Being a Stay-at-Home Mom - How to Manage Financially

If the desire to be a stay-at-home parent is strong enough, begin by assessing what can be done at home to bring in a little extra money and how savings can be made without anyone suffering. In an effort to be at home with my children, I realized that there were several ways I could accomplish this.

I discovered that there were jobs where I could take my children with me; I could have a small in-home business to work around my parenting timetable and/or I could save on costs in order to have more useable income. Over the time my five children were pre-schoolers, I employed all of these methods. It also helped considerably that my husband worked steadily and made decent money.

I began by considering the talents I had but especially what could be worked around my children's schedules, their ages and even their individual personalities. I realized there were several things I could do to earn extra money and which didn't disrupt time with my children.

- I did housecleaning and laundry for seniors while taking my children with me. (This worked when I had only one and two children. Thankfully, they were well behaved and by taking toys for them to play with, and letting them 'help', the situation worked quite well. It did not work as well when I had three children.)
- I then started a small daycare, looking after two and sometimes three extra children. (This worked well until my fifth child came along.)
- So I started a small in-home business begun when my fifth child was about one year old. (Here I went back to considering my talents). I had earlier purchased a small kiln and used it as a hobby. After taking some courses, I began to give instruction in ceramics after my children had been tucked into bed. I was able to have classes three evenings a week and eventually it expanded to 36 students. These continued until my fifth child began school.

To contribute also to the amount earned, I cut costs where I could and saved in areas where I could do things myself:

- I made many of the children's clothes when they were small as well as many of my own. I was also happy with hand-me-downs and shopped at discount outlets.
- I cut the children's hair myself, as well as my own. It's true that I wasn't a fashion leader but that wasn't my aim at that time. (It still isn't).
- I made Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, Christmas ornaments and Hallowe'en costumes.
- I sewed and did my own home decorations, recovered our sofa and chair, made curtains, drapes, bedspreads and decorative pillows.
- I used coupons and watched for specials and sales.
- Baking was done from scratch.
- Vacations were simple family camping trips and occasionally included a special trip such as Disneyland.
- I swapped outgrown children's clothes with friends.
- Took turns babysitting.
- Served basic wholesome food rather than more expensive gourmet foods or fancy sugary concoctions like some of the cereals offered.
- Purchased from the day-old bins. In this way food costs were reduced considerably.
- We reused and recycled.
- We made up games and friends and family were a large part of our social life.

There are many ways to be financially creative. Saving and being economical became something our whole family participated in especially as the children grew old enough to understand the value of money. Children don't need to have the latest toys advertised on T.V. and they can be taught to be creative in their play. I found that probably one of the most important things when trying to save is not being tempted into spending money on something that wasn't absolutely necessary.

Many people emphatically declare that it takes two people to work nowadays in order to raise a family. I disagree that this is an absolute necessity. In my opinion, it depends how badly you want to raise your own children versus having nice furniture, a new home to show off, new cars in the driveway, tendy clothes and everything else that goes with this lifestyle. (There are many single moms and dads raising children alone on one income so the arguement of 'it takes the income of two parents working to raise a family' is not particularly valid.)

And I believe that with a little thought, and energy, almost everyone can be financially creative and resourceful. It is worth the effort if being a stay-at-home mom is a priority in your life.