Terry at Ornaments of Grace has her druthers up because she just read an article saying that only elite women are able to stay at home. Their husbands are rich, and these women are basically living off their men, who will one day leave them for more interesting women they have found at the workplace.
Give. Me. A. Break.
Terry goes on to document how UN-elitist she is. She certainly doesn't live a glamorous life!
Now, it's hard for me to talk right now because my husband is a doctor. We do have more than most people, for which I am eternally grateful, and with which I feel we must share, which is why we take our kids to an orphanage in Africa quite frequently.
But I digress.
When the kids were little and Keith was in school we had very little, too. We bought second hand clothes at Goodwill. We bought second hand baby furniture and toys. I bought second hand clothes for myself (you could never tell, anyway).
We didn't have cable. Well, we still don't.
What we did have was the knowledge that the kids needed me, and we wanted to create a close-knit family.
Terry deals with all these aspects well, but something else I was thinking about was how much money it actually costs to work. You need a second vehicle, you need to pay for childcare, you need different clothes. Chances are you eat out and grab coffees more often. You probably buy take out for dinner more often, too, because you're too tired to cook.
But when you're home you CAN make money by saving money. When you clip coupons, sew some clothes (I've even been making cloth menstrual pads, but that's another story), get to the library, cook in bulk, make your own meals, do your own housework, and more, you can make a significant contribution financially to the family, even if you don't have an income.
I think if people truly totalled up how much it costs to work, they would find that they maybe only make $3.00 an hour. It may be worth it to work for $15, but is it worth it to work for $3? Because after you subtract everything, that may be what you're getting.
I wrote about this in one chapter in To Love, Honor and Vacuum, and I also have a CD with a talk titled "Making Decisions Between Work and Family" (scroll down the page to the CDs). Check them out if you want to figure out the calculations in detail!Labels: SAHM, saving, working |
Stumble It!
Great post Sheila. Let's see, I just got back from Big Lots where I now pusrchase my pasta sauce and cereal...uh no...no elites here. :-)