My wife left her job in Dec. 1994 just before becoming pregnant with our daughter. She remained a SAHM for 10 years. We managed just fine on my income alone, even counting a short period of unemployment and a job change along the way (with a paycut).
Two years ago this month, she went back to work. It wasn't planned. She wasn't looking for a job, but an opportunity presented itself that she didn't want to pass up. She has never been entirely sure she wanted to work, so we tried our best not to become dependent on her income. I've put about 80% of her gross into savings each paycheck. She currently brings home $78 twice a month after the 403b contribution and taxes. We have increased spending a bit thanks to her income, and retirement planning sure got a big boost with an extra 15K/year going in, but overall we've been really good about managing that extra money.
She's finally gotten to the point where she just isn't happy at the job. When she first considered working, we agreed that if she wasn't happy, I didn't want her to feel she had to keep at it just for the money. So we talked over the weekend and she will probably be quitting in the near future.
We've talked about how we are going to have to tighten the belt a bit and go back to some more frugal habits that we have gotten away from the past couple of years. We've been eating out more, buying more convenience foods, food shopping with little regard to sales and coupons, taking nicer vacations, etc. We agree that her being happy is more important than having the extra money, so we're willing to work together to cut costs. Besides, a lot of the less frugal behavior has happened because she is working and we don't have time to do the frugal stuff, so I don't think it will be that tough to trim our spending. I'll definitely be rereading "The Tightwad Gazette" and paying closer attention to the weekly circulars and the threads onine about money-saving tips, so keep them coming.
Big money changes at our house
January 15th, 2007 at 05:46 pm
January 15th, 2007 at 05:50 pm 1168883433
January 15th, 2007 at 05:56 pm 1168883791
She should be the one to read the success stories in the back of "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" for motivation.
January 15th, 2007 at 05:59 pm 1168883951
January 15th, 2007 at 06:06 pm 1168884377
But with her being home, it is easy to get in the savings groove again. Just don't expect it to be overnight, because it takes a while to get used to not eating out anymore and stuff! You get used to it!
January 15th, 2007 at 06:13 pm 1168884800
You don't know how many times I Read your comments and think - oh that was us when we both worked (I am sure I Said it too - hehe). Those were the days.
The great thing is you have built up an awesome start, you will be just fine I am sure.
Having a spouse home I often feel is better than any amount money can buy. We always looked at it as temporary and only recenlty have been looking at this as a long-term thing. SO we give up some of our significant savings (used to save 50% of our income) and give up some toys and vacations, but it is well worth it. I know your family will do great - may even be happier. Wish you luck.
January 15th, 2007 at 09:57 pm 1168898266
January 15th, 2007 at 09:58 pm 1168898289
What we just simply can't replace is what she has been contributing to our retirement savings - $15,000/year. At least we have the little boost we got from her working the past 2 years. And she isn't opposed to working part-time if something convenient comes along.
January 15th, 2007 at 11:05 pm 1168902303
January 16th, 2007 at 02:25 am 1168914330
January 16th, 2007 at 02:54 am 1168916042
I don't know if your wife would be interested in going the self-employed route, but it is possible to work from home, control the number of hours you work (work only part-time), while continuing to add generously to the retirement savings through a self-employed retirement plan.
As far as tightening the belt, sounds like you are looking at the grocery budget, and that's always a good place to look when you are already pretty frugal overall.
January 16th, 2007 at 07:36 pm 1168976197
January 16th, 2007 at 10:28 pm 1168986485
January 17th, 2007 at 02:41 am 1169001671
January 17th, 2007 at 02:41 am 1169001710