Given the rising cost of child care in recent years, stay-at-home parents can provide a great benefit to their family’s financial situation.
While child care rates vary from state to state and depending on how many children you have and how old they are, research from the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies indicates that the average cost of center-based full-time daycare in the U.S. for babies and toddlers exceeds $11,000 annually.
For some parents, it may not make sense to have a dual income household and pay these fees especially if it takes up a large chunk of one person’s income after taxes and other deductions.
Plus, you may want to stay at home with your child so you can bond with them, take care of any special needs that may have, and have a front row seat to witnessing their exciting new stages of growth.
When my husband and I both worked full-time jobs outside of the home, we also found it harder to be involved with what our son was doing in kindergarten. Some days we were too tired to clean properly and eat healthy too so I definitely see the clear benefits of being a stay-at-home parent and being able to help with some of these things.
However, some stay-at-home parents might not feel like they are doing their part to contribute financially to the family. On the bright side, there are quite a few things stay-at-home parents can do to contribute whether it be helping with saving money or earning money.
Coupon
Before you decide whether you like or dislike couponing, I’d encourage you to try it. You don’t have to be an extreme couponer and search for deals 40 hours per week, but you can save quite a bit of money on food and household items simply by clipping coupons and applying the discounts to your purchases.
I remember saving a few dollars on lots of medicine I purchased for my household once all because I opened the weekly paper and cut out two coupons I could use.
I recently met Jordon Cox at a conference last month who is a very inspiring couponer from England. At the age of 15, he started couponing to help his family out financially and during one shopping trip, he purchased $1,000 worth of groceries for only 10 cents.
The key with couponing is only purchasing items that you truly need and not just because you have a coupon for it. You can try a combination of clipping coupons from newspapers, printing manufacturer coupons, and using mobile apps to clip coupons digitally.
DC has created an extremely popular coupon database in excel that has helped many people who want to get serious about saving money through couponing. If you are new to coupons you will also want to read our post 12 Tips for Beginner Couponers.
Meal Plan and Prep
Planning meals is a great way to stretch your food budget and prepping meals can help you save lots of time. Sometimes, we resort to ordering takeout and dining out because the food at home is not prepped and ready to go.
This temporary convenience can add up over time so planning and prepping meals can even help your partner save money by not having to order food for lunch all the time.
Also, preparing fresh and nutritious meals is so much better for your body as opposed to eating pizza and McDonalds every day just because it’s quick food. Quick food can deteriorate your health over time and when you’re not at your healthiest, that’s when the doctor’s visits and medical bills start rolling in.
Provide After-School Care
If you have a school-aged child and a lot of kids in the neighborhood with working parents, you may be able to offer to carpool sometimes or provide after school care for a few hours to earn some extra cash.
I know elementary school hours are weird in terms of the traditional 9-5 job. Now that I work from home, I have more flexibility to drop my son off and pick him up at school. When I was working however, I could only drop him off sometimes because school got out at 2:30pm and I usually didn’t get home until 5pm.
If you have the availability and don’t mind helping out with other kids, this can be a great way to bring some extra money into the household while helping other families as well.
Complete DIY Projects
If new projects around the house are always popping up, you can try to take some on if you have any special skills instead of hiring someone else to do them. I know that in the past, sometimes I got so tired of looking at something and not having time to do it that I just hired someone out of convenience.
If you have the time and ability to complete a DIY project, it’s worth a try if it can save the family money. Even if you only have summers off work, you can still tackle large and small projects like that fixing that creaky bathroom door or painting the garage.
Sell Items From Your Home
This probably won’t create a consistent stream of income unless you decide to set up an online shop to sell items you want to sell like an Etsy shop for example, but you can make some extra money every now and then by de-cluttering your home.
If you have old furniture, books, clothes, etc. you can create listings on sites like Amazon, EBay, or Craigslist to sell the items for a profit. You can also flip things on Craigslist by buying things and selling them for more (you can even get free stuff on Craigslist that you can sell immediately for a profit).
Back when my son was a toddler and constantly growing, I often donated or sold his old clothes to consignment shops and stores like Once Upon a Child along with all his other baby gear. If you don’t have anyone to hand down your child’s items too, you might be able to make some money by getting rid of it.
