Being a Stay at Home Mom Comes with a Price

Being a stay at home mother has been a dream of mine ever since I held my first born son “E” in my arms.  In high school and college, I never thought this would be the case.  I figured that I would get bored staying home all day with a baby but that all changed the second he was born.   Unfortunately, being a stay at home mother wasn’t an option for me at the time.  So, to work I went leaving my child in the care of my mother and my sister in law.  I was very lucky to have family stay with my son but every day I grew more and more depressed with the thought of leaving my child behind.  I began to hate my job and dreaded waking up in the morning.  These feelings grew tremendously when I found out that I was pregnant with my second child. Thankfully, I serve a God who answers prayers. It was a few short months after I found out I was expecting that my husband got a promotion and a raise that gave us the financial ability to allow me to stay home with my children.

                Staying home with my children has been one of the best experiences of my life but financially, it is one of the biggest struggles.  The economy is bad, gas prices are high, and frankly, money is just tight.  My husband works as hard as he can going to work for 50-60 hours per week and coming home to work on his school work for the Bachelor’s degree he is working to complete.  He does the best he can so I work hard to do my part too.

                First of all, I spend Tuesday afternoons (while the kids are napping) going over the budget, paying bills, and looking for ways to trim the fat.  We have cut a lot of extras by doing the following:

                -we cut out cable/satellite bills completely.  We watch all of our shows online.  For new episodes of tv shows you can go to that shows network website and watch the new episode the next day online.  Also, for $7.99 a month we signed up for Netflix instant movies and watch tv shows and movies through our computer.  This is a much cheaper option then the $60 dollar satellite bill we were paying. It took about a week for us to adjust to not having regular tv but now we don’t miss it and we watch far less tv then we used to which is good for us and for our kids.

                -we cut out our smart phones and went back to the old school cell phones.  Our cell phone company charged $30 a month, per phone, just for the data package that was required to run our smart phone.  We decided that we did not need this anymore so downgraded our service to our old phones.  We still have texting and that is all we need.  This saved us $60 dollars a month on our cell phone bills.

                -We cut our grocery bill in half by buying generic brands versus the name brands and clipping coupons!  Also, I use the circular ads and find out which stores have the best prices.  It is also important to note that Wal-Mart does price matching so you don’t have to drive to several different locations to get the best prices.

                The second thing that I did is find ways to make money online and I have found a couple of great options. 

                -Ebay: I have tried to sell several different types of things but I have found that some of the best money makers are jewelry and baby clothes.  My husband and I don’t plan on having any more children so I sell their old gently used clothes on Ebay and have made quite a bit of money.  The jewelry I sell is old jewelry that I don’t wear anymore.  These aren’t real gold pieces or pieces with real diamonds but  I still make a decent amount of money off of selling these things.

                -ChaCha:  I don’t know if you have ever heard of ChaCha but it is a work from home opportunity that you do straight from your computer.  In fact, I am doing it as I am typing up this blog post. ChaCha is a question answering site.  What happens is people will text a question to ChaCha and these questions are sent to the guides through their computer.  I am a guide and it is my job to answer these questions.  You don’t make a ton of money doing this but it is enough to supplement my husband’s income and pay my car payment each month.

                Lastly, I plan ahead for holidays and birthdays.  People tend to go into debt buying gifts at Christmas time and for birthdays so I spend all year buying gifts and storing them for these holidays.  My sons birthdays are in May and September so I shop the after Christmas sales and put these items back for their birthdays.  This spreads out the burden and allows me to get them more. 

I hope some of these tips help you save a few extra pennies, and I welcome any and all of your tips and suggestions!

Being a Mother Means Understanding Unconditional Love

"Love is blind, your mother started loving you before she ever say your face." 

          This is one of the best descriptions for a mother's unconditional love for her child.  For me, my love started in January 2009, when I discovered that I was pregnant with my first child.  I was 22 years old, just finished college, and recently celebrated my 2nd wedding anniversary.  My husband and I had talked about having kids and while we weren't exactly "trying" to get pregnant, we weren't exactly preventing it either.  Needless to say, I was shocked when that little stick showed a plus sign.  So shocked in fact that I sent my husband out for 2 more pregnancy tests.  Finally, it began to sink it...I was going to be a mother.  It was in that instant that my love for this new little person started to grow.  I never understood a love like this.  
          In September of that same year, we welcomed our little boy "E" and he was amazing. I will never forget the moment he arrived and the first time I looked into his sweet little face. My life would forever be changed. Becoming a mother is definitely an adjustment.   How is it that one little person could require so much time, money, and energy? You can't shower, go to the bathroom, or sleep without considering the needs of your child.  
          A week after celebrating "E"s first birthday we found out that we were expecting another baby - which we would find out later that it was another boy.  It was during my second pregnancy that God blessed my husband and I with the financial ability for me to become a stay at home mother.  This has come with another set of sacrifices but it is a decision that I have never once regretted.  In May of 2011, "I" was born.  "E" was a little hesitant at first but within a few weeks we had gotten into a new routine and our little 20 month old forgot what life was like without his little brother. 
          "I" is going to be turning one in two months and "E" will be three in the fall.  In the short amount of time that I have been a mother I have learned two simple truths.  Being a mother is the hardest thing I have ever done and being a mother is the most important thing I will ever do.