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Your school doesn't offer discounted options for children of teachers? I think at our school teacher's get to put their kids in the day are for a significant discount.

@Mrs. J: I see. I'm not a SAHM so I can't help much with recommendations :). But I wish you the best of luck.

I moved to being a SAHM because LO was struggling at daycare. I enjoy being a SAHM. The key is to find activities. We do little gym, gym, swimming and preschool.

The biggest financial thing for us was adjusting our tax withholding! We don't get a refund, but it increased our monthly income because we dropped to a lower tax bracket. We don't go out to eat a lot, I buy all of LO's clothes used and we rarely get new clothes ourselves, but we make it work. We have to live on a strict budget, but we still make date nights and reasonable travel happen when we can.

As far as the emotional side of things, I wrote a couple blog posts about it. I always wanted to be a SAHM and was very surprised at how hard it was on me the first year. I think with two kids it will be better, honestly (I hope!) but there are definite perks and I am really thankful I had the opportunity to be here with lo for the last 2 years.

http://www.hellobee.com/2013/10/04/becoming-a-sahm-5-things-i-didnt-expect/

http://www.hellobee.com/2013/11/08/becoming-a-sahm-one-more-thing-i-didnt-expect/

I didn't become a SAHMS by choice. I got pregnant with my second right before accepting a new teaching job, so I didn't get FMLA and the commute was horrendous, so I decided to stay at home. The best thing I did for myself was creat a weekley schedule for us (library time, play dates, park dates etc) and find a support group of other SAHMs. It can be lonely at times, so having friends who can hang out during the day and understand what you are going through is key.
Good luck!!!

@Mrs. J: Activities and a structure for the day really helped me! Especially with a toddler - we do swim lessons and art classes at the local Y, music class, story time etc. I also make use of the childcare at our Y a couple times a week - scheduling in some time for yourself helps to make it less overwhelming for me.

We have a pretty tight budget, so Aldi is my go to for groceries for a great deal. I do some consignment for clothes for DD as well.

Honestly, the hardest part was reviewing the budget with DH and figuring out the things that were not necessities that had to go or be reduced. Its a give and take, and we had to acknowledge things like eating out for lunches, expensive date nights, excessive gifts for ourselves or others were not in the budget. I also had to plan far ahead for big things like travel, weddings, Christmas. It is easier when you decide together on those things ahead of time - we learned the hard way that we had different ideas about what living on a restricted budget meant. It can be hard when you are used to have more excess cash available!

Yay - so excited for you!

I'm going through the same thing right now, last Wednesday was suppose to be my last day, but they ask me to stay for another month or two. I think we'll be ok because my pay was so little, but it'll still be an adjustment. I'm hoping to sell quite a bit online, and work so very very part time side jobs here and there.

I was a SAHM with my son, he's 13, I went to work when he was in Kindergarden. It's been a long time!!

Goouck!

@FaithFertility: that's exciting!!