5 Things You Can Do Today to Make a Financial Impact on Your Family as a SAHM
MY STORY
The second I got pregnant I knew I wanted to stay home, but I also knew that in our current situation that would be nearly impossible. It would mean cutting our income completely in half, while simultaneously increasing our cost of living. If you’ve been in this place before you know how scary it can be to make such a big decision with little to no idea on how it would work in the long run. It sounded utterly impossible, and my husband wasn’t the most on board (at least initially). I knew I needed to find a way to continue to make contribute financially if I wanted to stay home.
I immediately started looking for full time or part time remote positions that I could do while at home with the baby. Then I had Theodore, and
I knew even sitting at a desk in my bedroom for hours wasn’t going to work. At the same time my husband recognized that he also really wanted me to stay home and be present in order to raise our baby. I was blessed to be able to take a personal leave from my classroom for the remainder of the year to figure out if staying home was something that was really possible for us while still holding my position for the upcoming year (I know this isn’t a possibility for everyone, but if it is I would HIGHLY recommend. It took the pressure off of the decision and really allowed us to try out living on one income before making an official decision).
During this year my husband worked long hours and never complained, but I wasn’t willing to risk my husband’s involvement in our son’s life in order for me to stay home. He was gone a lot and I needed to find ways to contribute or my son would barely have a father around. I recognized that my old way of thinking about making money needed to change in order for me to figure out how to impact my family’s financial situation without sacrificing time with my son.
I couldn’t just pick up any job in order to bring a paycheck home; I needed to get creative. If staying home is something that is important, changing my mindset from “I just needing to bring home a paycheck” to working towards increasing the gap between the money that is coming in & the money that is going out was critical. This shift greatly impacted the way I approached “bringing in an income” for my family. With that in mind, I’ve come up with 5 things that have worked for me in the last year to increase the gap between what we made and what we spent without sacrificing time away from my son. But first, where do you even start when making the switch from a working gal to a stay at home mom?
WHERE DO I BEGIN?
I remember vividly what it was like to make the decision to stay home. You are juggling so much information - what you use to make, how much your bills are, what your spouse makes, the ten different budgets you’ve made in the last year, and repeatedly asking “is this even possible?” Here are nine questions to ask yourself and your spouse when considering staying home with your child/children:
Would I enjoy staying home all day instead of going to work?
If I stayed home how much income would we be losing?
What are the costs of our necessities?
What are the costs of the extra fun things?
What (if anything) are we willing to sacrifice in order for me to stay home?
How much money does my spouse make?
Is there a gap between what my spouse makes & the costs of our necessities and the fun things we aren’t willing to give up? If so, how much?
What is the plan to make up for that gap if there is one?
Is there a way to trial me staying home without feeling committed forever? (ie living on one income during my maternity leave, living on one income for 2 months even though I am working etc)
After going through these 9 questions you should have a more clear picture of your priorities and an idea of what the plan is going forward. Maybe you go through these questions and realize “My spouse’s income covers what we need and I just want to bring in extra fun money” or maybe you’re more like me and you’re thinking “We need to make _____ extra dollars a week/month in order to realistically stay home.” Regardless of where you are at after those questions this next section will be helpful for finding ways to decrease the gap between what you are spending and what you are making.
5 THINGS YOU CAN DO STARTING TODAY:
Selling items on FB Marketplace/Ebay - Flip products, resell
When I first decided to stay home I had an urge to go through EVERYTHING we had. I no longer was splitting my energy between teaching and my household, so it gave me a new sense of purpose at home. Using that energy I went through a lot of things we had and donated, sold, or threw things away and I also had to do the same for items in my classroom. It wasn’t until I found myself with items I loved by no longer had a use for did I realize how beneficial reselling items could be. I was able to cover some groceries or random utilities simply by selling some of our old things. I’m not the creative type, but those of you that are flipping products such as cabinets, dressers, etc can be a great option too. There are plenty of social media accounts and bloggers to look into if you want to learn more about flipping products in order to bring in money!
