My Story

For me, having more money than time is a byproduct of being a stay-at-home-parent. I’ve been doing this for 27 years. My husband and I chose to give up my income so that I could be home with our children during the day. I went from feeling trapped in a third-story corporate office to being in charge of each day of my life. True, my Fridays no longer included a paycheck with my name on it, but it was worth it to be able to set my own schedule.

The economy was not doing very well when I left my full-time job in 1982. We had a 13 ½% mortgage and thus a hefty house payment. But my dream job working in the corporate headquarters of a large company had become my prison. I quit because I was so unhappy, after some coercion from my husband, who was worried about my emotional state. (He had to push me to quit because, as much as I hated working there, I felt like people only a few years out of college should not quit their jobs.)

Once I was home every day, I began job-hunting. But I also began using cost-cutting measures to make up for not bringing in any income. I cooked and baked from scratch, shopped at garage sales and made gifts for family members instead of buying them.

When I didn’t find another job within a few months, we decided it was a good time to start a family. During my first pregnancy, I prepared for the baby’s birth by buying infant clothes at garage sales, while my husband built a crib.

Our first child arrived a year after I quit my job; we had another child 18 months later. Thus began the start of many very busy and happy years for me as a stay-at-home mom. We eventually had two more children, and the four of them kept me busy enough that I never had to go back to work full-time again.

Today, my children are either grown or almost grown. Raising them was a joy, and it was also a great education for me. When six people live on one income, they learn to stretch a dollar. We never lived a life of luxury, but our children have always had what they needed.

Losing Our Money Source

In the mid-1990’s, my husband became self-employed in a manufacturing-related business. He earned a good living for several years. But by 2001, his business started to slack off due to competition from China. Two years ago, he was forced to close down because of lack of available work, and a lack of ability to pay on the part of his customers. He has not been able to find work in his field anymore, and is currently educating himself in other areas in hope of becoming self-employed in another field.

When his business closed down, we chose to sell our family home and downsize to a rental home in a less expensive area of the country. We do have a side business that brings in a modest income, and are currently making plans for the future.