We live in a two income culture where it is sometimes plain hard to keep our heads above water.
And yet, our families need us to be at home. The security a stay-at-home mom brings to her family is priceless.
So what’s a mom to do? Can our families survive on a single income in America?
I believe the answer is yes, but it will take a bit of effort on our part. It will take determination, and a deep faith that being a keeper at home is literally more important than anything else.
My husband and I are currently in the middle of our own debt free journey. So far we have paid off over $260,000 in a little less than three years. While I have worked from home in my Etsy store for most of this time, it is nothing short of the hand of God that has made this possible.
I’ve learned to be frugal, and it all started with a mindset shift. I began studying the Scriptures about simplicity, and I realized that our children did not need to be steeped in the abundance that we call America. What they needed was me.
The first thing we need to do when making the transition from working mom to stay-at-home mom, is to realize that our children need nothing more badly than our presence.
They do not need a large house in a nice neighborhood more. They do not need a vacation more. They do not need an abundance of clothes, toys, or extracurricular activities more.
What they need is you.
Once we really take this truth to heart, changes can start to happen.
Next, we need to take a good look at what cuts can be made to our budget, and reduce our debt burden as much as possible.
Once we decided to simplify our lives and reduce our debt, the Lord has helped us so much. We have cut out many extras, and we drive older cars. We have downsized our homes twice, and have moved for my husband to work at a higher paying job. In doing so, we have cut about $2500 worth of monthly expenses from our budget.
While you do not need to make changes as drastic as ours to stay at home with your children, debt needs to be seen as the enemy. I highly recommend reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey to get you started.
Finally, we need to implement, trust, and obey.
Our findings mean nothing if we don’t implement them. Taking the first step towards a life at home involves courage, and I know you can do it! You can read about some of the sacrifices my family has made here.
Trusting and obeying God’s Word when it comes to concepts such as contentment, not loving the things of the world, and being a keeper at home might seem foreign at first. But ladies, when we let go of our preconceived notions and follow God, good fruit will be produced in our families.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 Timothy 6:6-8
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Do you think maybe it’s a little easier for a family who makes $100k+ per year? Please, please acknowledge your privilege. I wonder if you’d so easily sacrifice if your husband made $36k per year instead.
You have the big nice house, etc. yes there can always be a draw toward more but you’re not sacrificing anything.
I was a young widow with three children some time ago living on social security income. It took a lot of sacrifice to remain home with them, but God was faithful and I was able to. When my husband and I married he was making $15 an hour. We now live on around $24,000 per year, and are putting all extra income towards our mortgage debt with a family of 10, and we live in under 1900 square feet. Of course the more you make, the less sacrifices will need to be made to stay at home with your children. I have seen many different income brackets throughout the years, and by God’s grace there has always been a way to stay home. Thank you for stopping by.
I understand what what you’re saying. I agree with you it’s possible at any income. But I think choosing to pay $270k toward debt over 3 years is still a lot different than a family that is living on $24k because they have too. It’s okay if you disagree. We bring home about $24,000 with our family of 4. It’s comfortable enough but a struggle sometimes—would love to know more details of how you support 10 on that amount! Does it include your mortgage or are you counting all of that in debt pay-off?
Also—I’m very sorry for your loss! I didn’t know you had been widowed.
Yes, we are all in different places. Most of what we have paid off came from downsizing, not our income. We sold one house for $316,000 and then bought one for $255,000. We sold that house for $286,000 and bought our current home for $200,000. All of the equity money went straight to our debt.
The $24,000 does not include our current mortgage. Our bare minimum expenses (excluding mortgage) is between $1600-1700 monthly. I might share a post about this soon.
That’s awesome you’ve been able to make a great return on your houses! The market is still very poor here. We lost about $25k when we had to move because we couldn’t sell our house and finally had to take a loss on it. As I said we’re in a much lower income bracket than you so our houses are just $80k so it was a huge loss. And we are already downgraded pretty much as much as we can go unless it was unlivable and then we wouldn’t be able to put money into it to make it livable. Yet even I can recognize that I have a privilege that others don’t enjoy. I’m surprised that you aren’t willing to admit your messed state. Give God the glory for it, but don’t deny it. Have a great night! Will look forward to your other post, always happy to see frugal tips from others in case there’s a rare idea I’ve missed. Which is not often after a lifetime of penny pinching 😂
Coming through on the other side of having raised a family on one income, I honor your commitment to do more with less and to be present for your family in a way that is counter cultural and that, perhaps, no one but God himself truly understands the sacrifice of it.
Thank you so much for your encouragement, Michele.
That’s awesome, Nicole! I hope that when I become a mom, I can stay home too!
Wonderful! There really is nothing better!
Dave Ramsey’s teachings are amazing! We’ve done Financial Peace University and only have our home left to pay off!! Cannot wait to be debt free! 🙂 Thank you for sharing this to help others.
Congratulations, that is awesome!
It is not difficult to live on one income even at $24,000-$36,000. But it does take commitment, effort, determination to save and live very frugally, and more importantly it takes complete trust in God. It is so counter cultural that it seems impossible, but a woman’s worth at home is immeasurable. However, without God nothing is possible nor any sum of money is ever enough, but with God even the most meager amount is amazingly abundant. I am new to this blog, but so far everything is so refreshinly inspiring. God bless your work.
Yes! Thank you so much for sharing and for your encouragement, Carolina.
This is so full of truth and wisdom! Our kids and families need a constant presence in the home — it’s very stabilizing. Everything runs so much better when one parent is home. I think you make a great point about how a lot of times (but not all) it comes down to a choice of a more opulent lifestyle or staying at home with less money. While not everyone is able to do the SAHM thing, I feel so blessed and fortunate to be able to make an amazing investment into my family. Great post!
Thank you so much for sharing, and for your encouragement!