Single income household?

[oldgutpile]

Raised four kids on single income. I never regretted having the wife stay at home with the kids, but it did mean no money for sports (other than the regular school curiculum teams) and holidays were spent with the kids random camping in a wall tent. The kids never forgot the summers we spent, and now even though we are empty nesters, they still plan a week of camping out together every summer.
I never brought in big money, the whole time my kids were school aged, until after I bought into my own business as the last two were in their high-school years. A lot of years in the packing plants, where some weeks I would put in up to three double shifts to get the extra income. After I started my own, that was just a normal day working for myself
I had some great financial advice and "tough-love" sessions from family and inlaws about investing and finances that helped us along the way. We made do, bought our house, and put money away.

[crwhite]

Married, single income with six kids ages 12, 10, 9, 8, 5, and 3. We wanted Mom home with the kids, like many others. There were a few times when things were tight and we had to pick up some extra work to fill in the gaps (both my wife and I) but we have been largely single income. (No six figures here either...)

I've been blessed to be at a stable job that allows me to be home most evenings and weekends (we have a big family because I wanted that, and I want to be home with them.)

Our house is a little on the small side, but that means we are a closer family. Family vacations are camping, we all love it. We made some sacrifices over the years, had to pick our priorities, and we don't live a lavish life. That being said, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Pick what is important to you and your wife, get on the same page, and try not to compare to what others are doing who have different priorities and values. You can do this!

[Ken07AOVette]

Married 26 years together 28, 2 kids now 26,24 single income.

My parents both worked and I hated it, said my kids would have a mom at home. They ran a gas bulk gas station and school bus so they were gone before I was up for skule.

Wife has worked part time her choice for a few years after the kids left, her earnings are hers alone, I pay for everything.

[Austin]

Double income, 3 kids (1 is uof Calgary, 1 is UNC, 1 in gr. 12/high school)

[Sledhead71]

Single income and no kids, gave half away once but was worth it.

[omega50]

Originally Posted by bloopbloob

How many of you all out here are single income households, and how many children, and ages, do you have? Dual income households? I can give my details, but would prefer to just wait for blanket answers, and will then elaborate. Basic info is I'm the sole provider, make decent money but under 6 figures. Just wondering how sustainable sole income is under different circumstance to some of my peers. 5 years now as sole provider, made due, but work is super slow, layoffs and work share program, most are down to 3 day work weeks. Starting to get worried as wife is 11 weeks pregnant, but no job, so no maternity leave. Any advice tips or tricks?

Extrapolate the data that you have just given.
More worrisome than Covid-19 IMHO

[tirebob]

Pretty much single income most of our married life short of the odd slight bit of very part time extra here and there. That is with two kids. We lived like broke jokes forever but our family is extremely tight and well adjusted. Even now that we are empty nesters with our two young adult children out on their own and supporting themselves, they are close enough that they share a 3 bedroom apartment with another roommate and we see both of them on a regular basis and we all like each other! It makes me happy that we made that sacrifice for them growing up.

That said, no real form of retirement can be in the plans other than getting to a point I can make money doing what I want to do rather than doing what I have always done. That is fine by me because I don't think I could ever be that person who just lives. I need a bit of the chase in my life.

[stob]

Originally Posted by Positrac

Single income, wife and 2 kids aged 15 & 16 -1/2. My wife hasn’t worked since #1 was born.

When I say my wife hasn’t worked I guess that’s not completely true. She has home-schooled both kids following the same Alberta curriculum they would be taught in public school and both kids are straight-A students. She has also finished her own Bachelor of Commerce degree with distinction in that time as well as look after me which is pretty near a full-time job on its own...

To us the most important thing in life is giving our kids a good head start and that’s a lot harder to control when both parents are working and the kids are basically being raised by someone else. I’ve always been very fortunate and made a pretty good wage so we’ve had the luxury of being able to choose to have my wife stay home. I realize that not every family has that luxury and that more often than not both parents have to work just to pay for the essentials in life.

x2... but now I have been out of work for 9 months save a couple of 1 mo consultant ops and a few interviews but nothing sticking to date ( had one offer pulled when I countered and gave fulsome com-parables ... but a buyers market - lol)... kids are now 11 and 15 and we are very grateful that for a long time we were able to raise our own .. Mom is resurrecting a career way laid and getting her credentials back ... me, I can cry foul with ageism etc ... but why!!!... moving forward each day ... as an aside, Trudeau ( do not Trudeau and Butts remind anyone of Beavis & ********) and Scheer were never the answers and either is Kenny ( does he he look like Randy from Trailer Park Boys with a suit on) .. anyways - GREAT THREAD

[TomP]

Dual income 2 kids aged 4 and 1, wife just went back to work...we are young, 24 and 26, I luckily make pretty good money and have a stable job home every night, and my wife makes decent money. We just bought a house and have some debts to pay so for now we both need to work. But working on getting the debts paid off! So that her working can be an option. We could get by right now with just 1 income but it would not be fun. I make Just over 100k. She will make 40-50 this year but has never made that much until now. It can be tough balancing it all but we pride ourselves on making it work. Stay healthy, have family time etc. Camping in the summer is our vacation as well.

[bloopbloob]

Originally Posted by AndrewM

First off congrats for the new on one the way! Single income here with 3 kids. It's not easy and lots of weight to bear on ones shoulders at times for both of us but we make it work. If we ever got desperate my wife would get a part time job or I would to make ends meet.

