Recently within that past few weeks I had made a lifestyle change that has affected my whole family. Not for the worst, but for the best. I decided to walk away from a career with an employer that I was with for several years. It was a decent job for what it was, but a part of me couldn't fully focus on the work that was required of me. The reason was that my true place was at home. My heart was always at home. Our evenings were so stressful with both my husband and I working different hours and always relying on someone else to be raising our children. After long talks, we decided to take a leap of faith and allow me to stay home and raise our children. Did we have a savings built up? No. Did we know how we were going to manage being on one person's income? No. I don't think we still know how we are going to fully handle this... but we are doing it! Our lives will be filled with more joy, more free time on the weekends to be with our family and not be tied down to the household chores that build up for the weekend.. just for Monday to roll around and get back to the daily grind. My children will have their mother more often and their mother will have more time with them, less stress. How many of you mother's out there have said to your children at least once.. " I can't play with you right now, mommy is busy?" I know you all have.. and you feel guilty about it.. all mother's do. Our time with our children go by so fast, why miss a minute? I didn't want my youngest daughter to call the baby sitter mom.. I wanted to see her first crawl, I want to see her first steps.. I don't want to be told that she did this today while you were at work. I had a flexible job with my first daughter that I was able to see all of those things. I didn't want to miss it with my second.
Losing $2000.00 in income a month is hard! However, so far we have cut many corners to help with that. Take a look at what we have done so far:
These are the baby steps that we have taken so far! I am here to prove that all you mother's out there that wish you could be a stay at home mom, can be a stay at home mom. Follow me along this journey and I will help you with those goals. Keep in mind, you can't live outside of your means.. and you have to separate your needs from your wants. You can still have some things, just don't be unrealistic!
Losing $2000.00 in income a month is hard! However, so far we have cut many corners to help with that. Take a look at what we have done so far:
- We have cut of daycare costs!! This in itself costs so much. We were paying over $800.00 a month in daycare expenses and preschool. This is a huge saver!
- Cut out the cable!! Why were we paying $200.00 a month for this? When you have children the majority of your tv time is spent watching Nick Jr, Disney and Sprout. Is it really worth this cost? If nothing else, cut it back to local channels. Also, if you call your cable provider and tell them that you are cancelling your service.. they may actually have a special available to you that they can significantly lower your bill and still keep special channels for ex: HDTV, HBO etc. Now this is only for a year of service and you have to remember to cancel once your year has came up, but it's worth it!
- Get NETFLIX, HULU, WHATEVER! Half the time these companies have better shows and movies than cable. You can hook this up on Playstation, xbox, your computer.. we actually bought a SHIELD made by NVIDIA it connects to a 500 GB Android TV. You have access to apps straight from your TV. Such as Google Store, You tube, Pandora, HULU, NETFLIX, PBS kids, NBA and games! Can't beat this bundle. We purchased ours at Best Buy. For the price, you are getting a great deal!
- If you haven't already, speak with your cell phone provider and see if you are eligible for a discount. This will save you money as well.
- Call your auto insurance/ homeowner insurance company! See if they can lower your bill, if not then do your research and get free quote and see who is best for the same coverage you currently have. We did this... and literally saved $1000.00 a year in our auto insurance!!!
- Set a grocery budget! We actually had to cut back our budget. I was spending over $300.00 every two weeks. We have cut it back to $200.00 every two weeks for a family of four. (I will post more on how we are doing this at a later time)
These are the baby steps that we have taken so far! I am here to prove that all you mother's out there that wish you could be a stay at home mom, can be a stay at home mom. Follow me along this journey and I will help you with those goals. Keep in mind, you can't live outside of your means.. and you have to separate your needs from your wants. You can still have some things, just don't be unrealistic!
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