Why Stay At Home Moms Save More Money

 

Being a stay at home mom is a very important job.  It is one of the hardest jobs out there, but the pay is great. By pay I mean we get to bring smiles to our children’s faces, discipline them so that they turn out to be upstanding adults (we hope), and disciple them each day with God’s word. 

Yes, some days are harder than others. It is not always fun and games. What many people don’t understand is that IT IS A JOB!
It takes discipline and motivation each day. We plan our day, no one else.  A stay at home mom may have one thing in mind, and the day will go completely different. That’s ok. 


  Is money tight on one income?  Have we become a two income society due to pressures of higher mortgages, car payments, and daycare?  In many respects I think so.
 By staying at home we actually have the ability to add to our finances in a more frugal productive way.  There is not the pressure of clothes for a job that requires business casual attire, or an unhappy boss because a child was sick and we had to stay home to nurture it back to health.    Lunch does not need to be bought or packed each day. A gas budget will go down because it is ok to stay home instead of driving in rush hour traffic. 
For example, my gas budget is $50.00 per week.  That is it.  If gas goes up, I stay home more.  If I know that we have something important like an extra doctor appt. or school function then I will plan my weekend more frugally.  Something will be taken out of my week to make up for the extra gas.  But, no matter what unless it is an emergency I do not go over my budget.

Another way to save money as a stay at home mom is to eat at home.  Cook from scratch instead of a box. Eating at home is way healthier on the budget, and the body.  When you eat at home you know exactly what goes into your meals, and you know how much you can afford to buy.
Does it really make sense to spend money at the grocery store and then let the food sit?
I had a bad habit of budgeting my grocery money and then having my husband grab something on his way home from work.  This defeated the whole purpose of a budget for groceries. When we do eat out I add it to my grocery budget and meal plan.  

As a way to track expenses and income use a budgetbook. It doesn’t have to be some fancy paper, just use a notebook.
Using a budget each month lets my husband and I  know where we spend to much, or on occasion have a something extra that we can afford. There are two items on our budget that we add first.  One is savings. WE ALWAYS save for our family first. No matter what. Even if it is only $20.00 my husband and I put that aside and adjust in another area.  The second item that we add is church.  Our budget expenses include our 10% for church.  No exceptions.
 Get rid of unnecessary expenses until the family income goes up. A budget will allow all of the money to be spent wisely and it will help to acknowledge any unnecessary expenses.


It may seem like becoming  a stay at home mom means lots of financial sacrifices. I mean one income today is almost a bad word.  Well, don’t let it be a bad word in your home. I don’t look at it as half an income and we can barely afford to live.  I look at it like  “Wow” I really get to stay home with my kids!
Since I quit working  we don’t miss out on much,  for example, we are a 3 car family. None of them are new, but who needs new? We own them all, and they work!
Our TV is purchased with cash and we just bought it right before Christmas. Our family made due with the big screen we bought in 2002 until it went out.  We had the money because we had been saving for a TV.

Staying at home may mean an adjustment, a new way to look at life.  The acknowledgement that I get to raise our children and see them take their first steps or let them go play in the snow in our yard  is a large investment into their future.
If bills are tight look for the blessing, not the sacrifice.

As a frugal family our sacrifices were not small.  At one point we were literally living paycheck to paycheck on one income, and that was not every 2 weeks. It was whenever my husband got paid because he was a contractor for other people. 
Other people held our grocery money in their hands! It was not easy waiting to be paid. But we did it, and even though right now I feel like we are in a financial “safe” zone I know that at any day things can change.  Our ability to work together on our finances as a team lets me know that if we hit another rough spell, we will get through it!
I actually prefer our home “date nights” to going out.  Eating pizza in my PJ’s while the kids are in bed is the best date night ever!

No, we don’t eat out every night, but we do still eat out. We still order pizza but it is once a month instead of once a week. We still take a vacation once a year, and it’s not Hawaii, but Florida is good enough for me.

 I am able to stay home  because my husband and I paid our dues with sacrifices.  We have shown that we can be responsible with money and I feel that now God is blessing us.  Our 10% at church has increased significantly and now that we make more, we can give more.  That truly makes us feel more blessed than anything. Knowing that through the church missions we are able to help other people.  That is the true fulfillment. Look to someone else’s needs instead of our own. That will bring more satisfaction than anything. Our “job” is our home and children.  They truly NEED us.  Especially in today’s world.


Becoming a stay at home mom is not about us, it is about them. Our children.  The ones’ we carried for 9 months.  The ones’ we were up every 2-3 hours feeding. 


Can we afford to go to work? How do you save money by staying at home?

This post can be found at the following linky parties:  Living Well Spending Less and A Life In Balance.