How to Plan to be a Stay at Home Mom

If you are considering staying at home and leaving your job. Here are some ideas to head you in the right direction.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• patience
• creativity
• family support

1. Aim to pay off any major debts ahead of time. The idea is to get your monthly bills lowered to make the financial adjustment easier.
2. Be prepared to buy much less stuff. You can go without the extras when you're going without the extra paycheck. You don't have to go without completely. But you'll notice when you are not working how much longer you can go without that haircut or new purse. The trade off is well worth it. I'd never would have dreamed I would have stayed at home. It was great and I wouldn't have traded it for the world either!
3. Find work from home if you want some small spending cash. Write articles for Ehow. Take a part time job or volunteer to keep up your work/computer skills up and earn some money too. Look around, there are creative ways to work part time available. I worked part time at the college for a while before returning to full time work. It landed me an offer for a full time job too!
4. Lower your bills right away or ahead of time. Go through all of your bills and look for opportunities to lower everything. Cancel magazines, bring your monthly bill down for electricity, cables and telephone. See my ehow article on lowering your bills, it's full of ideas. Check online articles for more tips.
5. Hold a garage sell to get rid of your old stuff. Many stay at home Moms hold these at least once a year.
6. Sell items on ebay or amazon to make extra cash. See my article on selling used books on amazon.
7. Look for lower priced or free activities to keep you and your kids entertained. Some are the library, book store with train table, parks, community pools and indoor play areas at Toys R Us. You'll have to be creative to keep everyone entertained and not spend extra, but you can do it. Many theaters have 1.00 kid movies during the summer! Check http://www.amctheatres.com/smc/ for details.

Tips & Warnings

• Read stay at home Mom blogs for ideas.
• Discuss money saving tips with family and friends
• Find a Mother's Day Out program, you still need to take care of you too!
• Have fun, go for picnics, swim, play at the park, be silly, take naps, enjoy this time at home with your children, it passes quickly and you will miss it later!
• Be careful when seeking online work. Scam are everywhere. Do your homework first. There are many articles on the online scams. If it sounds too good to be true...