how much $$ is enough?!

Question

My husband and I have been married for almost 2 years now. We both have baby fever BAD. I want to be a stay at home mom because that is my dream job ever since I was a little girl. My question is, I don't feel like we can afford a child on just my husbands income. I have moved from the west coast to midwest so his income seems so small compared to what is average in the west cost. Any ladies here from the Midwest able to enlighten me on what an acceptable income is here? 
Sorry for the novel. Thanks!

Answer

It all depends on what you are and are not willing to give up... 
There's people I know who live off far less than we do, but they make it work. Your bank probably has a financial advisor you can talk to for free and come up with a budget to see if you could make it work.

Answer

There is no set dollar amount that will insure you can be a stay at home mom. Every family's expenses are different....house payments and upkeep, car payments and maintenance costs, insurance (health, home, vehicle and life), utilities (which can fluctuate during certain times of the year).... Then you throw in diapers, formula, bottles and sippy cups that always seem to get lost, furniture and toys. Educational costs, extracurricular activities, unexpected medical costs, gas and food for not just your child but their friends... Sit down and seriously go over your finances. When we bought our first home we made a budget. I thought things were tight at the time but once it was written out and we even gave ourselves an allowance for extras we still had over $1500 each month that was left over after paying all of our bills. We were just blowing it on stupid stuff (eatting out all the time, unnecessary shopping sprees, etc.) So we were fine to swing an $800 house payment into the mix. I would approach the SAHM thing in the same manner. Talk to some people and find out the average amounts spent per child each month... see if it can fit into your budget with only 1 income and go from there....

Answer

Start saving now. Maybe look for working from home like some customer service phone jobs from home.

Answer

I know of several SAHM's here in Michigan. The cost of living isn't too bad in our state compared with other Midwest states and especially anywhere on the coast. The SAHM's I know of either work a little (weekend nights or one or two weekdays) or they don't work at all and their husband has a relatively decent job, nothing crazy like a surgeon or lawyer but at least a job you would need a Bachelor's degree for. If you budget seriously and go without as many luxuries so you can allocate those funds to the baby instead, you might be surprised on how little your husband could make to pull it off! And like I said, a little part-time side hustle can be a good thing, for more ways than just finances. It gets you out of the house *alone* and lets your mind adjust to other things than just baby baby baby all day! Good luck ❤

Answer

To be honest I know people that afford multiple kids on 40k a year, and I know people that make 80k and can't afford their one kid. It comes down to your spending habits. If you feel like you need to be financially prepared I would have 6 months of bills in savings and looking at how much your fixed expenses are/guesstimate your variable expenses and see where you stand.

Answer

If you aren't struggling from pay check to pay check and have left over money to put in savings or do what you wish with Id say your good to go. Cost of living is different everywhere you go. So you can't necessarily judge a persons paycheck based on where they live.

Answer

I live in Illinois and I've always dreamed of being a stay at home mom. Me and my SO recently decided that i can only be a SAHM if we move away from the Midwest as cost of living is SO HIGH

how much $$ is enough?!

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