How to Quit Your Job & Become a Stay at Home Mom (7 things I did to make it happen)

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Quitting Your Job To Become A Stay At Home Mom

Are you wondering how it’s possible to quit your job and become a stay at home mom?

You may feel like you are spinning your wheels when it comes to working a 9-5.

The feeling of being unappreciated day in and day out and then having to pay someone else to take care of your child could be crippling inside. I really struggled with this.

I knew I was ready to become a stay at home mom when my son was 1 year old. I was tired of busting ass for someone else and not being able to see my baby.

If you are super curious or in a hurry:

✅ Starting THIS blog ultimately allowed me to become a stay at home mom and I owe it all to this FREE online blogging course that got me started!

Lots of moms these days are opting into staying home with their baby’s and I think it is fantastic!

So I sat down with baby daddy and laid it all out on the table to come up with a plan so I can stay home with our son.

I am not going to lie, I sacrificed a lot, but it was worth it in the end.

These are the things that we did in order for me to become a stay at home mom…

Other blog posts I think you will love:

27 No Brainer Reasons Why You Should Start a Blog This Year

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How to Use Rakuten to Save Money & Get Cash Back

Cut a Ton of Expenses

When it comes to lowering your expenses you should write down everything you are paying for on a notepad.

I sat down and wrote down every bill we had at the time, every revolving expense also.

Which means groceries, gas, things for the house.

These are the expenses we cut to lower the financial blow:

Phone bill (switch providers and downgrade data) I lowered my bill from $100/m to $40/m!
Cable (who needs cable when you have Netflix and a smart TV?)
Groceries (Walmart and Aldi sales are my BFFs)
Toiletries (Dollar Tree anyone?)
Makeup (I just don’t anymore)
Rent (moved into an RV and parked it in a local RV park for less than half the price rent goes for around here) Rent lowered from $1,400/m to $650m!
Electric (Rv living lowered our electric bill from $120/m to $80/m!)
Childcare (Being a stay at home mom means no cost of childcare EVER) $800/m to $0/m!
Gas (Since I am not commuting to work and back no need to fill it up multiple times per week)
Clothes (Goodwill I am forever grateful to you)
Coffee (Instant coffee is only $5 a container and lasts for a very long time) it is quick and easy to make as well.
Diapers (cloth diapering)

The only thing I would not skimp on is a decent WIFI connection and we all can agree on that I am sure.

I suggest sitting down with your partner and really going over your expenses and see where you can cut some corners to save more money like this.

Consider the expenses cut just from staying home also.

Downsize Everything We Own

When you are a stay at home mom it is imperative to keep your sanity.

I set out a goal to become more minimalist so that I can focus on my baby and not on all the stuff.

Purging stuff from your home is seriously the most satisfying thing in the world.

I bought the Kon Marie book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and have been downsizing ever since.

Imagine how much nicer it would be without having to do so many dishes or THAT much laundry?!

Saving money from running those machines all the time really helps financially as well, especially when we were still living in an apartment.

I only do laundry once a week now and I hand wash dishes.

It honestly saves so much time and money from just not having as much to do anymore.

These are some of the things I have purged throughout the time I have been a stay at home mom and I have not missed them one bit:

Clothes
Shoes
Toys
Dishes
Utensils
Makeup
Towels
Blankets
Pillows
Furniture
Jewelry

The thing is… less stuff = less mess = less stress!

Plus, now I don’t feel like going out and buying more stuff (which saves even more money), because the main goal here is to keep it simple mama.

Sell Things Online

Now that we are in the mood to purge, its a good idea to try and sell most of the stuff you’re getting rid of.

Getting a couple of boxes or baskets and labeling them accordingly is a good plan of action.

I would suggest 3 baskets in total:

Sell
Donate
Trash

This way you have a clear goal on what you are doing with the stuff you no longer want.

Every week just act on these goals.

Anything that doesn’t sell, donate.

Do not keep things in your home hoping it will sell for weeks.

I’d say give it a couple of days to a week and then toss it.

