Money

Since we decided we wanted kids, my husband and I always knew that we wanted me to be a stay at home mom. His mom stayed at home with him, and my mom stayed at home with me so we really wanted to keep that going. Working in a daycare center for 7 years also opened my eyes and helped me to realize that although it is a great outlet for working parents, it is not somewhere where I would want to take my child. All of these deciding factors aside, money was the main issue when making the ultimate decision.
Daycare is uber expensive and there is just no way that we could afford it. When I left the daycare center I had been working at for years I made a maximum of about $600 take home pay every two weeks for full time. A quality daycare center in the town we live costs about $800 or more a month depending on the age of the child. So if that was the route we decided to go, I would be working 40 hours a week and only taking home about $400 a month. Yes, it would be nice to have the extra, but $400 dollars just isn't enough to have someone else see my child more than me.
Our finances definitely have been taking a beating since my husband convinced me to quit my part time job (where I really wasn't making much anyway) since ir did nothing but stress me out. I am also in school and am the primary caretaker of our home and it was getting to be a little much so I agreed. We have been awesome at being a team and budgeting together and coming up with new ways to save money. I discovered couponing a while ago and it has been an absolute lifesaver. I am also starting to learn many DIY projects (which I will share in future blog entries) and we do our best to conserve all of our resources.
Even with all of our hard work to save money, it is still quite a struggle. I truly believe that we can get through this hard financial time and it will benefit our family in the end, which is what keeps me strong enough to work through it. I have been racking my brain to try and come up with side jobs and other ways to make a little bit of extra cash for our family. I have tried selling things that I make, garage sales, eBay, and other things only to fail. I realize that success usually begins with failure so I am not too concerned, but it is still disheartening. I have been trying to find anyway I can to earn money online and other ways and the struggle still continues, but I am ok with it because I feel like I am doing my part to help our family.
I am going to share all of my money making/saving ideas on my blog and hope that it can benefit others as it has benefited me in a way that helps me to feel accomplished even if I don't fully succeed in what I set out to do. Even if I keep failing and don't earn any money from the ventures I pursue, I still know that with the knowledge I gain from it, it will still pay off greatly in the end whether monetary or just in the form of a positive sense of self. :)