How to Stay Home with Your Children

Do you have the desire to stay home with your children? I have always known that it would be important for me to stay home with my children.

When there is a will, there is a way. <<– This definitely applied to me. I didn’t feel that there was any other option for my family.

BUT…I do realize that it is not always cut and dry. It’s not always easy. It may even seem impossible at times. 

I am not going to gloss over the fact that it takes the desire and commitment to make it work. If you want to make it work, I would encourage you to try and find a way! (See below for a new helpful resource to guide you.)

I want to share a few key things that made it happen in our family. Because some of the tips are geared more towards the planning prior to having children, I will also share a new book that is coming out that will be a great resource if you desire to stay home with your children. The book has so many helpful tips with action steps to help you make it work for you and your family.

Communication:

My husband and I talked about this before we had children. I would guess we also talked about this before getting married. It would be near impossible to have this work if we were not on the same page. I am thankful for a husband who also sees it as a priority to have me home with our children. 

Commitment:

We committed to living primarily on one income before we had children. (We did not do this entirely as we left room in the budget for some traveling because we knew we wouldn’t be traveling often with small children.)

Whether you live completely on one income before having children or just partially live on one income doesn’t really matter. It’s just much easier to make the transition to living on once income if you are used to it. After our first daughter was born, we didn’t feel much of an impact financially. It was nice to eliminate this stress as there is enough going on when you add a little newborn. 

Contentment:

This one is big. Living primarily on one income would be much harder if I focused on everything that we do not have, trips we cannot take, and items we cannot purchase. 

It’s much easier when I focus on everything I do have and what is truly important to me. This time at home with my children is precious. I know that I will not get this time back. No “sacrifice” will make me regret the decision to stay home with my children. 

Creativity:

Every mom is different and every family situation is different. Staying at home can look different from family to family. There is also the option to have a hybrid version of staying at home. These days there are many opportunities to make money from home and some moms may enjoy the option of  working from home on a part-time basis.

Starting a blog has helped build our savings and I enjoy having a project on the side. There are many other options for generating income from home: 73 skills and services you can do to make money from home + 77 services eager to pay for these skills and services. 

You Can Stay Home With Your Kids (by Erin Odom of The Humbled Homemaker) shares 100 tips, tricks, and ways to make it work on a budget. This helpful resource gives 100 of Erin’s best money-saving tips in bite-sized, easily-digestible chunks to help any mom curb spending and create more income for her family. This book has so many helpful tips with action steps to help you make the tips work for you and your family.

The books is divided into eight sections:

• Curb Spending
• Eat Well on a Budget
• DIY Household Products
• Entertain Your Family Without Spending a Fortune – this section has so many great ideas!
• Shop Secondhand and Sales
• Provide for Health-Care Needs
• Hunt Houses and Vehicles
• Create More Income

As you read through the book, find the tips that will work best for you and your family. Erin includes suggestions that I already implement, a few unique ideas I had never thought of, and a few that don’t fit my needs.

That is the beauty of this book. There is no pressure to implement all 100 tips, just find the suggestions that make sense for you and your family and make your plan. 

Suggestions that I already implement (just a few!):

• Erin shares great tips for keeping kids’ birthday parties affordable. One of them is to keep the food simple by scheduling a midmorning or late afternoon party so your guests don’t expect a meal. We had a donut party when our son turned one. It worked out great! It eliminated the cost of a meal and cut down on the stress of making all the food. And who doesn’t love a donut party? :)
• She also says to say good-bye to the Jones and distinguish wants from needs. They decided to live within their means and practiced the discipline of contentment. You will never regret staying home with your kids. I have to say that finding contentment makes this easy for me.
• Shop as discount stores and buy in bulk. Yes to Aldi and Costco!
• I don’t coupon clip as often, but I use the coupon apps. Ibotta and Cartwheel are my favorites. My total savings so far is over $700 for each app. Get a $10 welcome bonus when you sign up with Ibotta.
• Avoid triggers. If you belong to Buy/Sell groups in Facebook, don’t browse them just for the sake of finding something that you could use…just because there is a deal. I removed myself from the Buy/Sell groups a while back when I found myself seeing great deals on things I didn’t need.

A few that didn’t fit my needs:

• She found that meeting with a financial planner helped her family learn how to go from financial stress to financial success. I am sure that many would find this helpful. I didn’t find this tip applied to myself as I got free lessons constantly from my parents. I learned so much growing up from my parents in this area, from how they lived and spent their money, the priorities they set, and through money conversations with my dad.
• I also use credit cards as I pay them off every month. 

You Can Stay At Home With Your Kids: 100 Tips, Tricks, and Ways to Make It Work on a Budget releases on April 10. If you want to stay home with your children, but you do not know where to start to make it work this book is a great resource to provide both encouragement and actionable tips.

Get a copy of the book, start highlighting the book, and make your action plan to stay home with your children!

**I received a copy of this book for free. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review. All opinions are my own.

Do you need more encouragement as a mom? Read: