Start the process early. Before you decide to become a one income household, try budgeting ahead of time. Create a budget that works for your family with two incomes and then slowly start to implement a one income budge from that. This will give you an example of what type of budget your future will hold.
Household expenses
Make a list of all of your fixed expenses (the expenses that won’t change month to month). This can include your mortgage or rent, any car payments and car insurance, utilities, internet, cable, phone bill, and any preplanned retirement or savings plans.
Your car insurance may decrease since the car won’t be considered a commuter vehicle anymore and even better, your family may be pushed into a lower tax bracket and annual savings can add up.
Miscellaneous expenses (student debt)
Don’t forget to include student loan debt. A lot of families when their crunching the numbers forget to include student loans in their monthly calculations, but this becomes incredibly important in budgeting.
Now, move into the entertainment expenses such as vacations, nights out, any memberships to a gym or entertainment site, haircuts, magazine subscriptions, holidays and birthday gifts and anything else that would be an expense in the coming months.
A huge tip in the budgeting world, have a little cushion. Whether it be for maintenance on the car or house or medical expenses, always factor in some extra cash for any emergency situations that may come up.
Calculating all of these expenses may be a drag but try and keep all of your receipts for a month or two and every day tracking where your money goes. In the long run, these tips will not only save your budget but could possibly save your lifestyle as well.
Budgeting 101
Budgeting may seem overwhelming at times but it is best to try and keep track of every little expense as you purchase them. I’ll link an excel sheet of a list of expenses that I have in a month. This list wasn’t easy to create and it took a good month before I could lay out every expense I had, but in the end it is worth the work. You’ll learn a lot about where your expenses are going and even places that you can possibly cut back on.
Budgeting calculator
Above I have linked, in my opinion, one of the best financial calculators for a family that is considering become a one-income household. It lays out almost everything we’ve talked about in the gains and losses and household expenses and creates a calculation to add and subtract those expenses so you can get a number for the monthly costs of your household.
Staying on budget
Wherever you may shop, buying in bulk may make the difference. Always go to the grocery store with a plan and try to stick to the budget. Couponing is a must when it comes to budgeting and may make the difference between breaking the bank and balancing the books.
Here are some helpful links to couponing sites.
https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a6717409
https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a6385/trading_post
https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a3195/family_finances
Stay-at-Home Parenting 