If you are considering becoming a stay at home mom, but are wondering how your family will be able to afford it on just one income, this article is for you.
In order for this to work, there are some things that you will need to evaluate before you make the jump, as well as some things you will need to maintain while you are a stay at home mom.
Before You Become a Stay at Home Mom
There are many things that you should consider before you become a stay at home mom. Health insurance is generally the biggest thing looming over most families if there is only one person working.
Evaluate Your Finances
Can you realistically afford to become a stay at home mom? Consider what your lives would look like if you stop working and only have your partners’ income.
Questions you need to ask yourself:
- How much do you have in savings?
- Is your partners’ income fixed or variable?
- What does their job security look like?
- How is your relationship with your partner?
- Who is carrying the health insurance for the family?
- Can you afford to keep up your current lifestyle?
- If you won’t be able to afford to keep up with your current lifestyle, what changes will your family need to make and are they realistic?
- What emergency expenses could you have in the next 6 months to a year, and are you able to afford them on one income?
- How much money will you save by not working? (Ex: childcare expenses, gas, toll fees, eating out for lunch, etc)
Create a Budget….and stick to it
It is best to create and stick to a budget for at least a couple months to a year before you plan on becoming a full-time stay at home mom.
It is best if you make a budget for the entire year because that will give you a better idea of what you can expect your money to look like year round.
You can create a retroactive budget as well, especially if you really want or need to become a stay at home mom sooner than later.
You need to be able to accurately see when you have your highest spending months, what bills you will consistently have and what you will need to cut back on in order for you to become a stay at home mom.
The more detailed the budget the better. It will also allow you to see how well your partner will react to sticking to the budget. If your partner isn’t willing to stick to this adjusted budget, you might want to reconsider becoming a stay at home mom.
Learn My Money Saving Secrets
There are many things that I do in order to save as much money as possible for my family. These money saving secrets have saved us thousands of dollars a year and can be used almost no matter where you live.
If you follow my methods, you could help your family build up your savings, so that you finances are healthier when you are ready to become a stay at home mom.
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Evaluate Your Reasoning
Your experience as a stay at home mom will probably be based on your reason for becoming a stay at home mom. You will need to setup systems to help support your and your family on this journey.
These are some questions that you might want to ask yourself:
- Why are you interested in becoming a stay at home mom?
- Are you trying to avoid childcare costs and issues?
- Do you have a sickly child?
- Are you trying to homeschool your children?
- Are you trying to care for your mental health and/or escape a toxic job?
The reason you want to become a stay at home mom will shape the kind of stay at home mom you become and how each of your days will play out.
A mom whose child is sickly will constantly be surrounded by her child and maybe even her other children, whereas a mom who is trying to care for her mental health and/or escape a toxic work environment could consider sending her children to school or a program where she is able to get some time away from the children.
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Plan Out Your Systems
Regardless of your reasoning, you should have a plan as to what each day will look like for you and your family.
These are questions you and your partner will need to agree on:
- How will chores be divided?
- Who will do the bedtime routines? Will you split the bedtime routines if you have multiple children? What about if the children sleep in the same room or if they sleep in separate rooms?
- Will you get bored?
- What kind of hobby will you have?
- Will you spend your spare time working on a hobby or business can you start and maintain from home?
- How often will you get a break from cooking? Do you need to brush up on your cooking skills since you all will have less money to eat out with?
- What habits need to be changed since you all will have less money?
- How often will you spend time with your friends?
- How often will you get time alone for self care?
- Who can watch your children if you want a date night?
- Who manages the home and car maintenance?
- When and how will you be able to go to the doctor if your children stay at home with you? Will your partner take off of work? Do you have someone else who can watch the children?
- What resources will you need to rent or buy to homeschool your children?
- Can you afford a vacation?
- Can you afford other recreational activities?
- How will you afford Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and other related expenses?
It is probably a good idea to write these questions and their answers down so that you can reference them at any point. You might even want to type them up in a Google Doc and share the file with your partner so that each of you can reference and edit it at any time.
You and your partner will probably change the expectations you have for each other as life progresses, but it is absolutely a great idea to be on the same page with your partner before you start this journey.
For the sake of the health of your marriage, it is better to have clear expectations for each spouse laid out ahead of time instead of just winging it. The last thing you want is to go into debt to be a stay at home mom or to have to struggle to find a job after not being able to afford to stay home.
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Plan for the Future
This is especially important if you already have children. Try to think ahead about the things your family will want to do in the future.
Some things you should consider:
- What programs will you want your children to be apart of and how much do they currently cost?
- What appliances, cars, and/or other items are likely to breakdown or need to be replaced within the next few years?
- Are you planning on having more children? Should you have a high risk pregnancy and your partner needs to take off work to care for you or your current children, how will that work out? Who can care for your current children should your partner not be able to?
- Will you still have enough extra money to save for your children’s future college or other expenses?
After You Become a Stay at Home Mom
All the planning in the world will never prepare you for reality. Once you get in the heat of things, you will need to make some adjustments based on your experiences.
Evaluate Your Finances
It is a great idea to continue budgeting even after a couple months to a year of you becoming a stay at home mom. Your partner might get a raise, bonus, or promotion and you don’t want your family to get sucked into lifestyle inflation. By keeping a constant watch on the health of your family’s finances, you will be in a better position to save more money so you can have a larger emergency fund, invest in the future, and plan for large purchases that your family is interested in making.
You should ask yourselves:
- How are your finances holding up?
- Do you still have savings aside if you had them before?
- Do you need or want to get a work from home job? Do you need some extra spending money? Do you need to reach a big savings goal faster?
Evaluate Your Systems
You will probably need to adjust things as you go. Your children will get older and need different things from you. Maybe your partner will get a promotion and will have different job duties or work hours. Life will always throw you curveballs and you will need to adapt to the changes your family will face.
Here are some questions you might need to ask yourself:
- How is your relationship with your partner holding up?
- How is your mental health holding up?
- How is your physical health holding up?
- Are the chores well divided?
- Are you able to get out of the house with some friends?
- Is your savings intact?
- Are you able to afford everything you need to?
