SAHM's how do you do it?

[starbound25]

I've seen lots of posts from sahm's that seem to be financially set with their husbands careers, what I want to know is if there are any sahm out there that the family needed that extra income and what you did to acomplish being a sahm
my DH works retail management and we have two DD's 15months and 3months, yes those ages are right!:eek:
I dont want to have to work, I want to be home with the girls! But without any income from me we are short about $900 a month!! Is there any hope?
THis is just for our basic needs, we have no credit card debt, this is just mortgage, car, insurance food etc
any any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!
thanks
Susan

[eelyak]

Well, we refinanced one of our cars to a lower interest rate and lower term. We also had saved up $4000 to go towards that loan at the time of refinancing. We dropped the cream of the crop cable package and went to basic. We got rid of our home phone and only operate with cell phones. We did just move to a house with lower rent and no propane, which was killing us. I shop consignment a lot. I'm not working at all right now, but I also wouldn't classify us as financially set. We live pretty frugally, and pick and choose what is important to spend money on. We don't have any cc debt. But, we do have student loan payments, and two car loans.

[Carla]

We just do without a lot and are careful with what we have. Dh is only a part time cashier (makes less than $1000 a month) but we manage pretty well. We could really use an extra income as I dont' know how we do it to be honest, but it's a major priority for me to be home. If something is a big enough priority, you can usually find ways to accomplish your goals; go over everything with a fine tooth comb both ways as sometimes it doesn't pay to work as much as one would think. We have no debt and pay straight up cash for everything, which has been a big help. We're very frugal but we don't go without anything (fortunately we're pretty simple in our tastes).

Good luck and I hope you can find a way!

[harmonielyn]

I dont really have any advice. I am a SAHM but we've never had any kind of income. I married DH not long after I graduated highschool and didnt have a job. Im a SAHM because I can be for the time but when DD gets older ill have to get a job to get more things. We dont own a home, we live in an apartment. All of this is fine with me because being home with my daughter to see all of her firsts is more important than buying a home now. We can do that later.

[Shanna]

I'm a SAHM to three - Jacob, 21 months and twin girls, Avery and Addyson, 6 months (almost). Financially, it is VERY hard on us, and right now, we're not making it (we're 2 months behind on our car payment). We have about $2,000 in cc debt from when my husband was unemployed that we are slowly closing in on. We are getting ready to shut off our home phone, we dropped to th ebasic cable package, but we do have cable internet b/c I have a Work-at-home-mom jewelry business that I operate a website and take orders from, so I write it off as a business expense on taxes, and I also sell Mary Kay and have a website for that, so that helps with taxes a bit. I am a MAJOR coupon clipper, and I receive WIC (not that I recommend it as a way to "save money", but it really helps). I buy consignment as well quite a bit and I am lucky that I have a good support network through my family and my twins club. I was working, but with $1200 in daycare a month, it just was not worth it to work just to pay daycare. My employer is trying me out on a work at home basis (I'm a paralegal) for some things, and this is my first week doing that, so we'll see how it goes. I also have a fairly hefty drug bill every month for someone my age (I have roughly $150/month in prescription copays) and doctor bills, so that is something that adds to our money problems, but I worked a deal with the hospital/clinic to pay $10 a month and they're good with that, so working out deals with your creditors can be a way to save a little too.... :dunno: ... just my two cents :)

[Karri]

After we had our first child 2 years ago, I decided I didnt want to work anymore. I couldnt quit my job, though. We had a pretty expensive mortgage, two student loans, two car payments, and a buttload of CC debt. We needed my income to keep afloat our $4000/mo in bills we were paying. We finally decided to sell the house & buy a house with a smaller mortgage. We traded in our SUV for a leased minivan with a lower payment. We paid off some debt with the profits we made on the sale of the house. And then there is the little stuff...we have basic phone service, no long distance (we use cell phones), we bought a wireless router and several network cards and share internet service with the neighbor ( :blush: ) , and we have a DSL package that is cheaper than cable would be. I clip coupons, I plan the week's menus based on what is one sale that week, and I only buy non-food items (clothes, cleaning products, etc) when they are on sale. Oh yeah...and when we moved, we moved to an area where we (I) dont have to use the car all the time...I can walk pretty much anywhere, so that not only saves us gas money, our insurance went down a bit, as well, as I barely drive. And I save by not needing a health club memership b/c I walk so much!!

Something we plan on doing (but havent done yet) that one of my playgroup members has done....her husband gives her an envelope of cash for the month and she has to use that for EVERYTHING, from necessities to extras.

[Jillian]

With dh's job we are short about $600 a month...if it wasn't for his $900 a month credit card bills from when he was in high school we'd be set. Right now to make up for it dh works for a second company on the side from home...he makes way more doing that (about $60 an hour) a couple times a week then I could make in a part time job.