| The breakdown of communities that's happened in the past 50 years (described in detail here) has left the modern at-home mom with five key pieces missing from her day-to-day life. Though this site is
primarily concerned with the socio/psychological difficulties
of being a modern stay-at-home mom, we can't ignore the elephant
in the room that it's just hard to get by on one income these
days.
In fact, in the excellent book The Two Income Trap
(see Recommended
Reading), Elizabeth Warren points out that today, after
an average two-income family pays for its basic monthly expenses,
they have less money left over than the average one-income
family from just a few decades ago. Increases in the cost
of mortgages and health insurance, increased taxation, the
need for a second car, etc. all combine to make covering basic
bills more difficult than it used to be.
The good news for us stay-at-home moms, as Warren points
out in her book, is that living off of two incomes is a dangerous
move, dramatically increasing the odds that you'll have to
file for bankruptcy at some point in your life. So once you
find a way to scrape by on one income, you're financially
much more secure than your two-income household neighbors.
Also, it's been my experience that when you take your life
into your own hands, set goals, and improve your social network,
it often translates into a bit of extra money whether that's
your primary intention or not.
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|
