All of you SAHM's come in...
AACaHa13
member
Okay so I noticed on the FFFC board a lot of you are SAHM's. I know the SAHM board exists, but I'd rather ask here first. I am highly considering this because I don't know if going to work really makes sense if I am going to turn around and give half of my paycheck to a nanny or sitter. My mom was supposed to be our day care provider but just started a new job and has such wacky hours so I don't think she will be able to really be available.
DH and I have a good amount saved right now but I am off for the summer and by the time I head back in Oct we will be $3,000 less than from when I started my time off. That is because we are adding some decking, patio, and baby items. This Is including any and all expenses. Haven't had to watch what we spend because we are really good at saving $ and spend $ wisely but would definitely need to watch it if I were to SAH. I am looking for any and all tips!!! How do you do it? What are your ways of saving $ wherever possible? And with just one income, are you actually putting money into savings for emergencies etc? thanks so much!
Re: All of you SAHM's come in...
I would sit down with your finances and take a hard look if you could really afford to live off of one income. Take your bank statements/credit card statements from the past 6 months and see how much you truly spend on everything (gas, food, utilities, cell phone, etc) and see what that adds up to. If you can pay all of those bills with your husband's salary and you are comfortable with the numbers, try to live off of only his salary for awhile. This will be the true test to see if you can make it that way.
As far as saving, I have called my cell phone provider and our tv provider and negotiated lower rates. Some people get rid of TV and rely on hulu + and netflix. Grocery bills can be cut quite a bit if you shop with the sales and put yourself ona strict budget.
As far as staying at home..it is not for everyone. I would really think about your own personality and if being a SAHM is for you. I am more than happy with my choice but I do miss interacting with adults sometimes.
I'm sure everyone's answers are going to be different. Here's how it works for us...
The decision for me to SAH was made way before we started TTC the first time. We sat down and took a serious look at our finances and spending. We started looking for areas to cut back and be smarter about how we spent money. Back then DH and I both worked full time, DH did some per diem work on the side and I coached. (Still coach.) We barely paid attention to what we spent because we had plenty of extra money to waste.
What we learned was that we seriously bled money. Like, pretty much wasted most of my salary. We buckled down and paid off DH's car, started saving cash to buy our Pilot, paid off a student loan and put 3 months of our cost of living into savings. (So that if something ever happened to DH or his job we'd be covered for 3 months.) We started seriously budgeting- I recommend mint.com- and accounting for every penny we spend.
It really sucked at first. We had owned our house together for 4 years at that point and it was a serious shock to our way of life. But once we met our financial goals and could lighten up a bit it wasn't so bad. We own our three vehicles outright, paid off one of our student loans and don't notice much of a difference to way of living. That helped the bottom line tremendously. We also only spend cash. If it's not in the bank account it's not there to be spent.
Once we met our financial goals we started TTC.
Like I mentioned, I still coach and have a few random jobs on the side. I couldn't just SAH, I need the adult contact and to get out of the house and away from DD for a little bit a few times a week. I need to feel like I'm an active member of society. Anyway, I still bring in a bit of cash from that.
We still save, money goes into retirement, DD's college fund, a vacation fund and we save for projects. It's all part of our monthly budget and is priority over things like eating out. Since having DD we saved up to buy our new house, so about $12k in closing costs. (We had a ton of equity in our old house so we didn't need the extra cash to put down.) Since we've moved into our new house two years ago we saved up $15k to reno the kitchen, on top of other minor projects. We just make sure to plan ahead for stuff.
This got really long, but if you sit down and seriously look at what you spend you might be surprised at how much money you're bleeding and will be able to find plenty of areas to make cuts.
DD2 8.22.13
MMC 1.4.17 at 16w
Expecting #3, EDD 1.29.18
Get connected with a SAHM group of local moms, they can help you find free, cheap things to do. I cook more than I used to. We don't go out to eat a whole lot...but most of that is because DS is almost 2 and can be unpredictable dining out. I shop less, but I don't do the thrift store thing. I just found that staying home I don't NEED as much stuff. So naturally I save money there. I spend less on gas, no commute. Spend less on lunch since I don't dine out as much. We are members of our local YMCA so we are at the pool a lot and I work out daily while DS plays in childcare for a bit. It's a fun life, I won't lie.
Because we prepared for it we haven't had to cut back on much of anything when we had DS in 2011. We love our cable and our smart phones. Since we dont go out a whole lot we figure they are just entertainment expenses. Dh is a cop so we knew it would be hard for me to work FT with his crazy hours and unpredictable call outs. So I do work PT two nights a week I honestly wouldn't mind working FT again, if I had a dh with a normal schedule I would because I like my job.
I love it. It's a little extra cash and it all goes into our retirement accounts and DS' 529 plan. So I like that I am contributing to our future with my little pt job. I have a lot of fun there and it's nice to socialize with pals from work for a few hours.
I wouldn't change a thing.
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My husband is in his medical residency and I stay home to support him in his career and to be a SAHM when our son is born. We have about $30,000 in an emergency fund, and we budget his income and make sacrifices to enable us to live off of his salary alone.
A few of the ways we save money:
-Almost no discretionary spending/shopping. We buy only what we need. No "just for fun" purchases like makeup, clothes, purses, magazines, etc.
-We don't have cable TV.
-We joined the library. Instead of buying magazines or books, we check them out of the library for free.
-My husband does almost all of the repairs on our cars by himself.
-We do eat out, but mainly because we find that it's often more expensive to buy groceries for a meal that lasts us one night than it is to just eat out at an inexpensive restaurant. My husband has a huge appetite, so when I cook, unless he goes hungry, we don't really have leftovers.
-My husband eats as many meals as he can at the hospital (their meals are provided when they are working).
-We use coupons when we can.
-We will be cloth diapering, and we bought our stash of diapers used from Jillian's Drawers to save money.
-Instead of dates that cost money (like going to the movies), we find things to do at home or for free that we enjoy, like going to a park, going to the river, or playing croquet in our backyard.
-We do price comparisons. If we need to buy something, we check around at the different stores that carry it to see where we can get it the cheapest.