Working Moms: If you were to lose your job, could you....

[Anonymous]

We might be able to but I don't think so. We would definitely have to pull the kids' out of preschool so that would be a savings. With the mortgage and a car payment, not sure. The best way would be for us to move so that we would have a smaller mortgage,then, we might be okay.

[Anonymous]

We could, but I would not want to, at least not full time - we have a 3 yo. With the market turmoil, I think that there is a real possibility that I could lose my job in the next 6 months or so - scary!!!!

[Anonymous]

Where I cut money when I went part-time:

1. Hair - I stopped paying the salon to color and do at home (doesn't look too bad). I stretch the time between haircuts as long as possible.

2. Buy my sons clothes on sale or at Target (Old Navy has 40 percent off sales twice a year). You can save with used clothes, but I find good sales on new clothes are pretty cheap. Beg for hand-me-downs from friends.

3. Buy my son toys and books at used sales or on E-bay used (E-bay you have to be careful to not overpay). Try not to buy too many. Also take hand-me-downs from friends.

4. Try to get by with minimum clothes myself. Still struggling wtih this one. Try to only buy clothes that need no dry-cleaning or will do OK with dry-cleaning in a bag (I work part-time so I do need office clothes)

5. Do everything possible to avoid paying for services (no lawn service, no housecleaning, do small repair to plumbing and electrical myself or wait for my dad to visit to help).

6. Rarely eat out or do take-out. Plan meals a week in advance in an attempt to not waste food.

7. Do cheap or free activities (go to the park, the library, playdates).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i could do it. DH makes in the 90s. i make in the 70s. we have been good savers and we bought our house in DC in 2002, when housing wasn't yet totally insane. we could live off one salary, but there would be little left to save (glad we have a nest egg). i probably wouldn't try to stay home for more than a couple of years, though. i'm 40 and would need to contribute into a 401K.

right now, we already live without eating in fancy restaurants (we have an infant so it's not a big sacrifice); own just one car; do not have a maid (dangit!); cook almost all meals at home and take our lunches to work. not sure where else we could save, except maybe cutting out alcohol (ha!).

To the poster who owns one car - - who has it during day and where is the infant? Just curious how logistically you make that work...what if god forbid there were an emergency and infant needed to go somewhere quickly?

We have 3 cars (one was a gift) and I often think of hocking it (although my DH would cry) to reap the savings! I don't think we could make it work with one though with commutes, travel to daycare, and just concerns over saftey of our kids.

[Anonymous]

We couldn't do it. My husband and I each make between $60-$70 a year. With out combined salary, we just get by. (We already avoid eating out, hiring housecleaners, etc.) On only one income, it would be impossible to cover our basic expenses (mortgage, student loans, groceries...) Luckily, neither of us are in industries where layoffs are a major concern.

[Anonymous]

I am a SAHM so I can only tell you where we cut back so that I could stay at home with our daughter (second arriving in 3 months). We hardly eat out, we use coupons to shop, use credit cards with points and other benefits, use second-hand children's clothes and take advantage of anything second hand or inexpensive for the house or our daughter. Don't buy tons of new clothes, only shop when there is a sale, take inexpensive vacations visiting our families (who thankfully live in amazing places), and we learned to budget!
Our house is in a great neighborhood, but it is one of the smallest houses here. We don't plan on adding on anytime soon. Instead, we've figured out creative ways to save space/make space and we are constantly purging unwanted items.
Since we live in an area that offers so many free activities for children, we really don't feel that we need to spend tons of money on "activities." Having said that, our daughter is in a wonderful preschool a couple of times a week so there is a bit of an expense there we've had to fit into our budget.
One of our cars is 10 years old and has been paid off for a long time. Our other car is new, but we were very careful about what we bought (great gas mileage, low monthly payments, a good down payment from the sale of our other car).
My husband makes a good salary (take home around $88K) and that seems to be "enough". He also puts away the maximum for his 401K. It's not easy to make do with one salary, but it is doable if you are willing to budget.

[Anonymous]

No I could not. As a single parent, I would have to immediately find another job, and probably temp in the mean time.

[Anonymous]

To the poster who owns one car - - who has it during day and where is the infant? Just curious how logistically you make that work...what if god forbid there were an emergency and infant needed to go somewhere quickly?

i'm the poster with one car. we live in the city (a choice we made b/c we like the lifestyle of walking/metroing to most places). we only use our car on weekends to go to the grocery or other errands (more than we'd like!). the car sits all week (hardly uses gas or has mileage on it). we both take our son to daycare by metro (it's a federal facility on-site where DH works). He's a real commuter baby!

as for emergencies, we still take metro. in fact, we were called to daycare to come and get DS to take to the doctor just yesterday. i was able to hop on metro, pick up son, get to dr's office (downtown) in just an hour. had it been a REAL emergency, we'd probably call an ambulance

[Anonymous]

PP here. Also, doing all of the above in terms of saving money already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where I cut money when I went part-time:

1. Hair - I stopped paying the salon to color and do at home (doesn't look too bad). I stretch the time between haircuts as long as possible.

2. Buy my sons clothes on sale or at Target (Old Navy has 40 percent off sales twice a year). You can save with used clothes, but I find good sales on new clothes are pretty cheap. Beg for hand-me-downs from friends.

3. Buy my son toys and books at used sales or on E-bay used (E-bay you have to be careful to not overpay). Try not to buy too many. Also take hand-me-downs from friends.

4. Try to get by with minimum clothes myself. Still struggling wtih this one. Try to only buy clothes that need no dry-cleaning or will do OK with dry-cleaning in a bag (I work part-time so I do need office clothes)

5. Do everything possible to avoid paying for services (no lawn service, no housecleaning, do small repair to plumbing and electrical myself or wait for my dad to visit to help).

6. Rarely eat out or do take-out. Plan meals a week in advance in an attempt to not waste food.

7. Do cheap or free activities (go to the park, the library, playdates).

I work part-time and we follow some of your suggestions I also go to a children's consignment store near our house and find clothes that still have tags. We do eat in more, but still do carry-out a couple times a week. For activities, I take my son the rec center and we swim in the indoor pool. It's cheap and fun!

How many hours are you working a week?

[Anonymous]

Just to add to my post (11:29), we, like the previous poster, spend very little money on outside services like haircuts, dry-cleaning etc. We don't have a house cleaner and we cut our own lawn. I cook a LOT and we eat mostly at home. We honestly don't feel like we are "sacrificing" because we get to spend lots of time with our kid(s). It's a matter of priorities I think and a matter of discipline. We actually got a point a while ago where my husband had a choice moving to a company paying more, but forcing him to work insane hours. We had to reevaluate what was important to us and we came to the conclusion that we were fine with less money but more time together.
We have even come up with a plan to cut our expenses if necessary by potentially eliminating cable TV, our home phone (cell phones work just as well), and simply eating less. I know that sounds crazy to some probably (the eating less part), but honestly, there are things in our diet that we would be better off cutting out (ice cream and chips for example).

[Anonymous]

I'd move to where the public schools are very good.

[Anonymous]

PP, which rec centers have indoor pools in NW?

[Anonymous]

We'd be screwed. DH is a SAHD, so I'm the sole provider.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we could do it b/c we live off of one salary (we each make about 110, but save my entire salary). We have 1 car and live in Arlington. I would not like to SAH though. I enjoy working.