Can You Stay Home?
One of the first things you've got to figure out when you understand that you need to stay home with your youngsters is whether you are able to afford to do so. You are probably used to living on 2 incomes, so making the switch to a single income may not be simple. Nevertheless it may not be as tough as you think.
If you have children already, the very first thing that goes away when you make a decision to stay at home is the cost of day care. Nevertheless if you work at home, part of that cost may remain, unless your work is such you can keep the children home with you. Have a look at what quantity of your income at the moment is going to day care. That cost alone may prove to you that you do not want a well-paying work from home job to remain home “an easier one may do.
There are many other costs that will drop if you stay at home. You'll be in a different tax bracket. You will potentially drive less, eat out less often and you won't need attire for work, which can save both on shopping and on dry cleaning bills.
When you are figuring out how much it costs you to work outside the home, do not assume that becoming a stay at home or work at home parent will lead you to stop dining out. You'll have those days where you make a decision to take the kids out, rather more likely than not.
One thing many moms and pops forget to consider when they decide to stay at home is to handle retirement planning. Now, if you are just staying at home for a year or two, it’s probably not a big score, but if you are planning on staying home for a number of years, this may be a massive impact on you when you do retire. You may not have the finances to pay for your retirement account well when your family is living on only one income, but you must try and do at least a bit. See my article on retirement planning for stay at home folks for some more information.
Use this information to figure out what you will need to earn while staying at home. Some will be fine as a single income family, but others will need the stay at home parent to earn some kind of income. Ideally, this could be a comparatively tiny amount, as the whole point of having a stay at home parent is to have more time with the children and benefit them, not maintain a freely spending lifestyle. Nonetheless if a single income is not enough, a work at home job or home run business will probably become mandatory.
Work out how much income will be mandatory and how much risk you are willing to take. Work at home jobs are more difficult to come by, but small businesses are by their nature more dodgy, and it might take a few years to earn an acceptable income from a business. Plan accordingly, and know that you might not be able to live your favorite lifestyle right away.
Luckily , when you take out the costs of working outside of the home, you'll probably find you do not need to earn what you used to. Half or maybe less of your previous income might be quite adequate. It may require sacrifice, but that's what being a parent is about.
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