Thursday, March 27, 2008

Being a Stay at Home Mom...is it the right choice for you?

I have noticed many of you commenting about wanting to stay at home with your kids. There are obviously pros and cons to this situation and everyone must weigh them individually to see what works best for their family. I found 2 tidbits of information that make it hard to decide what I would do if I had to choose...


One reason to stay home:
One article I was reading basically was saying that many moms don't realize how little their income actually contributes to the family. Instead of comparing how much you make to the cost of child care...make sure you also take into consideration the cost of a work wardrobe, gas, eating lunch out, and that everyday cup of coffee at the fancy coffee shop. One mom who had a salary of $25,000 per year was actually only bringing home $6,000 after day care and all of her work related expenses.


One reason to work:
Another article stated that when women decide to leave the workforce permanently, they are aware they will be losing their paychecks...BUT they are also losing retirement plans, pensions, and other benefits that come along with their full time jobs. It is possible for a woman who gives up her career to lose out on $700,000 to $1 million in income with all of these factors included.


check out this stay at home calculator if you are interested in finding out if it is possible to be a Stay At Home Mom.


5 comments:

Pam said...

Thanks for the information. I would love to be a stay at home mommy, but we just can't afford it. It is such a hard decision to make. (I don't drive far to work and I don't drink coffee so it is just work clothes and day care that add to our expenses)

Andrea said...

Great info! Personally...I'd give up any paycheck, pension plan, etc. to stay home with my kids. :) I love being a stay at home mom...the only way I'd ever go back to work is if I HAD to because of financial reasons you know? Having said that, I definitely don't look down on moms who do decide to work! It's just not for me. :)

Danielle said...

Great info! I wish it were more of a "choice" for me. Our mortgage is the main reason I can't stay home I would say. After going back to work I realized I do enjoy having a career- but I would love to have a more flexible job that allowed me to be home much more. The calculator is neat- I sent it to the hubs. I will report back with the findings.

Anonymous said...

I don't want to do the calculator because I'm sure it would say I should keep working. I don't use a lot of gas, don't EVER go out to eat (I'm a teacher) and don't get coffee or fancy clothes. Bummer.

Lori said...

great info... these were a lot of the factors that we took into consideration when I decided to be a SAHM. There are so many other things to consider too... I just hope each mom makes her decision based on what is best for her and her family... not what society says that she should do!