Going From Two Incomes to One (Part 1)

I have dropped some subtle hints in my blog, so if you have not caught them, we are now officially a one income family! If you think I am a stay-at-home Mom, nope think again. My husband is now a stay-at-home Dad (or parent as he refers to it as)! I am now the responsible party for bring home the bacon to my husband and boys. I am going to be doing a series on how we made this all possible.

Years have gone by with us wondering if we could make this work. Months of intense preparation took place before the “2 week notice was turned in at work”. In the end, this was by far the hardest, yet easiest decision my husband (of 8 years) and I have ever had to make as a married couple. When we married 8 years ago, I was working full-time and my husband was working part-time and attending school full-time. As time evolved (after a brief hiatus on unemployment) we have been a two income family for six years. We definitely enjoyed the perks of two incomes and at times somewhat abused them. We moved three times and bought three different houses in a span of 5 years (WOW!).

We were now at a stage in our lives where we have two children and we were both going about 100 miles per hour in different directions every day. We enjoyed the perks of free childcare since we both have willing and able parents wanting to care for their grandchildren. However kindergarten is on the horizon for our oldest. Granted we were blessed with free childcare, I still had to wake the kids up get them dressed and over to Grandma and Papa’s. My husband’s job was to pick the kids up in the evenings, sometimes at two different houses. Our lifestyle “worked” for us, however we were becoming tiresome, worn down, and in need of a change.

There were times when the kids were sick (or the grandparents) and we had to make a quick morning decision on who would call off of work. I printed a monthly calendar of where the kids would be everyday and what time they were to be dropped off and picked up at the designated house. We always had in the back of our minds that if our parents could no longer watch the kids, that my husband would quit his job. However it never happened that way. I was left torn for months, waiting for a “sign” that he should stay home with the kids. I never got that big “sign” I was looking for, but I did get some small inclinations that it was time to make a change in our lives.

To be continued in Part 2…