Reply to Considering leaving a good job ($120K) in mid-thirties to be a SAHM

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[quote=Anonymous]Definitely live on one income for 6 mos to a year before quitting.  Some expenses (esp. childcare) will go down when you quit but you'll find other expenses as part of enjoying a SAHM life.

I was a SAHM for 7 years with DH's salary rising from $90K-$140K over that time.  The main financial limitation was that we weren't saving for college (but most of my friends didn’t save for college either during the paying-for-daycare years) and put off home renovations we wanted to do. But I could afford to do the baby gym/music classes, travel regularly to visit family, belong to a gym, make necessary house repairs, etc.  (but we also had a low housing cost since we bought in the late 90s) I was confident when I quit because we’d lived on 1 salary and saved the 2nd from the time we married (DH and I made about the same $) so we also had a healthy savings cushion.

You’ll want to be certain that the contracting/freelance jobs are really available.  During my 7 yrs at home I consistently did freelance work with former colleagues.  About a project every few months, although more are different times.  I let everyone in my network know I was available when I resigned and then never had to seek out work.  As a result, when I wanted to go back FT, I quickly found a job at the same level that I left and slightly higher pay.  After 4 years my salary is only slightly lower than DH’s, we’re on track with college savings and did the home renovation I’d be waiting for.

If the freelance work is more vague then I’d say try to work out a regular PT schedule.  If you want to go back after 10 yrs you need to have a solid track record during those years.  I wouldn’t count blogging at all toward that.

I have absolutely no regrets about taking time to be a SAHM.  I LOVED that phase of my life, look back on a lot of happy memories, and built great friendships with other moms (which I’m finding much more challenging to nurture while being a WAHM to elementary school kids!).  But I don't think I'd look back on it as positively if I hadn't worked to keep up my career at the same time.
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