Re: If you're a SAHM, what is your household income?

Re: If you're a SAHM, what is your household income?

I think it really depends on where you live. We live in Manhattan so it's expensive. We could live for a lot less if we lived further out east or upstate NY.

Right now I am the breadwinner so I HAVE to work. DH finishes fellowship this year so it will be just in time for me to be a SAHM when DC#2 arrives.

Re: If you're a SAHM, what is your household income?

it all depends... when i was working full time our income was close to or a bit over 100k a year. DH got a better paying job which then allowed me to be able to stay home. we do not drive new cars, i dont get a hair cut every 4-6 weeks, i dont get my nails done, we dont buy name brand expensive clothes, we did just buy a home but it has a rental to help with the bills, it needs some work but is 100% livable. we just adjusted our lifestyle. things arent cushey at all but down the line will become easier as he gets bonuses and promotions. i do miss work and having the extra $, not worring about what i spend, or making sure theres enough to pay for it, no more spur of the moment vacations, not half as many lunch dates. its hard to say the least but the pay off is greater. i do eventually need and wnt to return to work just petrified that im out of the field too long and wont be a deseriable employee theres ups and downs to everything

Re: If you're a SAHM, what is your household income?

Before I left the workforce I made around $120K myself. The nice thing is, we always banked it-- the only time we would dip into my salary was for a couple of our furniture purchases or home improvement projects. DH was, and still is, the real breadwinner. We always planned on having me SAH, so it was better to just live on one income right from the day we got married, so that there would be little sacrifice to our lifestyle after having kids.

I have to say, this was KEY to making the SAHM lifestyle work for us. There's no resentment on either side about money because mine was never part of our monthly budget. We take cheaper vacas now, we eat at more casual places and not as often, the clothes I buy are cheaper-- but those are because we have two little kids and it's not practical to wear $$ clothes at home with them or take them to $$ restaurants where they may not eat anyway, lol. All our money always was joint, so I haven't struggled with feelings of not having "my" money.

Re: If you're a SAHM, what is your household income?

For us, a lot of it has to do with how we live. Our income is now about half what it was when I was working.

I stopped working and started my own business, my income isn't set but this year it looks like I'll make about 1/2 what I was making before. DH recently left his job and took a 30% paycut. His old job was too many hours and too much stress. Now we are both living very happily but we are very frugal.

We are upstate, so our taxes and housing costs are less, but our incomes are also less than if we did the same things on LI/NYC. When we bought the house, we purchased one that was half of what the bank told us we could afford, it was also 60% of the average home price in our area. We are in a great location, great school district and have a great house. It is small for this area (1800SF) and is 100 years old, but it is in great shape and we love the character.

We shop carefully, we are careful about needs vs. wants, and we do small getaways instead of big vacations.

I never feel deprived, I don't want for anything, and I don't have plans to return to an office anytime soon.