My badassity, household work and delaying paid employment.

[Tradies wife]

Ok. For some this may seem a little insane. For us, it makes sense. Today, I've popped a loaf of bread on in the bread maker. I've made another batch of yoghurt on to work it's magic, using cultures that I brought earlier this week. The cultures are enough to last two years of yogurt making, and I've made up pots for mother and working cultures to go from.

These simple tasks remind me that I don't need to rely on the shops to create a meal or two. They remind me that we are on our way to becoming partially self sufficient. They remind me that I can thrive on a low income of around $40K AU. They also remind me that I can make the bigger decision, and take that letter into my work. You see, I've been on family leave since Jan 2009 and have been living fairly frugally off no more than $40K (and sometimes as low as $28K) a year. This time every year, I get asked what my intentions are work wise for the next year. And we have made the decision to delay myself going back to work on a permanent basis for another year. I have to hand in my letter of intention today.

I love my work, but my children are only going to be young for a few short years. It's important to us that we are able to be support and care for our children. Money wise, well..... we will get through.

I hear of so many mothers that are unable to look after their children, and rely heavily on day care paying extraordinary prices for someone else to care for their children. Often, I hear that birth to 12months is a luxury to be home with a child. So I'm feeling fairly 'badass' that by living a frugal life we are able to care for our children until they are school age.

With a bit of guts, and a good dose of hope for the future year I'll hand in that letter today. Yeah, that is pretty badass.

[Wendyimhome]

No argument here.  I concur that a true stay-at-home mom in this day and age is pretty damn bad-ass, in more ways than one.  And it's great for the kid, so kudos to you for doing it.  I encourage you to keep at it as long as you can.  One thing I am seeing is mothers who start out down this path but, for one reason or another, decide that being a SAHM is not in the long-term cards after all.

Keep us posted!

[HeidiO]

I am glad you are badass enough to figure out what you want, and do it!  I personally discovered I needed to work part-time for my own happiness, but I am grateful I had the choice.
Heidi

[travelbug]

From one Aussie mum to another; good for you!

How much is enough is a question we ask ourselves everyday when we take a picnic to the playground, when we drive past the cafe, when we forgo all the extras that our children do not need or choose to let them play outside and with friends than enrol them in classes.

All they want is love, a bit of freedom and time to play.

[kdms]

Kudos to you for staying home....indeed, it is very badass in this day and age to buck the mainstream and decide that one income is enough (or has to be) for the good of the family.

I took the year off after my son was born, and while I loved the year off, I have to say I was keen to get back to work at the end of it....for all of 6 weeks.  After that, I really came to realize that my priorities had shifted without me noticing it.  However, being the primary breadwinner (and breadmaker, these days) and after some really serious knuckling down with the budget, we came to the conclusion that as much as it was costly to find a daycare we were happy with, and we didn't like sending our son out to someone else during the day, it would really strain the atmosphere of our home to go from overspending consumers to serious mustachianism overnight.  It takes some getting used to, you know?

We also didn't really have the skills or equipment to make a serious attempt at homesteading....it's not like we're going to raise farm animals (yet! :D), but even canning takes some equipment a lot of people don't generally have, and it takes time to accumulate and perfect the skills needed to efficiently run a household.  So while we've got the double income, we're learning the skills and acquiring the gear to be more self-sufficient in the long run, and keeping a really close eye on the daycare situation.  The end goal is to get rid of all debt besides the mortgage, which will bring our totals down enough to survive on one income while I take a long-term leave of absence for family reasons.

My hat's off to anyone who's chosen to be a SAHM.  It's a huge amount of work -- I try to do everything in the evenings and weekends, and there's just not enough time to get everything done and still spend the time that I want with my family.  So family comes first, and everything else comes later, and I go to work during the week to recover.

How much is enough is a question we ask ourselves everyday when we take a picnic to the playground, when we drive past the cafe, when we forgo all the extras that our children do not need or choose to let them play outside and with friends than enrol them in classes.

All they want is love, a bit of freedom and time to play.

Hear hear!  This is so true....and so very well put. :)

[Sparky]

Mad respect for you for being able to survive in Oz on a smallish income. Very expensive country to live in and can be difficult to get anything cheaply.

[Tradies wife]

Thank you Sparky. For one person working full time, it is a little low. For a family, it seems it is insanely low. But we are doing it. I keep looking at prices of things in America compared to here, and all I can say is that the cost of living either is really high here or really low there. Depending on your perspective I guess.

American electricity, food, cars, and rent/housing all seem to be really, very low in comparison to Australia. Just something I've noticed.