February 2014 Moms
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Anyone thinking?
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Any ladies out there thinking or already made the decision to stop working after baby is born? I have a stable career and I've continued working with my son, but I can't imagine working and being a mother of two. I just think about the struggles I've dealt with the past 2 years and I can't imagine doing it again. It's such a big decision because for me once I make this decision there is no going back. I won't be able to get a job like I have now, with the pay that I get now. I'm under government contract so its going to take some paperwork to leave my job. I guess I want to know what's making you decide, are you worried how tight money will be, do you plan on going back to work at some point, what's your general plan after baby is born concerning work?
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Re: Anyone thinking?
i LOVE my job. It's sad, but its been my whole life for 9 years. After a lot of serious thinking I've decided to take about 2 years off. We are very fortunate to be able to budget without my income. And being a teacher it is a job I can easily return to later. But I know it's a job I (and by "I" I mean me personally, a lot of women do a great job as both mom & teacher) cannot do with a baby at home. I generally work 11 hours a day and would not feel right about not being able to continue this kind of effort. I also will feel much more comfortable putting a 18mo or 2 year old in day care than a little one.
It looks like you have some added concerns working at a job it would be difficult to go back to later. I wish you the best with this very difficult decision.
I'm thinking about it. I'm a teacher, so I'll take the rest of the year off after this LO is born... it'll give us 6 months to see how things will go on one income. DH makes good money, but we have our house on a 10 year mortgage so we can pay it off more quickly... it makes our payment higher but worth it in the long run. I'd hate to go back to a 30 year loan to stay home for 3-4 years.
I also stayed home with my DS from Dec. 2009- Aug. 2010. I went so stir crazy staying home... I'd ideally like to work part time but can't do that with teaching unless I sub... I'd make $70/day subbing and have to pay $50/day for childcare... so its not worth it.
GL to you on your decision though!
Financially, it doesn't make sense for one of us to stay home. We make pretty similar salaries (within a few thousand) and once #2 arrives, we'll be paying about 1/4 of our joint income (so 1/2 of one persons) on DC. Not really enough to justify either one of us quitting, and since I carry the insurance for the family it would be H who would SAH if one of us did.
TBH, we would both love if H could be a SAHD. But unfortunately it's not financially smart. For one, he gets a significant match in his 401k that we'd lose out on. And it would put us in a very tight financial spot. While we could afford our bills, there really wouldn't be anything left for anything else like dinners out, birthday presents, etc. Things that aren't a necessity per se, but make life more enjoyable.
Sadly we'd be in a much better spot if I hadn't done 1/2 grad program and decided that MBA wasn't for me. Now I'm paying double in student loans
This is such a personal decision for the family. We have been working hard to only live on one salary for the last few years, in hopes of being able to handle staying at home once our babies come. I was one week away from my quit date last time when we delivered our daughter stillborn. Thankfully my work was great and allowed me to continue on with the company. For us, it just didnt make sense for me to stay. I would literally be bringing home about $100 a month after paying for childcare. It was not worth it to me to do that. DH and I do a lot of things on the side to make extra money, so I would continue to do those types of things. This is very personal to us, but after having lost our daughter, there is almost nothing (barring anything happening to DH) that would make me not stay home with my child. But this has a lot to do with losing our daughter.
It is totally your and your DH/SO decision. Perhaps there are other moms of multiple children in your industry who could give you some insight on staying at work (if you choose) and how they handle the work/life balance. Thankfully you have some time to decide and think it through as to how it would affect you personally and your family.