A while back I wrote a post explaining how Momma was going to be quiting her job and staying home with Ace during the day. Momma has not worked for a few weeks now, Ace is not going to day care anymore, and we have figured out one very important thing…we can’t afford it!
We could do it if we really wanted to, but things would be tight…really tight! It all comes down to making sure that one simple formula is true…
Income > Expenses
I’m a mathematical kind of guy, ya know, the kind of guy that draws up a spreadsheet to calculate everything. After a few spreadsheet calculations I discovered that if we stuck to an extremely strict budget, had absolutely no surprise expenses, and never did anything fun, we would have like $20 left every month. Not going to work…
So Momma has to go back to work part time. Her income will cover some expenses and all fun activities. My income will cover the bills.
She put in a few applications at some of the local clothing stores nearby where we live. She got a job in no time, and will be working evenings. This is what she wanted and it will work perfectly for us. The money she will be making comes no where close to what she was making before, but since she will be home during the day, Ace does not have to go to daycare and I will be there with him in the evenings while Momma is working.
Our plan is for Momma to work part time until baby number two is born. Hopefully we can get a few bills paid off and get into a better financial situation so that Momma can truly be a stay at home Mom in the near future… Wish us luck!
Hey Jared! This post hits home bro. I have had to work supplemental jobs as a stay at home dad from waiting tables and bartending to managing a restaurant (all of those are thankless but decent money). I also worked in retail in large wine stores as a wine expert/salesmen. I also worked directly for an importer and sold wine to merchants in different territories. The longest stint I had in any supplemental job was running a Spanish program at a community college. Dude, I have done it all and one thing for certain is that can be really tiring working (taking care of the kids) and working (25-30 hours) evenings and weekends. It basically sucks. Sometimes I think it would be easier to be at work full-time (see definitely) but this is what is best for our family now. I hope this little tale helps you understand where your wife is coming from one day when she hasn’t vacuumed or made dinner by 5:30. Peace and best of luck!
Jared – it’s the classic catch-22 that most couples (unless you’re really well off) have to wrestle with. Man, I can identify. Compared to the “national average” my wife and I pull in a decent income, but where does that money go?? Granted, we live in LA, but come on! Something’s wrong when I have to weigh the cost/benefit of mundane decisions such as should we get that appetizer or that extra beer when we eat out on Friday night. Did our parents have to go thru that?? Is that something that I should even stress about at 35 years of age?? And it seems like every time we come upon some extra wiggle room in our monthly budget, something (usually car-related) comes up to gobble it up and then some. Sorry for rambling. Bottom line – I feel ya! and best of luck with everything.
part times not too bad and evening is good too
and youve got to have a bit of play $$
praying it all works out as youd like – God willing
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The money management is one side of things that I’m not really looking forward to. There would be some tough decisions to be made as we could not manage over a prolonged period of time on one salary. So it’s good ye have really thought about it, and managed to come up with a system that suits as much as possible.
Good luck with it.
@Joe: It’s good to see that we aren’t the only ones going through this! I’m sure I will have to give Momma a little lee-way since she will be putting in so many hours!
@BusyDad: Thanks! I agree with you 100%! It sucks to be strapped for cash. No matter how much more I make it always gets spent.
@Jen: Oh yeah! Play money is a must!
@XBox: Being new to the whole Dad thing I would have to say that this has been one of the toughest decisions we have had to make. I’ve only been doing this gig for the past 7 months, but money matters always seem to be the toughest for us.
Hope everything works out for you.