If you do end up using Craigslist be sure to use best practices to stay safe.
Maintain the House
If you do simple everyday tasks like maintaining the house, walking the dog, organizing, etc., you’re probably saving your family more money than you realize. People who work long hours and don’t have time to keep their homes clean have to outsource it for a fee.
People who have dogs but don’t have time to walk them usually pay dog walkers $15 per walk or even more but as a stay at home parent, you can take care of tasks like these and help your family save money in the process.
Make Money through a Side Hustle
For stay-at-home parents, raising your children will always be your main job, but it doesn’t mean you can’t start a side hustle that creates extra income streams for your family.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of people – perhaps millions – making side income or full-time income through blogging or some other online or at-home side hustle.
Here are some helpful posts on making extra money:
I always encourage stay-at-home parents to consider looking into ways to make money from home. Technology has drastically changed things today and there are more opportunities than ever before for stay-at-home parents to create income streams without leaving their home.
If you are serious about wanting to bring in an extra income stream, consider checking out DC’s book Hustle Away Debt.
Families Work Together
One of the best things about being in a family is that everyone plays a part so one person is not stuck with the burden of managing it all. Families who work together get more done and tend to have less stress.
As you can see, there are many ways to contribute as a stay-at-home parent and they are all very valuable. Understand that not having to pay for childcare is a huge benefit and being able to spend time with your child at home is a priceless experience.
You also may be interested in 40+ Ways to Improve Your Finances This Month.
Can you think of any additional ways stay-at-home parents can contribute financially? Have you tried any of these ideas yourself?
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All great tips Chonce. The numbers for day care are crazy and they can get higher in some areas – my brother lives in D.C., for example, and if they want to go the day care route it’s nearly $2,000/month. That being said, there are so many ways a stay at home parent can contribute, you just have to find what works for you. WE’re not really stay at home since we run our own business out of the house, but being home allows us the flexibility to do things we may not otherwise be able to do and save some money in the process.
Daycare is expensive especially the younger your kids are. I’ve found some more affordable prices by where I live but the big name national franchises are always have the highest rates.
Good tips. We’ve been thinking about having my wife stay home at some point with the kids. While my older one will start school soon and childcare costs will be reduced, it still is tough when school ends at 2:30 and work ends at 5:00…plus commute back home. It definitely would be nice to find a part time job that has similar hours or one that is flexible. Being able to work at home would also be great and give us a lot more flexibility
That was an issue for me too when I was working a traditional job. Even though my hours were flexible, I still had to work 8.5 hours a day and 7 on Fridays so I wasn’t ever available to pick my child up. Now that I work from home, things are much easier so I definitely recommend flexible online work if possible.
Great look at a very important topic!
My wife has always stayed home with our kids, but it definitely meant that we sacrificed in the area of family finances. She is a crafty person though and she used her skill at making our own girls’ dresses, bows, etc and started her own shop on Etsy. Over the years she has turned this into a real business that has brought a lot of extra income into the household. Plus we have the best dressed girls on the block!
Thanks for sharing!
That’s really cool how your wife was able to cash in on her creative skills. Setting up an Etsy shop is a great way to make extra income and can even turn into a full time business.
I became a stay at home parent over 15 years ago and have done all of the above tips and more to help out. When we decided I would stay home, it didn’t make economical sense for me to continue to work and pay for day care. Since Day 1, I’ve viewed my role as a “job” – I treat it as a sort of business and keep it running smoothly, which has saved us all a ton of stress over the years, in my opinion.
I think what you said about treating your role as a job is key. It pretty much is a job because it’s a big responsibility.
I’ve been staying at home for 13 years now and every year I learn more about how I can contribute financially to our family and still be home with the kids (we home school). I work methodically at trimming our budget and also at working side hustles, and it’s worked out really well for us!
That’s awesome that you’ve been able to make it work for so many years. Side hustling is a great way to bring in a solid source of extra income.
Wonderful post, Chonce. I became a stay-at-home parent 5 years ago and gave up my part-time work-from-home job 3 years ago when my second child was born. I’ve always recognized that staying at home allows me not only to bond with the kids and avoid child care costs, but also to save money in a lot of areas that I wouldn’t be able to if I was working outside the home. Thanks for acknowledging this as a way to contribute financially.