<prompt> Human: I have never posted here before but am 4 months away from returning to work and would love to stay at home but feel like it would be impossible to afford it. Before I was on maternity leave I made about 64, 000 a year and my husband makes about 70, 000. I would be willing to open a home daycare but even with 3 full time children I would only be making 900 every two weeks before taxes which is less than what I am making now with my maternity leave and top up pay. I know a few stay at home moms and it seems like their husbands make about the same as mine, I just dont understand how they afford to live on one income. I dont know any stay at home moms well enough to ask them about their finances. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Edit: First, thank you so much for your responses. This is such a helpful and supportive thread! After reading the comments it seems pretty clear that other families are just limiting their expenses, or are putting less towards savings than we are. I also think it is also a matter of priorities. Personally, I dont think that I will be able to stay home with just one child without putting a significant strain on my marriage my husband is still having trouble adjusting to parenthood and still hasnt been willing to give up expensive hobbies like golf and would be reluctant to cut so many things out. I think after I have a second child it will be easier to justify staying home and I also plan to have my car paid off by then payment is only 146biweekly but that should ease some of the burden. Assistant: Ok I honestly thought other families were either going into debt to do it or one person was making significantly more money than my husband does. Well I currently contribute 800 to our house account biweekly which enables us to pay all of our expenses my husband contributes as well. I dont see any possibility of me being able to slash our spending by 800 biweekly so I guess it just isnt in the cards for us. We dont live extravagantly but are living with some financial security with some savings, life insurance, health insurance, retirement savings. Our biggest payments are mortgage, heating in the winter, 2 car payments and food I cook all our meals. Im sure I could cut back on food and get rid of the tv and internet but even that would only be 300 a mth in savings at best  <response>: Attempt to pay off the car payments faster than you currently are. Even paying 20 more per month will greatly reduce your payment. Once your cars are paid off, there will be several hundred dollars left over every month.Another tip: do you have cable satellite? Get rid of it. Thats 100. Like other posters said, if you post a detailed list of your finances, this subreddit will be able to pick it apart and help you out. 