You do what? As a SAHM!

What? you have more to your life than being a SAHM?

Yes I do and I think I am very talented in my Niche. Wait! What?

what seems to be the story of my life!

You went to school to become a ______ (fill in the blank with your experience) and you Stay at home?

Why?

You response: I ask that question every day of my life and I still haven’t found the right answer.  Right? You have had those conversations too right?  

So what the world sometimes see’s is a “waste” of talent, or a waste of time to nurture kids SAHMS see it as an opportunity to make the world a better place because we know that to raise good people it takes a mother with some sort of talent to cultivate a growing community.

My background is in photography and art. I left a Paper Crafting career when I had my first child.

Because I have a love affair with paper and L-O-V-E cutting things out, I became a couponer, among other reasons (like having only $300 left in our budget for food at the time we had our first child.) That is my contribution to the cause that is our family.

Let’s think about our contribution in another way:

We are the emotional support system of the family: so add in some sort of therapist cost:

my cost is $200 a month add in the extra stuff you do: a maid, early childhood education specialist, add another $200, plus I am a built-in chef, (in my mind things are not that expensive.) so another $200 per month, you get the idea, it's super expensive to have a Stay at Home Mom if you were to "pay" her right?

Ok you get the idea, once you can embrace your god given talents you are able to justify your contribution to the Family. Wait you don’t like to cook? Then replace that with, secretary for your husband, or a content marketer for your daughter’s little free library you just got, oh wait that’s me, You get the idea! It takes a lot of work to run a family and we are worth our weight in gold when it comes down to it.

The more common ways to contribute to the finances without working:

Do more of what you love to help save money:

Becoming more self-sufficient, like gardening, or canning. For example, I absolutely can not garden but I love to can tomatoes, apples, and peaches. So I ask all my gardening friends that have too many tomatoes If I can take some produce off of their hands. When you add the cost of what organic apple sauce or pizza sauce, and all you had was time invested it’s worth it if you like doing it.

Try new things, something will make you have an AHH HAA moment! Other ideas may include, gardening, organizing, crafting, researching ways to save money, learning about ingredients and products to get the best quality without spending a lot of money. (I think of trendy sauces that are marketed differently and toys.)

Have a price point for things you regularly purchase, I have a price point for shoes, clothing, groceries, So I know when something is a good deal or if it’s not. The best way to do this follows the sales cycle, and mentally keep notes, or keep a price point list on an excel sheet like I use to do. This helps you understand when stuff is a good deal and when you should buy it or not.

The one thing that is on our side is Time, we may not always get big chunks of time, but we can wonder around the grocery store and look at prices and see what's being "pushed" to sell, I can't tell you how often I get meat on sale for over 70% off because I was there at the right time and stocked up and froze it!