These are the online marketplaces I love to sell things on:

Facebook
Poshmark
eBay
OfferUp
LetGo

Don’t get overwhelmed though, just pick a couple and stick to them when you are ready.

Selling your unused/unwanted stuff can help with the family finances immediately!

Start an Online Business or Two

Need something to do during nap time?

Turn the TV off and listen up!

Out of my 5 years of being a stay at home mom, I have started multiple online businesses to bring in some extra cash to the household while not working a 9-5 job.

These are the things I did:

Resell clothes on eBay
Resell clothes on Poshmark
Amazon FBA
Merch by Amazon
Blogging

Hands down the best thing I have done for myself and my family is starting a blog.

Selling clothes on eBay and Poshmark was fun but I had to go out and buy the stuff to resell and then keep an inventory of the items waiting to sell.

Amazon FBA was OK, but again. I had to go out and search for the things to resell and then send them to Amazon warehouses.

Merch by Amazon is something I still do a little bit, but it does require some skills in graphic design. I only sell a couple of shirts per month passively.

Blogging is the mother of all side hustles in my opinion.

I have been blogging for about 2 years and I have to say it is the most enjoyable online business out of all that is listed above.

Essentially all you need to start blogging is a computer and a website hosting account.

Do you have anything in your life you just can’t stop talking about?

Blogging is amazing for anyone who wants to help people and make money while doing so!

How I make extra money from this blog:

Ad revenue
Affiliate Marketing
Lead Generation

There are so many other ways to make money blogging.

I have not even covered half of the ways here.

No worries for newbies either, It’s super easy for new websites to get noticed from using Pinterest for website traffic quickly! I can attest to that!

I started making money from this blog in 3 months flat.

Blogging Courses I swear by:

Budget for Inevitable Upcoming Expenses

Have you ever heard of sinking funds?

Its basically a savings fund for something you know you are going to have to pay for in the near future.

I have a PNC Virtual Wallet bank account which I am obsessed with.

It allows me to have 3 separate bank accounts:

Spend account (checking)
Reserve account (sinking funds)
Growth account (savings)

The reserve account is meant for short term savings goals. The money you need to save for things like:

Car maintenance
Anual bills
Hair cuts
Birthdays
Christmas

Doing this one thing will ensure that you are not scrambling around pinching pennies when the time comes.

Make Food at Home

It is so easy to grab something to go when you are working out of the home every day.

One perk of being a stay at home mom is having the time to make food at home for the family.

Be sure to ALWAYS eat at home to save as much money as possible on food.

One good trick to save tons of money in the household is cooking and eating all your meals at home and sticking to it.

DO NOT go out to eat.

You can look on Pinterest for easy and cheap meal recipes you can make at home for breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, and snacks.

Meal Plan by Paycheck

Meal planning is something a lot of people want to do, but never really actually do.

I know first hand how it is when you are working a 9-5 and have no time (or your just not in the mood) to make yourself breakfast in the morning or even prepare lunch for you and your partner to eat at work.

So naturally, we end up going out to eat every day, which can seriously put a hole in your pocket, even with two incomes.

Every Sunday I got groceries and made meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the whole week.

Making sure to include snacks and drinks because it’s almost always tempting for your partner to go grab a snack or drink during the workday. It can really add up otherwise. TRUST ME.

My Meal Planning Favs:

Use Money Saving Apps

There are so many apps you can easily download on your phone to help save money.

This can range from saving money on groceries to saving money on gas to saving money in general!

Some of these apps are:

These are the apps I personally enjoy using to save money on everyday purchases.

I believe it will help tremendously to save even more money so you can quit your job and be a stay at home mom. 🙂

Final Thoughts

Deciding to become a stay at home and quit your job is a big step.

Hopefully, the tips I give you in this post will guide you on how to make the right moves beforehand and during the transition.

If you are pregnant and thinking about being a stay at home mom after your baby is born, learn from others, take these tips and implement them.

Some of the tips above may not be your cup of tea (like living in an RV – I admit it is extreme) but pick and choose and do your research.

Good luck!

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