Stay at home moms!! How do you manage to stay home, financially?

I babysit five days a week. It helps although I have to admit I really wish I didn't have to do it! I watch 2 children and charge $100 for each child.

Do you have 2 cars? If so, is there anyway you could make it with one? Of course, that may mean taking hubby to work when you need the car, which doesn't sound fun!

What about a waitress a couple nights a week? If there is somewhere close where you think you could make good tips. My sister in law works 2 nights a week and makes some really good tips!!

If you do have to work part time it may not be as bad as it seems, it will give you a little time with other adults.

I wish you the best of luck!!

I stay home and I love it. I feel very fortunate to be able to, my husband makes enough to pay our bill. When I was pregnant I still worked full time as a waitress until I had baby. We paid off everything but our house and our SUV so I could afford to stay home. We lowered our bills by $1000 a month. I am very blessed to have this opportunity, but we didn't plan on me staying home, it just kinda happened. I have thought about watching some other kids for some extra income. Beware of on-line stuff, a lot of those are scams. I waited tables for a long time at a great restaurant that I love, you can work part time but still bring in the money a full time job would. I sometimes really miss it. Also college is not a stupid debt, I beat myself up all the time for not finishing college (I dropped out). Congratulations on your amazing accomplishment and your new baby.

I worked one day a week for the first year of my son's life (while my Mom or hubby watched my son). It didn't bring in much but it helped buy the groceries. We cut back on all unnecessary expenses and I don't do all of the 'extras' like manicures, hair-highlights, etc. that some of my friends do. We really budget and we are lucky that my parents buy my son clothes and things here and there... it really helps.

If you cannot stay home full-time than the next best thing is to have a very part-time job. There is nothing wrong with that. And if you feel comfortable leaving your baby with your mother... than it's ideal. I even had a hard time with that... but I think it's just leaving the baby that's hard.

You could also spread the word that you're willing to babysit here and there for people... for $10.00 an hour. Maybe other mothers will take you up on that so that they can run errands, go on date-nights with their hubby's, etc.

Best wishes.

You have two options depending on what position you are in.

Option 1) Make your current income work harder for you. Get on a budget and stick to it. Start cutting expenses and become more thrifty.

Option 2) If your current income is just not going to be able to cover it all right now then you have no choice but to find extra income. If hubby is tapped out and a second job for him is not an option then you can either try to find a way to make money from home (start your own business) or you can try to find a job that will allow you to take your child to work.

First thing you need to do is that budget. You need to figure out how short you are on money each month. How much are we chasing here? That will tell you if you have to take option 2 over option 1. I am going to assume that we are looking at option 2.

To try and find somethings that you can do from home you can try several things.

a) There are books that you can get at your local library that will offer lists of things you can do to earn money from home.

b) Take what you already love to do and try to earn money for it. For example, if you love to make "whatevers". Try and sell a few on ebay. In the very least, get paid for what you don't love to do but are doing anyways. Babysit, run errands, dog walk, anything you can think of.

c) If you have no idea what you are good at, go get the book "48 days to the work you love" by Dan Miller and "what color is your parachute" by Richard Nelson Bolles.

Congratulations and good luck

Well I've stayed at home since before I actually had my daughter. I was married at 20 and now I'm 24. I've stayed home since I got married. My husband has always been the type that believes that a woman should stay at home and the man should work. It was really hard in the beginning with the finances but we managed by just being really humble. We had a nice little one bedroom apartment and had two older cars which we were no longer making payments on. Well now, everything is much better. We now have a two year old and a baby on the way. A few weeks ago we were really asking for trouble, we just moved to one of the most expensive cities in the country of course with a pay raise, but we were spending way too much money. I think half of what my husband was making was being spent on food. On a Saturday alone we would spend about $200 just eating!!! Well we completely stopped that now and we now spend on groceries for the entire week less than that! So far now we're doing pretty good but you do have to sacrifice a lot.

we cut back on the extra thing we dont really need we both quit smoking we dont eat out as often things have been rough ym daughter is now 6 months old and im very much wanting to be at work and at home but i cant do both so ive been baby sitting for friends of mine who also have children and in return on the weekends when my husband is home they baby sit for us for the evening so whe can go out for dinner and a moving or do our grocery shopping might be a good idea just thought id throw you my 2 cents hope this helps

I honestly don't know how people afford to work. I make less per hour than most baby sitters, let alone quality daycare. Plus when you factor in the commute time, expense of commuting (gas or transit), the extra expenses you have when working like prepared meals I don't know how people do it.

I guess maybe if you make $40-50,000 per year it might be worth going back to work.

You might want to consider downsizing your house. That is the biggest expense.

I am a stay-at-home mom of 5, and to make ends meet my husband has 3 jobs, one full-time and 2 part-time. We dont get to see each other as often as we like, but we manage, and I get to stay home with our new baby. Also instead of going out, you could bring your child over to a friend or relative, and then just have romantic time at home alone, and that doesnt cost a thing.

I want to stay home with my children, therefore, I won't have children until my husband makes enough for us all to live on.

I was in a similar situation. I filed for unemployment [citing that I needed to stay home to take care of my child] and as long as I was "actively looking for jobs" [ie. as long as I was submitting resumes, filling out applications, going on interviews], I was able to collect a monthly check.