<prompt> Human: Ive come across blogs by stay-at-home moms with 3 kids or more appearing to live a pretty comfortable lifestyle. I wonder is it more a result of financial-savvy and frugalness or are they carrying a load of debt?I ask because Im single with one pet and still worry Im not saving enough for retirement, etc.  <response>: This really comes down to running your budget effectively. My wife doesnt have to work. We live pretty modestly well in a smaller Indiana town. 3 Kids. 2 in gymnastics, 1 in tballbasketballwhatever else we can get him in. Only debt is house, 1 car, and the remainder of my wifes student debt from when she was wanting to work. We have almost 13 of our emergency fund completed, and plan to have it done in the next 2 years. But the only way this works is because we know exactly where our money is, how much we have, how much we can blow on fun stuff for us and the kids, and it is all written and recorded. I spend probably about 5 hours each week reviewing my finances. This reminds me that Im making good money decisions. Weve only been on a household budget for about 2 years. Prior to the budget, we were a mess. Credit cards sky-high, running out of money before pay day. No emergency fund. It was a nightmare. Life is good now.However, youll never find my wife writing a blog. She prefers to spend her Internet time on Farmville, cityville, yoville, or whatever Facebook game she is playing this week : 