Is It Possible to Be a SAHM on a Small Income?

My hubby only makes 40,000 (a little more depending on his sales and ot) I have a garden this year I'm getting into canning thanks to one of my friends so whatever we don't use we will freeze or can :) I buy a lot from a local butcher their prices are better especially if you get a bundle I also get a lot of bulk items at bjs. We wouldn't have cable if hubby didn't work for them it's not needed. We have no credit cards if we can't pay cash we don't buy it, he does all the handy work around the house, are cars used but not having car payments makes a big difference. It can be done I know if I worked I would only bring home about $50 after paying for gas and childcare for two kids so what's the point for an extra $200 a month in income that's not going make or break us.

Here is the trick, cut back on what you can. I think the 2 cell phones should stay, just find the cheapest plan available. Then try living on just his paycheck for the next 6m. Put your whole paycheck into a savings account.

This will help you keep track of how many times you had to access it. Also keep in mind that daycare costs, so would what you are making go to just paying the daycare?

Good luck
M.

From what you said it will be next to impossible to stay at home unless you are willing to downsize your living arrangements. Cable and phones are such a minimal cost and that is only the very very tip of the monthly iceberg. If you have car payments they need to go, credit cards...they have to be paid off, car insurance will drop drastically if the cars are much older and not under payments so they have to have full coverage, houses can be adequate or an albatross around the neck. So much consideration takes place.

If you truly need to be a stay at home mom then you and your husband need to be on the same page about this. You won't have your income, your contribution to income tax to raise the earned income tax breaks, the money for any extras like vacations, then try it for the next 8 months.

Go cold turkey and see how it goes. BTW, if hubby hates not being able to watch the game on the weekend he's going to have TV/cable. You are the one wanting to stay home, he shouldn't have to give up everything too. He has needs and wants, if he's on board then I'd say try it and see how it fits with your lifestyle. Compromise is a wonderful tool until someone feels slighted or neglected. Then resentment builds and everything starts going wrong.

My friends husband worked a full time job and took on 2 part time jobs when she quit so she could be a stay at home mom. She enjoyed it a lot and he finally found a job where he makes good money. They enjoy having food now other than store brand macaroni and cheese or HB helper every night.

I'd advise you to sit down and list every expense. Go back a few months so you get an accurate accounting for every $ you spend.

Remember to eliminate certain expenses also, like daycare, work wardrobe for you, lunch expenses for you, gas, etc. The flip side of this is your utilities will go up since you will be home a lot more, so calculate that in. Also, try to build a little entertainment expense in for you and the kids. Zoo trips, museums, gym classes, pool membership-things like that to keep them happy and entertained and you a little outside adult company.

Then, make a list of unnecessary expenses and the ones you are willing to cut.

Total everything up and see what your monthly expenses will be and you'll know if you can afford it or not.

Also, one more thing to consider. Can you take a year off your career and still jump back in it?

Best of luck with your decision!

You have some very good suggestions so far.

You can also earn a little extra money as a SAHM by babysitting.

Live on your husbands check only. Only pay out of your check what you pay to work. i.e. gas, cleaning, uniforms, etc. That will tell you how hard it will be to live on a single salary. Pay your credit cards off ! ! ! ! !

Do things that will cut down on your bills. Start a garden. Keep up the garden. Cook from scratch because you can save lots of money that way. I spend less than half what my hamburger helper, rice-a-roni, boneless skinless chicken breast neighbors spend. Buy chicken leg 1/4's instead of chicken breasts. Ask around and find out who the bargain hunters are in your area and ask for their help. Find out who the gardeners are and ask their help.

When we lived in Arkansas we lived far enough out in the country that we had chickens. If you don't live in town, get some chickens and fence in an area for them to run in. When I lived there I bought some Rhode Island Red chicks and raised then to hens. I bought 10 chicks and raised 8 or 9 to laying stage. Those 8 or 9 hens gave us enough eggs to supply my family of 10 all the eggs we needed. Chickens will graze on fresh grass, bugs, etc and we bought very little feed corn. Your eggs will be so much better than what you can get at the store. You may even find a friend that will buy eggs from you.

Buy some blackberry vines and enjoy the "fruits of your labor". Blue berries work well there too. Get the rabbiteye type. Do your research and get the ones with the best flavor.

If you have any questions, e-mail me.

Good luck to you and yours.

This can be done but no one said it would be easy. We did it when I had kids. Even today (with me working now as the kids are in school) we still live frugally. My co-workers call me cheap but I don't care. We don't eat out unless company comes to town. We only have one cell phone with basic phone plan (no texting or internet). We have no car payments. Our kids are now learning to be careful about their money too. Bonus!!!! Even in this state we are considered at poverty level with our two incomes but we make it work and are even saving a little to pay off our house sooner. I always ask myself before I buy anything "do I need this or do I just want this". I don't have the feeling of "I deserve this nice (and I mean expensive) item" and just get it no matter what. We have used furniture (kids will tear it up anyway. lol.) Used clothes and even used toys. We love garage sales. Plan your meals and only buy what you need. Stick to a budget! Don't buy steak if it's not in the budget. I don't keep a lot of extra food sitting around in the pantry. There seems to be a lot of coupon classes these days that you might check into. We tried no cable but hubby missed the plus plan so we got it back but just a bare bones plan that lets him get news and sports. We watch for deals on Groupon and Living Social and similiar sites for family passes to museums and such. We just got the Weekender plus newspaper subscription for a year for only $20. Awesome deal! We are trying to grow our own tomatoes again this year. Didn't work out well for us last year. lol. It does help that we are homebodies anyway. We love to be at our home and we don't get bored enough to go to the mall.

