Budgeting for the Stay at Home Mom or the Single Income Family By Mrs. Pinchpenny
When you have a baby on the way, your priorities in life change. Most mothers are working full time and their income is just as important as their husbands in their budget and providing for the family.
So the news of a baby comes with mixed feelings, theres both guilt and happiness and the inevitable questions arise. How can you be there as a mother to your child? Can you afford the increased cost of raising a family? Diapers and daycare arent cheap. While many mothers will try not to quit working for the first child, they are often forced to quit by the second or third.
When you begin to add up the costs, it may even make more sense for one of the parents to stay home and raise the kids. This guide is meant to help you keep your sanity in that important decision and make the transition easier.
For the last decade, Mrs. Pincpenny has been helping families to find ways to save money on a daily basis. This book is no exception and contains some valuable information to help you in your journey to becoming a successful and happy stay at home mom including: Maintaining a happy marriage Moving from corporate America to multi-tasking mommy How to cut your expenses to the bare bones Socializing outlets for you and your baby Creating Income from your home business Creating multiple streams of income
$$ Moving from corporate America to multi tasking mommy
For the purpose of making it easier to follow, I have used the term stay at home mom, but more and more often I see fathers stay at home to raise their children too. There is no right or wrong answer as to who would make the better caretaker in the family and that decision is up to each individual couple. Sometimes the choice seems easy, when one person is clearly the breadwinner, but that doesnt mean these modern couples wont face some of the very same problems the rest of us do.
Having a child shouldnt be an unwelcome burden and for most people its not. Its a happy time in a couples life. Its a time to celebrate and welcome a new spirit to this world, but there are usually certain expectations we have about what it means to be a mommy. It may bring some mixed feelings: guilt, pressure, depression, sadness, happiness, and even some confusion about your identity.
For most couples, they had a dual income and expectations for each individual vary when the wife suddenly gets pregnant. How can she possibly stay home when they never had any extra money left over in the past? It took every penny to make it and with todays tough economic times, nothing is easy. Even if both people want to have someone to stay at home to raise the kids, it may not be possible if they are dependent on not only her income but her benefits to provide health care for the family.
