A mother has to make many sacrifices the minute they choose to have children. The nine months of pregnancy followed by the postpartum period can be physically exhausting. In this stage, many women leave the workforce, choosing to stay at home to care for their baby. This decision is never made lightly but can lead to a strain in your family’s financial situation. If you do decide to return to work, you could feel some initial financial pressure during the transition. Here are some financial problems that stay-at-home moms returning to work often face and an effective plan to overcome them.
Stay-at-home moms get stressed about the cost of returning to work
As a mother, the accumulation of monthly living expenses can weigh heavily on you. There are six financial problems that mothers often encounter.
Home Mortgage, Rent, and Transportation
We all have to live somewhere. Whether you rent or own your home, the cost will often equal 30-40% of a salary. Add to that electricity, water, and furniture and you find yourself getting quite a headache worrying about making the next payment. While returning to work will help with the home costs, she may have to increase her transportation budget if her role is in office or hybrid. If she has a car, the length of her commute may lead to worrying about the cost of filling up her gas tank each week and how that will affect her family’s budget.
Food and Groceries
The cost of groceries can be very stressful for all moms. When you raise children, you want to buy healthy foods to make sure they receive the nutrients they need. You also have to factor in the cost of diapers, milk, and baby food costs as they can quickly add up every month. A stay-at-home mom returning to work also needs to take in consideration how she will budget her meals during her workday. Having breakfast at home and packing a lunch instead of eating out will have a positive effect when it comes to her budget. If you find yourself in an office environment, you may have the occasional lunch out with colleagues from time to time. As long as it fits the budget for the week, enjoy! You deserve it.
Child Care and School Cost
The cost of full time childcare can oftentimes be nearly as expensive as a mortgage or rent. And while you may not need it full time, a stay-at-home returning to work will at some point need to find reliable childcare. Family members such as grandparents or close family friends caring for your children while you work can be an invaluable asset from a budget perspective. Even if they can only assist part-time, it will help you save dramatically on childcare costs. If you are a stay-at-home mom returning to work and have a very tight budget for childcare, reach out to see what free or low cost childcare programs your city may have available. There are often childcare stipends that you can qualify for from your local authorities.
Clothing
Clothing is a necessary and ongoing expenditure for both yourself, your partner and your children. A stay-at home mom may need to purchase clothes that are appropriate for her interview or new job. Shopping at second hand stores may be a more budget friendly option. You can have a look about interview outfits for women ideas.
Emergency Fund
We have all experienced unexpected financial emergencies. For example, your child is unexpectedly sick, your phone is broken, or you need new transportation. No matter how big or small the emergency is, these unplanned expenses often make you feel like they’re coming at the worst times. Having a percent of your income put aside to cover these potential costs will make those events easier to handle. While it does mean you can use less of your new paycheck, you’ll appreciate it in the long run.
How To Be A Stay At Home Mom Financially?
Identify the problem
The first step out of a crisis is identifying the root of the problem. Financial difficulties are signs of a more significant problem requiring a permanent solution. Leaving a bucket of water under a leaky faucet is only a temporary solution. If you fix the faucet itself, the water won’t leak anymore. Similarly, instead of worrying about the pressure, focus on solving the problem causing financial hardship and realistic ways to overcome it.
Set a budget
One of the best ways to deal with financial difficulties is to plan a budget. It can be by week, month, or year, which helps you adjust your spending. You must monitor your budget at least every few weeks. You’ll know how much you’re spending and figure out where you can save – cut back on recreational activities, eating out, or more expensive, or unnecessary grocery items.
Set financial priorities
Determining financial priorities is essential if you want to overcome financial difficulties. These priorities may also shift once a stay-at-home mom returns to work. Once you determine your priorities, this will help you stabilize your finances. It can also become the incentive to earn extra income by working overtime, cutting costs, or mortgaging assets.
Problem-solving
A stay-at-home mom returning to work in any capacity will surely create some financial uncertainty in the beginning. It’s like the good old saying “you have to spend money to make money”.
Compile a list of expenses that are non-negotiable items such as food, mortgage or rent, childcare and create a list of items that can be budgeted for when you start bringing in more income. Or you can apply these jobs to make more money as stay-at-home moms.
Implement the plan and track progress
How to eliminate financial stress? Create a specific plan with goals to be achieved in phases. Don’t forget to take the time to review your progress to evaluate and adjust the plan as needed.
Being flexible is the secret to dealing with financial stresses that may arise when a stay-at-home mom transitions back to work.. Mothers should make financial plans and adjust budgets, and make appropriate changes.
How to create a general financial plan for your family?
Welcoming a little angel is the happiness of every family. However, parenting should prepare every step that will be complicated without a thoughtful plan from the beginning.
Assess the income situation of the whole family
Before developing a financial plan to prepare for pregnancy, you must assess the family’s income. A solid financial plan will have to be based on the income and needs of parents and children.
You need to determine the primary source of your family’s monthly and yearly income. You can estimate how much money you will have each month for pregnancy and childbirth. When assessing your income situation, you should also consider the possibility that income may change when problems arise.
Settlement of debts
Debt settlement is essential to sound financial planning. If you have several bad debts, calculate the total amount, interest rate, and duration of each. Priority should be given to paying debts with high-interest rates and the nearest debt to be paid.
Next, you can plan to settle your debt by calculating your monthly income and expenses to know the balance each month that you can repay. You can take notes or use software to support this calculation. Debt settlement is essential to ensure that after the baby is born, he will have a stable financial situation and choose what is best for him. In addition, the burden of other living expenses is also reduced.
Make a list of expenses to spend
Dividing by spending helps you control where your family’s money goes every month and helps you see wasteful spending and save more for your financial plan.
You should consider shopping for both mother and baby when the baby is born before you prepare for pregnancy. Periodic expenses such as medical examination, ultrasound, diapers, milk, and complementary foods for mother and baby should also be explicitly calculated. To optimize costs, you should buy products from reputable addresses to ensure the most economical shopping advice and the best product quality without worrying about purchasing poor-quality goods.
Other fees like house rental, food, etc., must be divided and calculated clearly. If you are afraid to take notes, many smartphone apps help you track your spending. You can also find out more on the Internet.
An emergency fund is also essential. You can build features of this fund for six months – to one year. This emergency fund can cover family living expenses and child-rearing for at least a certain period, should your family experience unexpected changes in income.
Find ways to increase your income
As a stay-at-home mom, you may be returning to work in a full-time office environment or you may return in the capacity of part time remote work. Whichever way you find yourself returning to work, there may always be additional ways to increase your income. Getting promotions or working occasional overtime makes every penny count.
If you have time that permits during your day, you can also make additional income by freelancing, blogging, babysitting at home, or even being a personal shopper.
You can go onto Boulo and find jobs that offer flexibility, picking companies that best fit you. Boulo motivates women from all walks of life, with a minimum of 5 years of work experience who want to return to work or remain working but need flexibility as mothers.
BOulo Job board
Conclusion
We have just shared with you how to overcome financial stress as stay-at-home moms. Sound finances relieve stress for the whole family.
Hopefully, this article has helped you create a plan to overcome financial stress in some way. Don’t hesitate to visit our blog for more tips on this!