I also line dry to save on electric (it's easier on your clothes too!), we cut the cable and got a Roku (one time expense, but we kept our Netflix), and we switched to pay-as-you go cell phones for emergency use only instead of monthly plans (I know that Gamma said these are minimal costs, but not to us! and our budget sounds pretty similar to yours). We rarely eat out, but you might want to stock up the freezer so you don't have to worry about cooking when the baby is a newborn. Adjust the thermostat so that it's a little warmer in your house in the summer and a little cooler in the winter. Target.com/coupons is my favorite coupon spot, and I got the red card to save 5% on every shopping trip (but you need a SuperTarget for the groceries of course). I think it's a great idea to try to start putting all or most of your check away and make as many changes now as possible! And I don't think it's unfair for hubby to make some sacrifices too, since this change isn't a selfish one. Some of my friends who are doing the SAHM thing for a while are sharing a car with hubby too. This is easier if he can carpool some days or bike or take the bus, but one friend just drops him off a couple of days a week so that she can run errands, etc. This saves on car payments, insurance, and gas (depending on how you work it). I like staying home for now, so I wish you luck!

If it doesn't seem to be workable otherwise, could you do something part time or from home? What kind of work do you do? I plan to go back to working part time when my youngest is 2, and using a mother's day out program. ;-)

we are a family of 4. I stay home. My husband makes only $3000 a month. We pay almost half of that for rent. The rest goes to bills, food, car payments, preschool, student loans, and gas. We come out with $0 at the end of the month, but we decided that I was going to stay home before we even got married. I love it! It's very tight, but it works. We don't eat out, we don't buy anything extra. Now, once our kids are both in school full time (1-2 more years), then I might be able to go more full time with photography. I only do it part time and when my husband is home to watch the kids. It's hard work to make it work out, but it's sooo worth it!

Yes, but there's not any one magic tip, it's a total lifestyle change. When we got married, we had about 20k in debt from our past lives. Yuck! When making the decision to marry, I knew that meant leaving my job behind and moving to TX, so I was starting over as far as a new job (couldn't do that job again where I was moving to) while we were starting a new marriage together. 6 weeks later, I get pregnant (found out 12 weeks after marrying). YIPES! That lit a fire under our backsides to get out of debt and get ahead.
Throughout the whole pregnancy, my husband worked a lot of overtime (about 65-70 hrs/week), 6 days a week. I worked at his company 40 hours/week Monday-Friday, and got a part time job at Babies R Us on weekends (about 10-15 hours/week), for 50-55 hours/week, 7 days a week. I got the job at Babies R Us so that I could learn the products well and pay attention to what is out there, what is REALLY needed and what is just a want, talked to employees and customers alike on good/bad points of items, and secretly paid attention to what was getting returned a lot. "Product research" I suppose. On top of the education, I was making a little more money and getting an employee discount (that goes on top of the coupons and sales) on what I did buy there. We lived on my husband's paychecks ONLY and put 100% of my paychecks, after tithes and taxes, to debt payment and savings. At that time, more weighted to debt payment with high interest than savings with low interest, though we did both at the same time. I worked both jobs throughout the whole pregnancy. (Applied at Babies R Us on my way home from the doctor visit that told me I was pregnant, lol).
You WILL need cellphones ESPECIALLY being pregnant or having a baby around, you should have the ability to call if you need help and your husband will want to be able to get in touch with you if he's checking in...he will want to know you're ok and safe, and honestlly there just aren't a lot of payphones around anymore if you needed help. DO get a cheaper plan and abide by the minutes requirements. Texting: cut it out and request your friends call instead. (I know if you have an iphone you have to have some texting in your plan, but get the minimum allowed). My brother has 2 phones and 2 free email accounts, but his bill could be $50 more than it should be just because people are constantly texting, texting, texting. That's so stupid! I just told my friends point blank "We've cut the texting out. Call, email, or pm me on yahoo or fb". Period. And they do, and life is fine without it. Instead of eating lunch in the canteen or out, pack your lunches and take them to work instead. My husband's green tea or V8 splash, 2 sandwiches (made of whole wheat or pumpernickel, 2 slices of rolled meat, maybe some swiss, muenster, or provolone, and a separate container for his lettuce/spinach and tomato, for example) and a piece of fresh fruit cost less than half the price of a proper lunch out, and much healthier for him than a unhealthy cheap fast food lunch. Do buy generic when possible, cable doesn't have to disappear but can be dropped to basic, look at a part time weekend job that would be easy enough on you physically but would benefit you, do not eat out so much!!! That was huge for us. We liked going out a lot, but then I learned to cook and to do so effectively. Shop sales papers and coupons (not talking anything extreme but like, the Sunday paper): people on this site sometimes say that's just junk food, but it's not. All my cleaning supplies, makeup, soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, catfood, facial care, detergents, batteries, as well as foods can be found in the coupons on Sunday. When you cook, you can find little tricks to save time and cook several meals at the same time so you don't have to cook on your "busy" days, and will lessen the likelihood of getting take out when you're tired. (Not that you can never eat out again, but just learn how to do so maybe once or twice a month, as your budget allows). Seriously, make a budget: How much does your husband make, what are your fixed bills (house, car, insurances, etc), then your necessary but changing bills (electric, water, gasoline, etc)--can you cover all those and have money leftover on one paycheck, even if you have to tweak those changing bills up a bit? (cheaper plan for cells, plan to do all errand running and shopping on ONE day so you can make a little circuit instead of driving back and forth all over the place throughout the week will save on gas, line dry some things if your hoa allows it and if not, then you can get a drying rack that folds up and can go in a closet or between the dryer and wall in your laundry room when not in use to save money on clothes and electric, be aware of water and lights, etc, etc). Doing this budget will show you what you're doing well at, what needs to change or go away, and how good you're improving monthly as you practice this. Make friends with craigslist! You can find great things for great prices on there and baby stuff doesn't really need to be new, it just needs to work and be clean. I got most of my baby stuff, all brand name, from craigslist. Doing all of this, specifically taking 10% of my husband's income for tithes, 10% for savings, and living on the rest....then 10% of my income for both jobs for tithes, 10% of both incomes for savings, and then 80% (ALL the rest of my income) went to paying off all debt. Anything leftover went to savings...that, and saving money all kinds of ways, we paid off ALL (all!) of our debt except 1 car in our first year of marriage! We paid off that car and saved up our money for a downpayment on a house the second year of marriage (after the baby was born I stopped working for 3 months and then started going to Babies R Us on Sundays only; my husband would watch the baby and I worked 5 hours a week, partly for a little income and partly to get out of the house and around people). By then, we were good at living on one paycheck, and he got promoted a few times because of all the hard work, and now he can work 45 hours a week and bring in much, much more than that first year. I provided inhome childcare after my eldest son turned 16 months, and quit when he was 3 because I was in the 3rd trimester with the second pregnancy. That provided extra money but was more for "fun money"; we never increased our spending just because money was coming in. We found out what was comfortable for us, and kept that as our standard. It can be done! Good luck!

