Anyone become SAHM for financial reasons?

actresscye · February 2012

I am just curious if anyone became a SAHM mom because it would be better financially? I know some people go SAHM because they want to be with their kids etc... but I am wondering if the impact of paying for daycare etc... costs ends up for some people being a better off situation where the mom stays home (or dad). Since we have #2 coming along... my DH and I are trying to figure things out.

mchupie · February 2012

I left my job at the end of August because we had planned on moving in October (which turned into December, unfortunately). My company has a one year non-compete agreement so until the end of August I cannot work for any of my old company's customers or competitors.

So, I have looked at unrelated jobs I could do but everything I find would result in me barely making more than the cost of daycare. As a result, we've just decided that I will stay home until a few months after baby #2 comes. At that time my non-compete will have expired and hopefully I can find something locally.

jedaniel · February 2012

This is #1 for us. I got laid off last July and I looked for work for 5 months but was only getting offers to make half as much as I was making. In December when we got the BFP me and H had a serious talk about should I keep looking for work or basically start being a stay at home wife until the baby comes and then turn into a SAHM.

When it came down to it it will be cheaper for me to stay home. Judging from the offers I was getting while I was looking for work, it would barely (if even) cover the cost of day care and my gas (due to the massive SUV I drive) to get to work. So I will be a SAHM for atleast a year and then we will discuss it from there. And I am so excited to spend that time with my LO, I can't wait!!

blindvictory · February 2012

I'm going to be a SAHM for both reasons. I want to be with my kids, but me working would basically be paying for daycare. So there's really no point.

Jenelle101 · February 2012

I stopped teaching to stay home with my daughter (I just officially resigned last week!). We figured if we ever wanted more kids, we would either have to wait until DD turns 5 and is in school (which I didn't want to do), or I would stay home and start a childcare/preschool in our home and we could have as many kids as we wanted. (We couldn't afford to pay $2000/month for childcare for 2 kids.)

So, that's what I did. I've been very successful at it so far and I am even considering opening a large childcare so I can take in more kids (more $$) and have an assistant. I'm already making more money than I was as a teacher. So this was what worked for us.

I guess I'm not considered a SAHM.. because I work from home, but close enough!

Krissersroro · February 2012

I am very lucky and have a mother who doesn't work and would babysit for free, so financially, I should work. But I took time off for infertility treatments (I was missing a lot of work driving 45 mins to my clinic almost every day) and now that I AM pregnant, I am positive I want to be a SAHM. With this extended time off we realized that although money will be tight with a baby and 1 income, it is possible. So, we will see with time how it goes, but I plan on staying home with my baby

linzeek44 · February 2012

I haven't quite figured this out. I'll finish my Master's program in May and it looks likely that we'll move... so I don't plan on getting a job for the few months between moving and the baby's arrival.

My new degree is in early childhood special education, so my most likely job would be teaching preschool or kindergarten. I'm not sure it makes sense for me to go and teach for just as much as quality day care would cost, so it looks like I'll be staying home for a bit. I'm also hoping to go back for a PhD, so I might stay home for a bit and then go back to school. I think I might have the option of doing some research work from home, so I might do that... so many factors.

mrs.kapow · February 2012

I get the argument/POV for this, but my boss did say to me once, "Daycare is temporary; your career is not."

So, as long as I enjoy working and it's not putting us into debt, I will. If for some reason, a second fetus was hiding behind this one and we find out at the NT scan, it might be a different story.

KarBear · February 2012

Well, I got laid off a little over a year ago, so financially, yes, I've had to SAH, but it's more because I can't find a new job that pays decent.

redjetta22 · February 2012

DH and I are really struggling to figure out how we will afford day care for two. There are some definite pros to staying at my current job, but cost of day care for two near my job will be like a huge pay cut for me. So we will have to make some huge changes either in my job, child care situation, or all of the above. One of the remote possibles would be me staying home temporarily. But that's a last resort. I'd love to stay at home. The little time i spend with DS is heartbreaking at times. But we really need the money i make.

Fluff28 · February 2012

I don't see how it's going to make sense for me to continue to work and pay for 2 kids in daycare, I don't think I'm going to work, but it's not a conversation I really want to worry about just yet. I'm hoping a situation will present itself that will allow me to either continue my job part time from home or something because I don't know that we can afford for me not to work at all either. Or I'm hoping for my hubby to get a huge raise... Pretty unlikely

We haven't told anyone we're pregnant yet so we'll see what happens in the next few months.

PinkPhotog · February 2012

With our first, we were both in college so instead of me continuing with my 4 year degree, I received my associates. Then DH graduated and got a job so we moved. Later that year, we had DD. Now that I'm pregnant with our third, there's absolutely no way I could begin to make enough money to cover the cost of daycare for three. After this LO is a few years old, I want to continue my degree online or at a local college. Then by the time LO is in school, I can start looking for a job. DH's job is flexible enough that he could be home to put them all on the bus and get them off if need be.

ArtificialRed · February 2012

blindvictory:
I'm going to be a SAHM for both reasons. I want to be with my kids, but me working would basically be paying for daycare. So there's really no point.

I went back to school this semester, so the job I have right now probably wouldn't even pay for daycare at all. But any job I would probably find/have interest in still probably wouldn't pay for the daycare, so I will SAH. I want to anyway.

bluecrab1020 · February 2012

I've always wanted to SAH because I want to be with my child as much as possible, but the financial aspect makes it possible and kind of a no-brainer for us.

I've toured and observed at many day care locations as part of my job. The only one I would send our child to is located right at my school, but even with my discount, it would cost half of my monthly take home.

On the other hand, I also run a private therapy practice. If I work 10 hours a month, I'll take home about half of what I do now.

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