Can I be a SAHM on about 100k per year?

[Anonymous]

I'm planning on quitting my job later in the spring when we have our first child. Is it crazy to think we are going to be able to swing it with me staying at home? DH's base is a little over 100 per year and then we will both be bringing home some variable compensation (him for his bonus, me for a home-based business) that will probably be between 30-60k per year combined. However, we obviously can't live off of the variable part since it's variable. Our rent is $2300, we have a car payment of $300, and very little student loan debt (maybe $200 combined?). I'm just hoping this can work without us being completely stressed over money and miserable. For what it's worth, we will not be having a second child and I hope to stay home for at least five years (ideally more, but it would depend on how much DH is making at the time). We have about $50k in savings.

[Anonymous]

Lady a lot of people live on a lot less. Of course it's possible!

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry - I know it's possible - I just mean without being very stressed over money and still having enough to say, take the baby to gymboree class and go out to dinner once a week.

[Anonymous]

Do you ever want to be able to buy? What are your long term financial goals?

[Anonymous]

Have you done a sample budget for that income level? Does it allow one meal out a week and gymboree?

[Anonymous]

Yes, we do want to buy. We would be attempting to save all of the variable comp money to add to our down payment fund.

Haven't done a sample budget yet.. that seems pretty obvious huh!

[Anonymous]

Start living on your DH's salary now and see if you feel squeezed or not.

[Anonymous]

This question is totally personal. You have to decide what your comfort level is with regard to your standard of living. I couldn't comfortably SAH for twice that amount. Many people SAH on much less that that.

[Anonymous]

We're doing it on <30k a year. All things are possible in this the best of all possible worlds.

[Anonymous]

You have to do a budget analysis. Assume that your income is just over $100K (we'll assume that for various reasons, that anything you get from bonuses, home business is extra for luxuries or debt reduction, not for standard COL). With a tax bracket of roughly 21% federal, make it about 30% total including state, fica, etc. That gives you an annual income of monthly income of about $6000. If you take the expenses listed (rent $2300, car $300, student loan $200) that's $2800 leaving $3200. You have $3200 to pay utilities, food, gas, and all other expenses. You'll have to decide whether that's doable, depending on your family needs. Some of that also depends on where in the metro area you live. COL varies quite a lot between areas. I live in PG County and I find my expenses are at least 10% less than my friends in MoCo. My guess is generally cheaper, the prices in my supermarket, etc. So, that's also a factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're doing it on <30k a year. All things are possible in this the best of all possible worlds.

Oh my where do you live? No snark just curious bc this who metro area is crazy expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to do a budget analysis. Assume that your income is just over $100K (we'll assume that for various reasons, that anything you get from bonuses, home business is extra for luxuries or debt reduction, not for standard COL). With a tax bracket of roughly 21% federal, make it about 30% total including state, fica, etc. That gives you an annual income of monthly income of about $6000. If you take the expenses listed (rent $2300, car $300, student loan $200) that's $2800 leaving $3200. You have $3200 to pay utilities, food, gas, and all other expenses. You'll have to decide whether that's doable, depending on your family needs. Some of that also depends on where in the metro area you live. COL varies quite a lot between areas. I live in PG County and I find my expenses are at least 10% less than my friends in MoCo. My guess is generally cheaper, the prices in my supermarket, etc. So, that's also a factor.

This calculation assumes that nothing is deducted before taxes for retirement savings/401k, health insurance, disability insurance, etc. from OP's DH's paycheck. She will need to figure those in, in order to determine what take-home would be.

OP, I think you should consider working for a time, simply to know what you would be getting into vis-a-vis parenthood and working, prior to deciding whether to SAH or not. It is hard to make the decision to SAH in the abstract, without having an actual child or children in the picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry - I know it's possible - I just mean without being very stressed over money and still having enough to say, take the baby to gymboree class and go out to dinner once a week.

I agree with others that your comfort is going to depend on your particular needs and circumstances. If you have to fly across country to see family twice a year, you'll have to budget a lot more for travel than those who have family only in the area. As for dinner out once a week, it's a lot easier to swing $20 of take-out pizza every week (and no babysitter!) than it is to pay $100 on fine dining followed by a $60 babysitter bill ($12-$15 per hour is not uncommon to spend on an evening sitter).

[Anonymous]

We managed the exact same scenario and now I'm expecting #2 so we moved.

Like PPs said, we have no family in the area so our going out routine suffered a bit but everything changes once the baby is here so we didn't blame it on me quitting alone.

Gymboree will come after 10 months or so. There's no need to take a 6mo old to a paid class. There's a lot of wonderful free stuff to do with infants in DC area and you can get wonderful tips on how to save for the baby online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're doing it on <30k a year. All things are possible in this the best of all possible worlds.

Yeah by freeloading , welfare and wic you lazy slob

Yup, that would be the only way this is possibly.