Cut out what you really can live without.
Cable-until recently we didn't have cable, we couldn't afford it and I didn't really want it.
Look at your food bill and buy generic when you can. Make your own sandwiches and trail mixes, instead of granola bars.
We went down to one income then I went to work here and there in the mall for a Christmas season just to help out with some of the bills. I ony worked when hubby was home to watch the kids.

It IS possiable but HARD. my hubby made $1200 a month (and now more like $1600 with a second job) and I am a stay at home mom. we dont have cell phones, we have basic cable that is bundled with our phone and internet. We dont eat out, and I make vegatarian meals alot (we use alot of rice and beans because they are super cheap) I plant a garden in the summer and plan our meals around it. We buy diapers at Krogers and the dollar store because they are cheaper and work just as well. I cut down on the electric by lowering the temp on the water heater to 90 degress (usually it is set at 120) and wash most of our clothes in cold or warm water, during the summer I line dry our clothes because the dryer uses a lot of electric. we use only one car two. money is tight but we are happy in our desicion for me to be a SAHM, plus usually once a month we have an extra paycheck (it is from his part time job so it is small usually less then $180) that allows us to save a little and maybe go out or buy a little extra something.

With the income left over after you are no longer working, I wouldn't want to have to be responsible for the monthly bills (which you know will increase after baby is born because of diapers!, extra medical needs, and all those extras). My poor husband would probably stroke out with that type of responsibility. Staying home is honestly great with a new baby, however, the stress that being financially strapped causes, I don't think it would be worth the trade off for the family. I hope it all works out for you and everything goes wonderfully!!

You can be a stay at home Mom and still have an income. Look into babysitting a couple of kids, or home based businesses like Tupperware, Mary Kay etc. A lot of your sales are now done online.
You can garden and grow and can or freeze veggies and fruits.

To be honest--you may be considered low income but I honestly didn't make as much as one of you do and raised 4 kids as a single Mom and no child support for the last 2. There are a lot of things you can cut and make ends meet.

It is possible - and I've done it now for 9 years, the last 5 1/2 of which I've worked from home with a wellness company that actually helps folks who struggle with psoriasis! We need to talk! I've earned a replacement income for several years now - and my kids are always my first priority - I work about 15 hours a week during naptime and bedtime - and we've been able to build our dream home, too! Feel free to call me anytime and we can go over the details - and see if it might be a good fit for your family! Blessings on the new little one - being a mom is the BEST THING EVER! :)

S. M.
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http://www.healthyhome4family.com