rid of them. Then to pay them off what we did that worked quicker was we paid the min on all but the lowest one and focused on paying off that one. Then we took the next lowest and added what we were paying on the one we just paid off to it and paid that off then added that amt to the next one and so on. Hope tyhats not clear as mud. ;) I also checked all my cos like switched to a cheaper power co, tv co, phone co etc. Vonange is great! lol :) If you are on cafemom they also have some frugal family groups that have a lot of good ideas as well! Good luck to ya and congrats!!

I was in the same position as you. I now have a job that allows me to work few hours when I want to. I leave the house in the evenings and weekends when my husband is home so we save on childcare. I make GOOD money and the financial opportunity is limitless! It has made a huge impact on my life, so much so that I'm retiring from full time M-F work altogether. Please check out this website, it could make all the difference for you! Good luck!

www.mysilpada.com/J..furse

Hi. I just checked out the book "Miserly Moms" from the library. It's exactly about going from a two income family to one income. I've learned so many different ways to save money. Although I don't stay home, it has still helped our family cut down in many ways. We are also on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Check that book out at the library as well or visit www.daveramsey.com. We are on the fast track to getting out of debt. We are having fun finding new ways of earning and saving money. Good luck.

Congratulations to you on becoming a SAHM.

As for us, it was the plan long before I got pregnant 13 yrs ago. I am fortunate to have a husband who provides a very nice lifestyle for us. We have 1 child (13 yr old) daughter and 3 dogs.

I am not a resale shopper, coupon clipper mom, we do eat out fairly regularly and #1 is date night once a week with hubby.

When my daughter started K in 2000 I was at the school volunteering a LOT and I was asked to start substituting. I applied and I substitute teach on occasion at the one school anywhere from 1-3 days a week, my choice. I tend to keep it at 1 because if I leave the dogs all day, I spend 1/2 of my check on the pet sitter!!

My husband travels a LOT. He home offices, therefore he has no "support" from HQ like a lot of men do. I act as his support by booking all of his air travel, hotels, rental cars, make sure he is registered for conferences on time (you get a discount if you register early for a lot of those). He is the one bringing home the paycheck but I do a lot to support him so HE does not have to think or worry about that aspect of his job. He does the major things as in negotiations, etc. I manange anything I can possibly manage to make his job easier. I am his cheerleader.

Someone mentioned the car insurance....YES, certainly check on that. We have 3 cars and I have discounts on each because they are not driven to and from work. His company provides a car for him. We do not have car loans.

IF you use credit cards, NEVER let it slide. ALWAYS pay in full before the due date. If you cannot do that, DO NOT use a credit card. File expense reports on time and get YOUR money back in a timely manner. Pay anything you can ahead of time such as property taxes before the end of the year so you can use that in your taxes, IRA's, etc. Make sure you have a good plan for college set up for your children.

I do shop Costco once a month (great toilet tissue and paper towels) and check weekly ads. I stock up when something we like is on special (Water, All, sodas, etc) I keep my pantry stocked with canned goods, pasta and things that don't spoil quickly.

Those are just a few things we do. Maybe it helps or gives you some ideas. Enjoy your children. They grow up SO fast.

Susan

R.,

Take a look at my website. It's a great, free home business that I found on Mamasource and it takes very little time.
Email or call and let me know what you think! www.mymagnoliamall.com

Thank you,
L.
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Hi R.. My name is T., a 26 yo, disabled at home mom. My husband and I recenntly checked our credit report and realized that together we were over $20,000.00 in debt. I was so shocked, more than double from what I thought. I decided that I had to do something about it. I went into business for myself and am loving it. I am looking for some new people to add to my team. It would only cost you $25.00 to start, with no commitment. When you hand me the money I will hand you all the tools that you will need to make some, or a lot, of extra cash. If this sounds like something that you would be interested in learning more about then feel free to e-mail me and I would love to fill you in... ____@____.com

Many Blessings,
T.

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