10 Tips to Live on One Income and Become a Stay at Home Mom
Do you want to become a stay at home mom but the numbers just don’t add up? Here are 10 tips to live on one income.
When I was having my first child, I decided that I wanted to become a stay at home mom. At first, it seemed impossible. My husband and I were used to living on two incomes and I didn’t really see how it could work for us to live on one.
One day, I was talking to my friend and I told her that I couldn’t be a stay at home mom. I said this because I thought I couldn’t afford to. She simply said, “Yes, you can!” I was sort of surprised when she said that, and I paused and realized that she was right! I absolutely could.
That’s when I began to pray for God to make a way for me to be able to stay home. I also began reading online and researching tips about living on one income. I read other people’s stories about how they cut costs in their lives to make living on one income possible so that they could be home with my kids. This helped me see that it was possible, I just had to make some big changes.
Here are the 10 Tips that I think can help you do the same thing. Mothers, you should absolutely be home with your babies, and these tips can help you get there.
Tip #1 Prayer
Pray about it and get in the Word of God. Pour your heart out to the Lord and let Him know that it is your desire to stay home with your kids. He will make a way.
Tip #2 Cut housing costs
Housing is typically the largest line item in the household budget. I realize that right now mortgage rates are higher than they’ve been in years and prices are higher than average too. However, in any market and at any time, there are ways to make changes and make your cost of living lower if you are willing to be flexible.
Whether you are renting or buying, you can lower costs by either switching the location or the square footage.
Sometimes, the location switch has to be significant. For us, we moved from a metropolitan area to a rural area about 2 hours away. This made a HUGE difference in the cost of houses.
Tip #3 Cut auto costs
Getting rid of car payments if possible is a huge help. If you absolutely can’t get rid of the payments completely, at least try to lower them as much as possible. Be willing to sell or trade cars as needed. If you have two cars in the family, you may have to have just one. You may need to sell a car with high payments, and then buy a used car for cash.
For us when I first stayed home, we kept one newer car with low payments and sold the other newer car. Then we bought a much older vehicle. We had to finance part of it, but the payments were very low. This was another way that we were able to lower our monthly payments at that time, to allow me to be able to quit my job and become a stay at home mom.
Tip #4 Eat out less & Cook at Home More
This is a big one. It’s so easy to spend a lot of money fast and not even realize how much you are spending if you have a habit of eating out. Even if you’re just grabbing drinks, snacks, drive thru meals, etc. They add up fast. If you’ve never paid attention to this, try checking your spending for the previous 30 days and see how much you have spent on food out of the house. It can be a big help if you can retrain yourself to eat at home more often.
Tip #5 Stop paying for haircuts, nails, etc.
Here is another thing that can save tons of money to help you become a stay at home mom. I began cutting my own hair about 10 years ago. I started cutting my husband’s hair too around the same time. It naturally followed that I cut all of my own kids’ hair as well.
I’m so grateful now that this is how my family does haircuts. I can’t imagine how much time we would have lost sitting around waiting for our turn for haircuts and paying so much money for them. Not to mention, having to find a hairdresser who you trust etc. I’ve got hair that is a bit challenging for people and I just like to do it myself.
I understand this may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend giving it a try. I used YouTube videos to help me learn and just trying it out. Usually, once you learn what you and your family like, you’re just repeating a lot of the same haircuts. It’s easier than you may think. Give it a try.
Tip #6 Cut back on small unnecessary purchases
There are many times when we make purchases that we don’t really think much about. Like oh, we need this or that. Or that’s cute, I’ll take it, etc. But a lot of times, there are frivolous purchases that you could cut out easily and you would hardly miss them. Basically, just try to be more aware of your spending. Especially when it comes to impulse purchases.
For me, I’ve noticed I have a tendency sometimes to want to problem solve with a purchase. Maybe I have a problem, like this closet is junky, so let me buy more baskets. However, maybe I already have some baskets I could use somewhere else. We don’t always have to spend money to solve small issues that arise, so we just need to be more aware of that and think before buying.
Tip #7 Repair things yourself
When things break, don’t immediately call for help from a professional or buy a new one. Take a moment to try and see what’s going on, and see if you can fix it yourself.
Many things are much easier to repair than you think. With YouTube videos to help, you can learn just about anything if you try.
I recently repaired my dryer myself when the sensor for the door stopped working. There was actually a QR code just inside the door to scan that took me to the website to purchase the part I needed. I found a video which explained what to do, and it was so much easier than expected. This saved us hundreds of dollars.
Tip #8 Check on your money often with your husband
Make time to look at your money with your husband regularly. Look at income, expenses, and debt. Have goals and have a plan to pay off debt and build savings.
When you’re ready, look into investment options too. Make sure you’re thinking about the future and not just today.
Tip #9 Cancel unnecessary subscriptions
Make sure that any streaming services you have or Apple subscriptions, etc. are actually being used enough to make it worth their cost. You can and up paying for something you’re not using if you’re not paying attention.
Tip #10 Truly make it a priority to be home
When you decide that staying home is so important that there is no way you’ll ever not do it, then it will happen. Along with the prayer tip from above, make sure that you are doing everything you possibly can to set yourself up for success. If you aren’t currently staying home, but you want to be, identify why. What is it that is keeping you from staying home? Once you identify the issue, target solving it. If you’re not sure how to solve it, pray about it and look up the issue and see if you can find how other people solved the same problem. For me, when I was pregnant with my first and wanted to stay home, the reason I felt I couldn’t was money. I began to research how to stay home and live on one income. I found articles written by other moms who shared their stories of how they made it happen. They inspired me and gave me ideas. I hope this helps you. Never give up on your dream to become a stay at home mom.
