Can YOU Afford to Stay Home? Find Out How

Many families are forced to have both parents work in order to make ends meet. The cost of living has sky rocketed, and in order to pay for all the things you want and need in life, often both mom and dad have to go to work, despite the number of kids they have. Many parents, moms especially, wish that they could stay home and be part of those growing up moments that are so quickly gone in their child’s life. The following is a look at how you can determine if you can afford to stay home:

The first thing you have to do is determine how much money you would need to cover your current, or existing, bills and financial obligations. In order to determine if you can afford staying home, you have to determine the amount of incoming money you need so you can see if your spouse’s income will cover what you need. This is not the time to try and cut back, it is just where you set your baseline of what income you currently need to bring in to sustain your lifestyle.

Crunch the numbers and find out.

Once you figure that out, you have to determine how that measures up with what you would have available to live on if you were to stay home instead of work. So, for example, if your spouse makes $50,000 a year, and you figure out that your living expenses (that means everything from home mortgage and car payments to the cell phone you carry, and the average entertainment you seek) are $5,000 a month. You would find that you are negative about $10,000 a year.

The next thing you have to do, is determine if there is a way to cut out that much of your spending, so that you can afford to stay home. For example, can you cut down your cable television package, your cell phone plan, can you eliminate memberships you aren’t really using, or sell a car that is not being driven regularly, but that you are paying to insure. This is the most difficult process. Basically write out every single expense you have, and then ask yourself how to cut it down, or eliminate it entirely. Could you refinance your home? Could you pay off your vehicle soon? Could you use the library for internet use? Could you find less expensive ways to entertain yourself? Could you take less expensive vacations?

Now evaluate what you would save, and what you would lose if you were to stay home. Some people simply can’t afford to stay home because of the loss of benefits or insurance provided through their job. Others find that staying home is far more affordable than they realized because of the money they save in childcare and commuting.

Only you can know if you can afford to stay home, and the only way to know for sure is to crunch the numbers, create a budget, and actually stick to it.