Work for a stay at home wife

You have not mentioned what your wife's education is. Does she have training or a diploma or degree in anything? If not perhaps it would be better to concentrate on something for her rather than a mortgage paydown right now. If she gets an education or training then she could work from home or part time away from home and bring in enough money to then pay down the mortgage. Short term sacrifice for long term gain. My own experience is that something like bookkeeping brings in a lot more money than crafts. This would also be protection for her if the marriage fails or you die (knock wood).

She does not have to have an account on this site. She could just join or even add to your posts.

Day care for kids is your biggest expense plus diapers. I pay $1,400 a month for two kids. After my son starts kindergarten in August, it'll drop drastically to maybe $500-600 a month. Even more when my youngest starts kindergarten in a couple of years.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

k I appreciate your post about the day car ted h but my son will be out of day care when he goes to school because my wife will be here. BUT i really do want to get off this day care thing.

As for her education she has a highschool diploma. I have considered what it would take for her to go around to farms and do animal testing. Or at least drawing the blood and send it off for it. And I have it covered in the event in I die. We are starting up a roth ira next paycheck and contribute to that, mostly around tax return time. And I have a $400,000 policy of life insurance. Our mortgage was only $112k since we got a foreclosure. So that will pay that off and help amanda out considerably with the larger things in life. And we have talked and she will go back to work if that happens. But lets pray not lol

I'm not totally sure why you are so stuck on the day care, it is much easier to save the $200 then try and MAKE $200 extra. I've been a SAHM for about 20 years. "Making do" with the money we had/have has always been the biggest contribution I can make and it isn't a small sum. We have a small farm now but when we were young like you are with small children, the best thing I could do was cook/bake from scratch, have a garden, shop garage sales, make presents for birthdays and Christmas, and everything along these lines. It is outdated now but I loved the Tightwad Gazette, it was like my bible. Doing this stuff takes time and with one of the parents at home you can take the time it needs to save huge amounts of money. I've done all sorts of things over the years, like selling crafts, nothing has come close to doing the things I've listed. Sorry to toss it out there again but also no day care costs, $200 is a lot of money, it is one of the easiest ways to save money as a SAHM.

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Idleness is leisure gone to seed

Petting zoo for birthday parties, school fairs, holiday manger scenes etc.?

Nice way to use homestead stock for other things.

It's kind of late to do it this year, but you might visit Amicalola Falls Resort/Restaurant and ask them about locally grown veggies; and find out what they need that the local farmers are not providing.

As for the chickens - aren't there a ton of chicken houses around there too? Might be best to provide the guinea keets - they're hard to find around here too. Might be something you can buy some breeders and raise some up and plan on harvesting the keets once they hatch. There's a guy that sells them, one day old, for $4. And he can't keep them. Easy to keep; as long as they stay around - however, you might need to build a permanent cage for them to live in. Once they start laying, they could be ANYWHERE!

Specialize in a couple of things that you know will be in demand. Even veggies for the Farmer's Market if there is one around you..... can you squeeze in a crop of carrots or something be it cools off there? Have visited the area but not sure of your growing zone...

Good luck and I agree with the day care issue....your son needs that time and so does your wife...!

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Be a fountain, not a drain!

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http://tubbsfarmstead.com/

I agree. I have been a stay at home mom for almost 25 yrs and I have done exactly the same. If you keep your son in daycare for 2 days a week, and he is gone on the weekends, why can't your wife find an on-the-books type job working those four days? If you insist on sending him to other people why can't she work those days? I guess I don't understand what the issue is with her getting some sort of work outside of the house. For me, it was worth it to save, clip coupons, cook from scratch and have my kids with me, not paying someone else to watch them for leisure time.

Can she bake cookies? I'm telling you, people never get tired of cookies. Especially around the Christmas holiday, many working women want home-made cookies but just don't have the time to bake. They don't mind paying a premium for cookies that are better quality than store bought ones.

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I sell a baker's dozen for $3.75 all the time @ the Farmer's Mkt.....