Decrease your weekly grocery bill by buying with a plan & shopping smart at places like Aldi’s
Before I was at home full time I rarely spent extra time trying to save money on my groceries. I would tell myself “I’m not going to eat out,” but other than that I didn’t think twice about how much we were spending and how impactful it would be if I was more intentional about it! Now I do most of my shopping at Aldi, I’m telling you it is worth it, and I go in with a realistic plan. Instead of planning for 7 days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner I plan a couple meals out, pick some staple ingredients I can use for multiple things, and plan to have leftovers for lunches most of the time. I have also started to use Mealime to plan my meals, create my grocery lists, and use as my recipes as I cook and it has been a lifesaver! (A blog post is coming soon with more detail about realistically meal planning on a budget). By becoming intentional with what I was spending, where I was spending, and actually using what I was buying I decreased what we were spending on food to about $80-$100 a week. The money we saved on groceries was able to be used on other things and helped me staying home feel more doable!
Make sustainable swaps to reusable products you’re buying frequently - diapers, wipes, paper towels, etc
Similar to our grocery bill, I realized there were lots of items I was being wasteful with which meant I was buying more frequently. Switching from paper towels to hand towels, using a washcloth instead of wipes to clean up my child after meals, or even using cloth diapers part time are all ways I’ve been able to cut back on costs. It doesn’t feel like switching our paper towels for hand towels will make a huge difference, but making lots of little changes really will pay off in the end!
Getting second hand baby items as much as possible, ESPECIALLY for items that won’t have a long lifetime (clothing, age specific toys/products)- looking at FB Marketplace or Once Upon a Child
I see all the new exciting gadgets the top influencers are sharing that you or your baby needs. I KNOW it can be easier sometimes to just search something on Amazon, but buying secondhand items will save you HUNDREDS as your children grow. Especially on big ticket items that your kid may not use for long. Some great example of items we have bought second hand or have been donated to us are clothes, baby swings, a baby bouncer, our stroller, and our bassinet. Most of those were things we didn’t know if Theo would like and we knew he wouldn’t be in long, matter of fact almost all of those things minus the stroller he no longer uses and is only 13 months old. If you can save some money on the items you get for you or your children without ruining the experience for them do it! We even bought our son’s first birthday presents off of Facebook Marketplace. He had no idea and loves those trucks just as much as he would have if I bought them from Target. The savings can go towards your electricity bill and ultimately towards you being able to stay home with your kids. It’s totally worth it!
WFH/Child Friendly working options you can do with your baby:
Tutoring - If you have any experience in teaching or absolutely love certain subjects tutoring might be a great option! There are lots of families that are looking for assistance with their little one’s education or are homeschool and just need an extra set of hands. I currently help two teenagers with their homeschooling work and I can bring my son with me. It works out great for all of us. From personal experience the best way to get connected with someone who needs tutored is word of mouth, but you can also look at things like care.com and local facebook groups!
In Home Child Care - If you are home all day with your little one(s) you can always watch someone else’s kids too! Daycare prices are insane these days and waitlists to get into them are even crazier if you know friends that have children and are looking to go back to work offer to watch their kids! I watch a little girl who is about 3 weeks younger than my son, and while some days it can get crazy, watching them grow together has been on of the biggest blessings. If this is something you are interested in I would suggest putting yourself out there a bit and offering your services to friends or telling people you know you are looking to do childcare at home and let you know if they know anyone looking for help.
Virtual Assistant/Remote Administrative Positions - Now this is one I have chatted with multiple people about doing, but not one I have personal experience in. However there is so much flexibility in working as a virtual assistant or even in some administrative positions. You can help people schedule things, plan events, create presentations, organize data, or even run their social media. Assisting individual entrepreneurs and businesses virtually can allow for you to create an income that works on your own schedule.
Using your Social Media and Other Online Platforms - Okay now I’m going to be honest with you when I say there is ways you can create an income using social media, but I am also going to be honest when I say do your research. There are so many different opportunities online like affiliate marketing, MLMs, selling digital products, blogging and so much more. It can feel overwhelming but if you are passionate about something there probably is way to monetize it online. I have used the internet in various ways over the years to bring income into our household, and while I haven’t ever been someone to bring in thousands of dollars in a handful of weeks, the money has always been a blessing right when we needed one.
Now I know making the decision to stay home with your baby(ies) isn’t always an easy one, but I pray that if it something that you desire you that right here on this page, in this little corner of the internet, we were able to leave you with something that brings you one step closer to that goal!
