SAHM's - What is your household income?

DH and I are TTC, and I'm wondering if there is ever hope of me being a SAHM.

We're working on finding things to cut back on, but realistically, what kind of salary does it take to be able to stay home?

I made a poll to keep it anonymous. Thanks!

Edited b/c I used the wrong form of poll and didn't want to sound like an idiot...LOL!

Message edited 4/19/2010 10:47:47 AM.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

Wish we were able to swing it, but we are not, hence my returning to work when she was 9 weeks old.. Miss her terribly EVERY day!!!

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

It depends on what your outgoing $$ is?. You could make $200k but if your bills equal that..then you can't afford it.. You could have a household income of $40k but if you don't have a lot of bills/expenses it could be done. KWIM
Good luck!!

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

I think it really depends on your mortgage, debt, and other factors. One person might need $200,000 while another person living with little rent might need under $100,000.

For us, even more than money, was that DH's job is not stable right now, and my benefits are better. I didn't feel confident quitting knowing that DH's company could go under any day and I would have given up great benefits, retirement, and a good salary.

Message edited 4/19/2010 10:45:38 AM.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

Posted by Linda1003

It depends on what your outgoing $$ is?. You could make $200k but if your bills equal that..then you can't afford it.. You could have a household income of $40k but if you don't have a lot of bills/expenses it could be done. KWIM
Good luck!!

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

I think you need to factor your own expenses, because my mortgage and bills may be entirely different from yours.

Maybe try living off of your DHs salary for 6 months, without dipping into your salary and see if its doable. This is what we did the entire time I was pregnant so I could save my paychecks for 9 months and we would have a bit more cushion.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

IMO it really depends on your mortgage/bills and lifestyle (and I guess how many kids you have) .
I know few SAHM s (in NY) whose DHs make 65-80 and they are doing fine (not great , but ok) but I also know few whose DHs make 90-150 and they are really struggling . So it really depends on your situation...

Message edited 4/19/2010 10:48:44 AM.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

I answered, but it really depends on your personal situation and standard of living.

We will find out if we can do it. I was layed off and my last day of work is in 2 weeks. On paper, my budget looks OK, tight, but managable. Let's hope we can do it in practice.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

Thanks everyone for your input. We are looking to buy a house within the next 6 months, so we can try hard to find a home we can afford on one salary.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

We were doing ok financially until Hubby's position at work was cut. He no longer has any overtime and we are losing out on 35,000 dollars a year. Now I am looking to go back to work part time. We were hoping to buy a house next year, but I doubt that is going to happen now. We are looking for a new place to live now. We need more space. We had been living check to check, but we cut back on so much so now we are ok....

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

It really does depend on debt and bills at the end of the day.
I did answer even though I work very PT but we could still manage if I didn't.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

ita with what everyone else said. for us the deciding factor is/was benefits. my dh's old job didn't have them and we couldn't afford to pay out of pocket for them in ny.

we've since moved oos and are able to not only live on much less but the benefits at dh's new job lets me stay home and even put money into savings on dh's salary alone.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

I would definitely put all numbers down on paper and see what you need each month to cover all bills/expenses and if there's anything left over for savings. Then look at your DH's take home pay and see if it covers it.

I saved enough to stay home a year, but can't afford more than that.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

You have to add up all your bills and figure it out that way.

We cut back a lot. Although I went back to work p/t after 11 mo. with DS #1, we made sure that DH's salary covers ALL of our bills whether I worked or not.

Think of ways to cut back:

We traded in our Lexus truck for a Mountaineer saving $150/mo in car payments.

Instead of having 2 separate cell phone plans, we did the family plan through Verizon saving us $$$.

We combined our car insurance and HO insurance with the same company which saved us almost $400 a year.

We saved money in a sense that being I wasn't working f/t in a corporate office I wasn't spending a ton of money on expensive work clothes constantly.

Re: SAHM's - What is your household income?

It totally depends on your lifestyle. DH and I each make good money, but could totally live on one salary in the future if we moved and cut back. I say in the future because it's not feasible at least until our student loans are paid off and our savings built up more so we'd have a cushion. I'm not ready to be a SAHM yet anyway, but may very well want to be after DC # 2 or 3, when our financial situation will also look different enough that it might be feasible.