I'm debating being a SAHM.. Need advice
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| Fri, 10-22-2004 - 4:32pm |
Hi everone,
My name is Julia. I live in Anchorage, Alaska and I currently work part time for a major airline. I have debated for the last 2 years about being a SAHM. I would love some input from you that are SAHM's or SAHD's.
I personally find it scary to go down to one income. Granted, I only work part time ( that should make the transition a little easier) but I am scared on going down to one income. My DH is a fireman and makes decent money, but we have a lot of bills. I am scared I might feel a little guilty not contributing financially to our situation. I have a great husband and he supports what ever decision I make, but I am worried he will regret telling me that it is o.k to quit.
How did any of you get over that fear of losing one income? I am worried that as soon as I quit, my DH truck will break down, or we will have a major dental bill come up. I feel a little better knowing that for a cushion we have my DH extra 2 paychecks a year we could put in savings, or our tax refund also we could put away. It is just so scary to me to depend solely on my DH pay. Did any of you have this worry??
Thanks for reading my post, and I will check back soon for any advice posted here.
Thanks,
Julia
Mommy to Macey and Reece
Wife of Rick

Of course it is scary. Everyone thinks the "What if's".
However, IMO if it takes me an extra few years to pay off the credit cards from when we had money issues then it takes a few extra years to get debt free. That, to me, is a small price to pay to have me at home with my son.
There are times that I do feel guilty for spending all the money and bringing in none, but that really does pass. Whenever I decide that I should get a job, I realize that no amount of money is worth it. I am there for the field trips, volunteering at the school, and when my son is sick I don't HAVE to send him anyway because I have no sick days left. Of course, as a SAHM you don't get any sick days, but thems the breaks.
Taleyna
Good luck, Kim
Angelia
Welcome to the board, sorry to be responding only now, but it's been a busy week!
It is a scary thought, of going down to 1 income. My dh & I sat sat down and have a realistic talk about the pros and cons, before we made a decision. We looked at the costs of daycare, if I chose to return to work, and where I live it is VERY costly at a decent, licensed daycare. We took those figures and compared it to my full time wage, I would basically be working to pay for daycare...not worth it in my opinion. (I should add that we didn't have family members near by who could take dd in the day, so daycare was the only option)
We talked about the type of childhoods we had growing up, and whether our moms stayed home, and what benifits we felt we had from that, or them working. We made a plan to save a certain amount of money per paycheck, it was a small amount as so it wouldn't hurt, but over time it grew, that is our emergency fund. I also took 4 months of paychecks (before I left my job), and we made a point to not touch 1 cent from those paychecks, and "pretended" to have only 1 paycheck to see if we could really do it. We made adjustments to our lifestyle, minor things, and when dd was born, I had already left my job. It is a little different here, because we get 1 year mat leave, so I did have a bit of money coming in, and we saved half of each of those cheques as well. dd is now 18 months, so I haven't gotten mat pay for almost 9 months now. It's worked out just fine for us. I can't imagine how much I would have missed if i was working!!
It's a very personal decision for you and your dh. Good luck!!!