How to Save Money as a Stay at Home Mom
HOW TO SAVE MONEY AS A STAY AT HOME MOM
Stay-at-home-moms are often treated (at least on the internet) as though they don’t really have a job. Many people see them as the less important partner because they don’t contribute financially. But is that really true? While I may not add money to our account every month, there are many ways I save us money. And my husband wouldn’t be able to focus on work the way he does if I was still in the workforce.
My husband’s income combined with the ways I lower our expenses work to get us even closer to our goals. Let’s break down some of the ways stay at home moms can lower household expenses.
How Can I Lower Expenses?
Cost of Childcare
The most obvious expense we don’t have is childcare. Because I am staying at home with our son, I’m saving us that expense. In our area, that’s over $2000 per month. That’s basically my entire (former) salary going to someone else while I have to be away from my kid. No Thank You!
Putting your child in childcare also means pumping (if you are still breastfeeding), storing, and transporting milk, or shelling out even more cash for formula. When you child gets older, it means extra time preparing meals that can be packed for lunch.
Check out my guide on getting your toddler to clean up their toys.
Making Baby Food
Because I had the time, I made my son’s baby food when he switched to solids. A 4 ounce jar of baby food is anywhere from $0.69 to $1.88 at the time of this writing. Buying the food and preparing it myself comes out to roughly $0.04 (carrots are $0.79/bag and I can get 24 ounces) to $0.22 (avocados) per ounce. This stretches our food budget so much farther, plus I know exactly what’s going into my son’s body.
Purchase Planning
Because I work where I live, I know the ins and outs of how my house runs. I know that it saves us money on our energy bill if I swap out our air filters every three months instead of every six, like the directions suggest. Likewise, I know when we are getting low on lightbulbs or detergent, and I can use apps like Ibotta to look for those items on sale.
I know exactly what’s in my pantry, so I can plan our grocery shopping and meals around what best stretches our dollars (cross-referenced with any store sales or coupons I come across).
Budgeting
I do all of the budgeting for our household. This means that I am keenly aware of what our bills are every month, and how much is left over to spend, save, or set aside for upcoming expenses. I know which months are higher because of infrequent bills (like our pest control every three months) or the birthdays and anniversaries of loved ones (I’m looking at you, October). Because I plan for all of these in advance, we aren’t surprised – or worse, panicked, when an expense comes up. We know that we have the funds to cover it.
No Commute = Spending less on Fuel
When I stopped working a 9-5, we were able to majorly cut back on how much fuel we were buying each week. And because I plan out my errands and communicate my traveling needs with my husband, we were able to cut back from two cars to one! That’s less money spent on fuel, taxes, insurance, and car repairs!
How Can I Save Money?
Lower Household Expenses
Unplug appliances when not in use, limit shower time, o and turn off lights when you leave a room. Check out my guide on saving money around the house.
Cut Subscriptions
You don’t really need five streaming services or magazines (really, you can find all of that info online!) sent to your house. You’re going to be covered in spit up or worse most days, so you don’t really need a clothing subscription. Buy well fitting, quality clothing that you can rewear.
Cancel the Sitter and Trade Instead
Get a group of other stay at home moms going in rotation to watch the kids so each mom can have a break. This avoids paying for a sitter to have some free time and allows you (and hubby!) to let loose once in a while.
How Else Can I Contribute?
We’ve gone over some of the ways that stay at home moms save money, but what about all the other ways a Stay at home mom contributes?
Cleaning
The time I spend cleaning during the week used to be allocated to the weekends. My husband and I would do a slapdash effort in order to get done as fast as possible, because we had so little time to see each other. Now, I can get everything done while he is working and we have our nights and weekends to spend together.
Is my house always perfect looking? No way! I have a toddler and life gets busy. I don’t strive for perfection, but I put forth my best effort each day, and let go of what I didn’t get accomplished at the end of it. You can check out how to create a weekly cleaning schedule for your home here.
Cooking
This could probably also fit in the ‘saving money’ category above, but I cook 95% of our meals. Not only are we eating quality food, but it is SO much less expensive than ordering takeout. We have saved thousands over the years by simply packing a lunch for work.
Lawn Care
I beautify our yard which can cost thousands if you hire a lawn care company to do it for you! It takes a little more time and effort, but honestly, no one is looking that closely at our lawn, so I am not worried if the shrubs don’t look quite picturesque 🙂
House Maintenance
I make sure everything is running properly in our home. Regular maintenance can save you a ton of money and keep your house in better condition. When both people are working, it’s easy to let your home become collateral damage because you’re so busy. That’s not to be confused with it always looking Pinterest-worthy.
What I mean is, because I work in my home, I am able to notice if the gutter isn’t draining properly or there’s a weird smell coming form our washer. I use a yearly cleaning checklist to make sure I don’t miss anything. That means we can proactively take care of our home instead of reacting to a problem that we didn’t notice before.
Are there any ways that you save money as a stay at home mom that I didn’t mention? Let me know in the comments below!
