On page 25 of "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy D. you can read her views on the value of a second income. I haven't read the article in a long time, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
My children are in 7th and 5th grade, yet I'm still a homemaker. That's my "only" job. Yet, it's so valuable to our family. When you are a homemaker you have a VERY IMPORTANT JOB. Don't let anyone make you feel any different.
Your job is to manage your home. If you do it correctly it will take up most of the day while your children are at school. Our home runs so smoothly when I have my priorities straight. My husband said I truly manage our home, our home doesn't manage me. We don't live in a crisis mode all the time because I can take care of all of the details. During the week I work very hard, but on the weekends I relax with my family. Occasionally during the week I'll have a cup of coffee with a friend, shop at the mall, take a nap or go to volunteer committee meetings, but for the most part I'm working the home.
I know that when I truly work hard at home (which more often times than not means I'm in the kitchen either cooking, baking or chopping) I save our family hundreds of dollars per month. When (not if) I get lazy/tired/burned out I see those dollars fly out the window!
PS. I just found this comment while I was flipping through the book and thought it fit with this post. On page 174-175 Amy D. says "By learning how to optimize my time and resources I can create a tax-free income." Oh how I wish she would come out of retirement and write more! Or better yet come to my home and guide me throughout my day.
Your blog is very encouraging to me! I lost my job in June and have never been happier (albeit, more broke). We have 5 kids and even working part-time (26 hours a week), I REALLY struggled to keep it all together (my husband works very long hours). Anyway, I appreciate your honesty about the difficulty of being a working mom. I too think that my "job" at home is the most important one, and I'm trying to do it well. Thanks again for the great tips and encouragement!!
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