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Be a fountain, not a drain!

^()^
http://tubbsfarmstead.com/

I agree with the above posters. I have 7 kids & would not pay someone else to watch them. I babysat for awhile when I had my twins. Now that the kids are older I have a part-time cleaning job in the evenings. I know you say you want to find a way for her to make some extra money. Sorry, but it seems silly to me for her to try to make extra money when you are paying a daycare while she is still at home.

I had twins my first time & never had problems getting things done what needed done. Playpens are wonderful. Kids need to learn to entertain themselves. It will make your life much easier. Not sure how old your baby is, but I guess I just had easy kids as I didn't need to take them anwyhere else so I could get stuff done. I just did what needed done & they learned to play when I was busy.

The baking thing is a good idea, but you need to watch your state laws on selling homemade goods.

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I can't believe I deleted it!

Im not trying to be nasty but just drop the day care thing. My wife enjoys the time to herself and he enjoys the kids at the day care. Im going to keep in there for those reasons. Lets move on

A person can't go around drawing blood from other folks' critters and charging unless she/he is a veterinarian. Trimming hooves, yes, but drawing blood, no.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Sorry, but if you ask for advice you will get some that you might not like.

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I can't believe I deleted it!

and to jakk we are considering her getting a job to work during her days off. Like I said she works on the weekends as a bartender at a small local bar. But she is considering a retail job at tsc or something like that. It would also help with the feed and animal bill. So we are currently looking into that

About the day care thing..... I know you asked us to drop it, but those of us READING the posts will reply with what we know from experience and the homesteading mind set. What you are getting is our advice (which you asked for) based on what we KNOW from OUR lives.

You are (by your own admission) very young and wealthy enough to not worry about money right now. How nice. It enables you to send your child out of your home for whatever reason two days a week, when he's already gone two days a week at Gran and Gramps house. From our homesteading point of view, the MOST important thing is family. It's a little startling for us to read your adamant defense of farming your child out for the majority of the time. It just doesn't FIT with what most of us believe, live, and advocate.

If you don't like our philosophy, I can understand that, because it's not what you want to hear. But, it would be nice if YOU would understand that we believe the children we've been blessed with are much more important that time alone, a job, etc etc.

I suggest you get a copy of Dave Ramsey's book. He's the BE DEBT FREE guru.

Dave Ramsey Homepage - daveramsey.com

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

I gotcha alice. I didnt know it took a full veterinarian. I imagined there was some kind of requirement for certification but i didnt know it was to that degree

And to wendy, I didnt ask for financial advice. I simply asked for ideas on other jobs that she could do. I didnt post this trying to figure out how to restructure my financial situation. Just some ideas to give my wife a hobby and make some income at the same time

I listen to dave ramsey religiously along with clark howard (local finance guru). And so far I have completed the "snowball effect" he preaches on paying off debt. But the only thing I have now is the mortgage. So its just getting over this last hurdle. It just so happens to be a big one. But again alice I didnt ask for advice on my finances just job ideas for myself and future people who might search this very same topic looking for answers. But no offense to anyone who has posted so far but as of right now half of it is going to be a thread stuck on a day care expense and not what the post was truly about

It's not the answer YOU wanted. It's our answer.

We've offered LOTS of suggestions besides that, too.

Dave Ramsey is more than financial advice on snowball debt paying. That's why I recommended the book, not just the show.

This board is like a conversation around the dining table after a big meal at a family reunion. You may start talking about baseball, but the end of the conversation is about the duck down feather pillows that granma used to make. The OP really has very little control. The flow of conversation here is called "Thread Drift." It's normal.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

But I do want to say I appreciate the comments and the advice its just not for me. I think we are going to do the hatching of the eggs and I would really like to get in with a restaurant and try to provide them with chicken and eggs but thats going to take some time and footwork. So that will just have to be a work in progress.

How to Make Money at Home - Woman's Day

http://www.womansday.com/life/saving...rom-home-76892

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JobClub/st...1#.T9QRh7BfGDk

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500164_162-6914322.html

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus