How Much Do You Really Need to Make as a WAHM?

by Susanne Myers

Published on this site: July 1st, 2005 - See more articles from this month...

Many of you have been thinking about staying home with the kids, but aren’t sure they can afford to do so. Living expenses are so high these days, it is almost impossible to make meats end on one income. The idea of coming up with an income close to what you are making in your corporate job seems impossible. But do you really have to recreate your current salary to bring you home?

No, absolutely not.

Here is why. This great job of yours is costing you quite a bit. You may want to take a few minutes and jot down all these little expenses associated with your job.

Here are a few of them to get you started:

• Daycare or after school care
  
  
• Summer camp
  
  
• Clothing
  
  
• Dry-cleaning
  
  
• Gas
  
  
• Car upkeep and maintenance
  
  
• Taxes
  
  
• Lunches and dinners
  
  
• Snacks and sodas
  
  
• Morning coffee on the way to work
  
  
• Stopping for drinks after work
  
  
• Assorted fees and publications related to your position
  
  
• Convenience food (breakfast and dinner)

You are probably going to come up with some more expenses of your own. Keep a log for a few weeks and jot down all these expenses. Then calculate what your job is costing you over the year. Subtract this figure from the amount you are brining home in a given year. You’ll get a much better feel for how much you will need to make as a wahm.

If the amount still seems to high, think about ways to cut cost. Do you have all the cable channels and high-speed Internet that’s costing you a fortune? Would it be worth cutting back a little to stay home with your kids? How much do you spent on dining out, renting movies, ordering pizza? Again keep a log for a few weeks and sit down with your family and see what you can cut out. It is amazing what you’ll find you can live without. Come up with some fun ways to substitute what you are cutting out. Cook together on a night you would have gone out otherwise. Make some pizza and play some games.

At the end of this exercise you will come up with an amount of money that you will need to make as a wahm that will be much smaller than your old salary.

All of a sudden staying home becomes a very real possibility.

Susanne is a partner of www.WAHMWannabe.com, the one-stop online WAHM shop. WAHMWannabe offers home business comparison, business tools, work-at-home related articles, a unique WAHM marketplace, message boards, and a whole lot more. Be sure to stop by and check out what's new, as WAHM resources are added constantly.