what would you do about being a stay at home mum?

[miaboo]

Hi
Just had dc3 and really want to be a stay at home mum for a few years, I have always worked since I left school and just want a few years out as my children are 5, 21 months and 2 weeks so would like the chance to concentrate on them, my dilemma is the money side (as usual!)
I've done the tax credits calculator and combining this, child benefit and my husbands wage look like we are aroung £50 per week short of acheiving this, has anyone any ideas on what I could do to either save £50 per week or 'earn it' it just seems in one way such a little amount but we really need it to!

What are your skills? Could you work from home? Sign up with People Per Hour and you can bid on jobs that come in although there is a lot of competition.

How about something like Phoenix Cards? If you have a good circle of friends and family or are even one of those confident mums at the school gates, you could do something like Phoenix or Avon to earn a little extra cash.

And don't forget Ebay for when the baby grows out of its clothes and toys.

Do you have/need a second car? When I had dd1, getting rid of my car put us into 'credit' after everything else was taken into consideration. But we lived in the centre of town and I could walk everywhere I needed to go and dh worked within cycling distance.

Ooh yes, you have to factor in the costs of actually working. How much did you pay on transport each week? How much did you spend on lunches and work dinners? How much on snacks? How often did you go out shopping during your lunch break?

Being at home does mean that some costs can be cut down so make sure you factor these in too. Then as BadRoly says, if you can do without a car then try it. Even if you need one for emergencies as I do, if you hardly ever use it then you are saving a great deal on petrol alone.

Also look at your insurance, if you are in all day then you are less of a risk and your premiums might come down.

Do you save any money on not traveling to work, buying lunches, smart work clothes (you can live in your pyjamas at home :) ) there are loads of companies that you can be an agent for and sell in your area. Depends on what sort of area you live in which will work best. You can do online surveys for money.
How about dog walking? Ironing service? There are some companies that will pay you to make their jewlery (some are big scams tho so do your research)
Party planning?

I dont drive but my husband does and he would take me to work before himself and I walk on the school runs so the car is not used often but still needed, we have both been lucky with work lunches as work have provided dinner for us so no savings to be made there!
we spend around £100 per week on shopping but this includes nappies, wipes and cleaning products I wish I could cut down there but not sure how?
Alot of our clothes are already from ebay/asda etc
Dies anyone know if tax credits are due to change next year as the calculator I've used is based on 2012/2013 figures so will this be roughly the same next year, I would be due back in April next year so would have a full year.

WOuld you consider doing a couple of evening shifts at work somewhere ? Even if you did one 6 or 7 hour stint waitressing or barwork in a pub on a Friday evening, @ £6 an hour +tips, and of course you wouldn't be earning enough to pay tax, that would earn most of it. Or of course there are other jobs where they want people to work evenings, just might be more tricky to find.

If anything tax credits are due to be cut I'm afraid.

Look into a nappy laundry service near you. For a small charge you can get premium cloth nappies delivered and then taken away to be washed, leaving you with freshly laundered ones every week. It's often cheaper than buying disposables and helps the environment.

Be careful not to spend too much on cleaning products that you can make at home. Read this for tips on making your own cleasners and lotions and this for making your own cleaning kit.

What do you think about earning a bit of extra cash doing ironing or selling products?

Your problem is going to be that any money you earn will impact on the amount you will receive in tax credits. I looked into doing Avon etc but decided against it as although I could earn it this tax year, I would lose out next year and can't afford to do that!

You need to find a way to cut back on other things you are paying out for. For us when I became a SAHM that meant the Sky package went (this was about £60 all in all) and swapped for just line rental and a basic broadband package. We considered taking this further and just using our mobiles (have lots of Internet on them) but decided we could do without this. We saved about £45 on this.

We shopped around for utilities, saving around £15 a month.

As I'm at home it means we aren't just doing a massive tesco shop each week, I go to the butchers and green grocers for as much as I can (loads cheaper and nicer too!) then to Aldi for bits I can't get there, Tesco is only generally for formula and a few things which I've still found to be cheaper there (squash is, as is their own brand dairylea spread stuff for DS).

All in all, we thought we would be £200 per month worse off by me staying at home. We are probably about breaking even. Yes it means we don't have as many take aways, and I can't just buy things without justifying them to myself, but in all honesty I probably couldn't have done that anyway as childcare costs would have been crippling for us (both DH and I worked weekends).

You will never get this time back with your LO's, I really can't stress enough how worthwhile it is!

I second that, you can make so many savings at home. We don't have a Sky package and I can't say we feel as though we are missing out. In fact the kids have more imagination as a result of not being able to watch shitty kids TV at any time of the night or day. In our house the TV actually gets switched off! But this also saves electric.

If you are at home, get rid of your mobile and just use the landline. That could save around £15 per month. Yes sometimes you will be unreachable but that's hardly a terrible inconvenience, people survived before.

Switch utility providers, tell the insurance that you are staying at home and want your premiums lowered, shop online (it actually saves you money as it stops you from impulse buying, so it's worth the delivery cost), etc.

If you did all this you'd probably save enough not make that extra £50 matter.

Have you loooked at your grocery budget? If you stay at home you'll be able to spend more time cooking (if you want to that is!) so you'll be able to make super cheap meals like lentil soups etc. and also potentially go to the supermarket to pick up the reduced bargains and freeze them - I got 12 pita breads in M&S the other day for 20p!

How far from home does your dh work? Could he cycle there? Petrol is ridiculously expensive these days so any way you can cut down on car use will save you loads.

Do you have a toybus where you live rather than buying toys?

Discover your local children's centre rather than expensive classes.