Thanks, and thanks to all for the replies.
I figured there were a lot out there making it work, wasn't expecting so many! I've been making it work for a while now also, but sometimes it gets tight. Just getting a feeler for what to expect with adding a baby to the mix. It should actually help getting some income from the child benefit, better than nothing. Also my student loans will finally be paid off, and truck will be paid for before baby gets here, so that will free up nearly $1000 a month compared to now.

[AndrewM]

Originally Posted by bloopbloob

Thanks, and thanks to all for the replies.
I figured there were a lot out there making it work, wasn't expecting so many! I've been making it work for a while now also. Just getting a feeler for what to expect. It should actually help getting some income from the child benefit, better than nothing. Also my student loans will finally be paid off, and truck will be paid for before baby gets here, so that will free up nearly $1000 a month compared to now.

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking it is easy though. Takes sacrifices and lots of work for both of you. If you don't have any children yet, you will realize it is extremely hard on your wife for the first few years. Encourage her to go and see her friends and get away from the children as often as possible even if she says she doesn't need to. They need to touch base with reality and let off some steam. Children and maintaining a house takes a pile of work. I love my kids to bits but they know how to push buttons you never knew you had and they are entirely different kids with me and with her!

[Immigrant]

My wife and I both work full time - shift work to boot! So when one is working the other one is parenting 2 kids. And we farm... We have no aunties or grandparents to “help with the kids” and we somehow we made it work. We could comfortably get by on only one of our incomes. But my wife and I both grew up in homes where both parents had full time jobs. So for us it’s “normal”. Our motivation for both working has always been “security”. What if the sole bread winner loses his job/ gets hurt/ gets sick and cannot work. What happens if the children/ spouse get long term illnesses and we have to spend time at home to care for them. So one job is really a “backup job”, or an insurance policy.

[ren008]

Dual income for now with one kid and another on the way and the big snip scheduled soon after as two will be enough!! Have crunched the numbers and with two in daycare it would hardly make financial sense to have the wife work vs stay at home. Once they are school age my schedule is flexible to avoid paying for daycare and hopefully even avoid before and after school programs.

We are blessed that my salary (and life insurance) would allow us the option to have the wife stay at home, but our lifestyle (no debt and topped off savings, thriftiness, and no McMansion or wild toy payments, etc) has a lot to do with that. Other factors to consider though like the wife's sanity and her career progression factor into it though too so we are undecided about how it will be. It ain't easy staying at home raising an infant for a year!

"Freedom 45" is the plan at this point, but if we need to push it a few years if she wants to stay at home that is ok with me too!!

[Jamie Black R/T]

Triple Income...two kids under 8

with some fiscal responsibility and a bit of luck on purchase timing we have managed to stay nearly debt free in both the business and personal side. I manage all 3 income sources for our household and am holding up for now. Im under 40 but I can definitely start to feel it though. Likely slow down in another 10 years. 35 years old and almost completely grey lol

Like others we dont live on lobster rolls and we dont see many airplanes...but life is good. Mama is home for the little ones and weekends are always with fun with the kids.

Rich on life is an excellent way to put it.

[ESOXangler]

Single income with 2 kids. Love and appreciate that my wife chose the more challenging job of staying home with the savages. For a long time in my career I chased experience while everyone else was chasing money. Now its its completely reversed and I am able to make a very reasonable living which helps alot. Still isnt that easy but we live within our means. Maybe eat out a little more than necessary though. That's a hole in the bucket I'd like to patch.

[kk4]

Housing costs have skyrocketed and the middle class gets more squeezed with taxes as time goes on, so what was possible 15+ years ago might not be possible today. Therefore I would take the perspectives of people who did this 15+ years ago with a grain of salt.

We are 1 year ahead of you. We already have 1 baby and are planning on 4-6 kids total. Wife won't be working for 10+ years, if ever. I didn't pick her for her high income.

My advice is to make budgets and plan as much as you can. It's not too late for your wife to find a job to work 15 weeks FT if you need the extra money. Calculate how much money that would be (the earnings + EI) and if it's worth it. Only you know the details of your situation and can determine what you want and at what cost.

Having a single income you have to consider what would happen if you got laid off or injured or even died. What would your wife do? Is there family to rely on?

In our case, I am currently making $100K but have no job security and expect to get laid off within the next 4 years. Then I expect to struggle to find work and probably take a pay cut. We do not have family to rely on. I have a pessimistic view of the future in terms of politics and the economy. So, accordingly, we live way below our means, track every dollar spent, and save as much as we can. I'm comforted knowing we could survive without much pain on single minimum wage if we had to. Hopefully it will never get that bad, but I'd rather plan for the worst. Best case scenario all those savings we can use to help our kids when they're older. Our family will have very good odds of survival, and that's all that really matters. How many places we travel around the world for example is meaningless and pointless to us.

Luckily we still have lots of good and very cheap recreation opportunities in Alberta. Camping on crown land, hiking in the mountains, hunting and fishing. That's what I grew up on and my kids will too.

[MyAlberta]

wife and I ran our own business out of the home for 15 years during the two kids early years. Gave us equal time to handle the little ones. For the last ten years its been two incomes with the kids striking out on their own. As we plan our retirement, we are trying to bring everyone back together, at least within visiting range.