affording to be a stay at home mum

chmmy

If you start going to mother and baby groups, you might other mums who would be looking for someone to look after their child for a couple of hours for shopping or an appointment. If you were clear in the first place about getting paid for it (explain it's how you can afford to stay at home), then that might be a way to make a few extra pounds

Rachie_B

chmmy wrote:

If you start going to mother and baby groups, you might other mums who would be looking for someone to look after their child for a couple of hours for shopping or an appointment. If you were clear in the first place about getting paid for it (explain it's how you can afford to stay at home), then that might be a way to make a few extra pounds

If its for more than 2 hours, in the OPs house you would need to be a Registered Childminder unfortunately

In the childs house it would be ok
In fact babysitting is a good idea,I charge £6 p/h and oftenm the children are in bed anyway

advertise babysitting / cleaning / ironing services etc on
https://www.gumtree.com https://www.netmums.com https://www.vivastreet.co.uk

emma_b_4

for supermarket shops could you go to an Aldi or Lidl for "staple" basics to fill up pantry then shop at asda for fresh stuff? i do this when money is tight and im always amazed at prices in Aldi and some of food is very nice (and we atre very very picky!!!)
you could sell some old things on ebay such as baby clothes?
make sure you are on cheapest deals for bband, landline, gas and electric
also, look at life assurance (we recently saved £12 a mth on a like for like policy with a new provider) and maybe home insurance, have you told then your at home now and not at work maybe that will bring cost down ?

xxxxxxx

Spendless

How much do you need to save/have each month so you can stay at home? Have you looked into changing utility/phone/broadband suppliers?

frostyspice

black-saturn wrote:

I'm a stay at home mum and I've managed to afford it quite well. Once your little one goes to school you can work from home during school hours. You can do ebay and lots of other little on the side jobs which bring in a little extra. Also cut your food bills down by cooking everything from scratch.

black-saturn, what do you sell on ebay? Just your little one's outgrown stuff? Or do you buy in stuff to sell on?

Pink_butterfly_3

Hi

I have recently finished my maternity leave but have decided not to go back to work.

We are incredibly lucky that part of my husbands bonus will cover me for a year giving me about £600 a month.

I have been really making an effort though to be careful with money.

We draw out £200 a month in cash (which i look after) and this serves as our monthly shopping budget for me, DH, my 18 month old DD and my 5 month old DS. This has really helped as before we would just spend bits and pieces here and there which would amount up to £450 a month!!

I asgree that freecycle is great. We managed to get all the furniture for our DS from there and it looks lovely.

Also, i've sold loads of stuff and saved all the money into a 'rainy day' type fund.

You could also make some spare cash from mystery shopping, Avon, ironing, cleaning - those sorts of things.

Lo.j

Start a craft box. Children love getting messy from a very early age and there is nothing better fun( or cheaper) than making potato print pictures, desk tidies from toilet roll tubes etc.You will have great fun and if the children enjoy it then that's an added bonus ! LOL. Grannies also seem to like hand print pictures for birthdays.
Start a dressing up box - the week after Hallowe'en is a good time to buy stuff. You never know when one of their little friends will have a themed birthday party.
Remind yourself every day that you will never get this precious time back, take loads of photos, hug and kiss the babies every day ( no matter what age they are ) and you will be the richest woman in the world !

thriftmummy

I'm not a SAHM, but I work part time. It's the little things that all add up....

Selling on ebay - I buy bags of clothes out of the local free ads and sell them back on ebay. I don't make a fortune, but it's a nice bit of pocket money.

When I see a good freebie on the internet I get all my friends and relatives to sign up as well. For example I recently got a whiskers kitten pack that had 4 sachets of food in it. I got everyone I knew to do it for me and ended up with loads.

Take advantage of any 'money back' deals for switching financial products. For example Halifax are currently offering £100 cash for anyone switching to their current account.

Look at small ways you can reduce your shopping bills - things like cleaning products. Do you really need them? I clean my whole house with washing up liquid, vinegar and cheap 50p washing powder. Also I never buy kitchen roll - why pay for something you're going to throw in the bin. Also some 'basic' range products in the supermarket are excellent.

Cloth baby wipes - buy a bit of fleece material. I paid £2 at our local market and it's the best £2 I've ever spent.

Good luck with being a SAHM - it is something I would love to be able to do, but there is just no way we could afford it.

3KIDSNOMONEY

I am a SAHM too. Making ends meet is really hard and we have only just started to spend to our means, despite me being a SAHM for over 10 years. It is really hard, especially when unexpected expenses come or, or the kids need shoes, days out, etc.

I always seek out vouchers for days out, the internet is great for this, it is surprising what vouchers you can get. On days out take a pack up and plenty of drinks to avoid buying when you are out. Unless something is on a really good offer only buy enough food for the week and meal plan, that way nothing is wasted.

Agree with the craft ideas, they don't have to be expensive, save kitchen roll tubes, bubble wrap, cereal boxes and let the kids go mad!

I find it quite lonely being a SAHM as we don't having much money, I don't drive and do not have a close family. Does anyone else feel like this?

tiff

Me! I think your self esteem goes too, from being at home on your own so long, well it has affected me anyway. In that way I feel I've made quite a sacrifice in staying home, not that I would ever say that to my children, its only what they deserve.