As many stay-at-home-moms will attest, they sometimes receive questions about how it was possible for them to make the transition to living on one income. The answer is often that the family sticks to a strict budget. But what does that mean exactly?
For some it is coming up with a detailed list of every allowable expense and sticking to that. For others, it is simply doing without entire categories of items/expenses while income is low. Countless articles online explain how to create a budget, but not as many give actual examples of ways one-income families sacrifice in order to live on a single income. This article will shed a little light on expenses that some families drastically curb in order to do so.
Money Saving Examples – Three Ways to Save Money as a Stay-at-Home-Mom
The choice of which areas to cut is purely personal. Where one person can live without television, another person would wither away without the ability to keep up with her favorite comedy. Some find it easier to cut back on eating out where others find it easier to forgo new clothing.
Here are three areas where disciplined cost-cutting can really make a difference in a household’s monthly or annual outflows. These are areas where real stay-at-home-moms often make cuts.
Dining Out
It may sound cliché, but focusing on cutting out dinners away from home is truly a budget saver. An easy way to limit your spending on restaurant dining – limit yourself to one or two meals per week and try not to frequent expensive establishments. Two meals costing $30 or so each is much easier on the budget than several nightly meals plus some lunches on the town.
Limiting yourself to one or two meals out will have two beneficial side effects. First, you will look at dining out as something special and even look forward to the one no-hassle meal away from home. Second, you will become much better at cooking!
Home Additions
A new screened-in porch or flagstone flower bed would be lovely, but such large purchases are often not in a single income household’s budget. Regular home maintenance (lawn care, leaky faucets, etc) cost enough without adding other “wants” to the mix. You also never know when a large appliance like a water heater or washing machine may need replacing, so funds are better reserved for such emergencies.
Vehicle Purchases
Sticking to a budget is all about managing monthly inflows and outflows of cash, and every financed vehicle can add hundreds of dollars per month in the outflow column. One goal many stay-at-home-moms have is to pay off all car loans and drive those vehicles for quite a while debt-free. This frees up much-needed cash to use for other expenses. When they get the itch to purchase a new vehicle, they stop and ask themselves if they truly need the newer vehicle or if it is purely a want. Often, the desire is not related to true need.
The Ultimate Stay-at-Home Mom Sanity Saver – Staying Away from Unnecessary Debt
Living relatively stress-free on one income is all about not spending money you don’t have. Financing purchases creates unnecessary stress on a stay-at-home-mom. Staying sane while tending to little ones is difficult enough without the added stress of financial burdens.
Becoming a stay-at-home-mom is a lifestyle choice. For most, this means doing with less so you can have time with your children. This is not an easy transition for many people, but if you can be disciplined enough to live within your means, you will not feel the pressure to return to work just to pay off unnecessary debt. You will also be better prepared to pay for more important, often unexpected, expenses as they arise.
Lena Gott - Lena Gott is a Certified Public Accountant who gives practical financial advice to her readers.
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