Stay at Home Mom…

So, I never realized before I had our son how much I wouldn’t want to leave his side once he was born. Maybe its weird that I didn’t know, but we were, Alex and I,  just so wrapped up in planning and making sure things were “taken care of” prior to our little guy’s arrival.

So then he was born! Our little nearly eight pound wonder, and I became desperate to spend every moment with him imaginable. I was “allowed to bring him to work” these words ended up not meaning everything, I had a boss who woke him up on purpose twenty times a day… on PURPOSE! She said she doesn’t like babies, and its her office… that job didn’t last. For that reason and numerous others, and my idea of staying at home became an obsession.

Alex wanted to stay home too. His bond with his son was quick and a force to not be reckoned with. He wanted to stay home too. The end objective was to have both of us be able to stay at home. This would require me to be the primary bread-winner once he’s done with his current day job, so that he can work on his art, which generally isn’t instantaneous income.

As for me, I already had multiple Etsy shops, but I spent more on advertising than I made and I didn’t have the funds to add many new ideas into the mix. I was stuck. I still feel stuck. Things are improving though. Working from home is a real thing!

Some steps I used to figure out MY path (which is still a work in progress), was to write down…

a) What I’m good at

b) What I actually ENJOY

c) I had to ask what things would be possible with a baby in tow.

I decided to seek a stay at home job, but to work as a temp to sustain some income, paying $215 a week out for daycare, I would need to make $490/ week BEFORE taxes to make it worthwhile (31 hours at 14.50 avg/ per hour is all it takes). I also decided to make jewelry for my Etsy store and to change my approach to selling (Tips on that to come), so that it would actually be additional, albeit passive, income for now. I made $2500 a month before, and daycare was a thousand a month, leaving only about $1500. As a temp, working only two weeks a month, and using my Etsy store, I can make this same income.

It is possible! I didn’t feel like it was, and its hard work maintaining a little one AND a home AND multiple forms of work, but its worth it for any additional time with our precious little dude.