A good money-saving tip is to use a cap-full of white vinegar instead of washing conditioner in your laundry. a few drops of lavender oil is good too.

If you can earn at home through freelance work, blogging, and through reducing your budget what you would have earned outside of the home, you’re being frugal with your time. And you’re saving money on the typical “costs” of working: wardrobe, transportation, and a long list of impulse/convenience purchases made because you don’t have the time to search for the best deal.

Congrats on your hard work at home in so many roles!

I certainly appreciate where you’re coming from. I’m certainly able to pursue whatever I want, and writing is an easy career to pursue from home, if I chose that to be my main focus. My husband fully supports me in everything I do and he’s certainly my biggest fan.

I want to be a homemaker, as I find it a thousand times more fulfilling than working for an unappreciative boss with little to no job satisfaction. It might be hard to understand that (because it was hard for me to understand at first–I used to be a semi-radical feminist who thought housewives were wasting their talents).

I’m sure you’ll respect that it’s our family’s decision to make. What works for one family might not work for another’s. Our situation is best for us, and it’s allowed our marriage to grow.

Thanks,
Lisa

Comparably, a reporting job at a newspaper would give her around $2,125/month after taxes. Sure, this is $625 higher pay, but there’s more to the story..

Even though I am a new hire accountant, Kacie has become the personal finance expert in our family. She has cut our expenses to barebones which *easily* makes up the $625 difference. Further, she is tracking our long-term savings, which we are doing very aggresively.

Kacie’s loving help around the home – even if it was not equally profitable – is reducing my stress tremendously and allows me to pursue my career without limits. Similarly, we have taken a strong interest in Dave Ramsey’s philosophies about living debt-free. Certain decisions we make will be less profitable financially – such as paying our car loan and (future) mortgage early – but the reduction of risk from debt helps add flexibility to my career.

I want to thank Emily, sincerely, because this is a very worthwhile topic I want to discuss on Kacie’s blog.

I totally understand the logic that you’re using. This time last year, I probably would have come to the same conclusions as you have.

However, I’ve found the opposite to be true for my husband and I.

When I was in the workforce, we were living paycheck to paycheck, and weren’t making much progress paying down our debts or adding to savings.

We weren’t eating well, were exhausted, and generally miserable.

After considering taxes and wear and tear on my car (not to mention driving 15-60+ miles per day for work), oh, and those fast food lunches we ate since I didn’t have the energy to pack a lunch, those “thousands of dollars” I was supposedly bringing in didn’t amount to much at all.

Now that I have the time to cook from home and cut our expenses all around (and pursue some freelance writing opportunities), we’ve been amazed at how much MORE money we have now.

We’re making incredible progress paying off debts and adding to savings. It’s so substantial, that it’s looking like we’ll have a $30k turnaround in 18 months or so. Wow, right?

I don’t want to disclose how much money my husband earns, and while the salary and benefits are good, I bet it’s a lot less than you’d think.

Anyway, thank you for allowing me to address your point. I think this would be a great topic for me to further discuss on my blog, and I hope that readers can also add to the discussion here.