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A big part of it was that we waited until we were in a financial position (well, until DH was making enough money) to have a baby. I knew it was important to me to stay at home for a few years and we were both will to wait a little bit longer to make it happen. There were a lot of other factors in our timing but that was a big one.

He hasn't always made enough for me to stay home-- it's only been in the last year or so that we would have felt comfortable to make it work. Before that, we probably could have cut back in a lot of places in order to do it, which I suppose is what we would have done if we had an unexpected pregnancy, but it would have been a lot harder.

DH started making enough to support us (cover my salary) in the past year, probably when I was about 4 months pregnant. We thought I would work part-time after LO arrived. The biggest thing that helped us prepare was to put my paychecks away right into savings and forget the money was in that account. So we paid all the bills using my husband's paychecks. It forced us to create budgets and rearrange some money but it was a great way to determine if I could truly SAH full-time. And then we quickly built up an emergency savings fund from my paychecks. We did this for my entire pregnancy until I stopped working at 8.5 months. Even if you try to put away a whole paycheck and realize it can't work, you can try putting away half so that way you can see if you will need to still work part-time.

Also I'm really surprised with the low costs associated with having a baby. Yes, diapers and wipes are expensive. But we've basically traded going out to dinner 2-3 times a week for the cost of baby necessities. I don't buy as many clothes as I used to since I'm home, don't spend as much money on hair stuff and make-up since I've simplified my routines, don't have to fill up the gas tank in my car as often. So for us it's balanced out.

We started financially planning for me to stay at home even before we got married. It took about 2 years for us to pay off our debt (except for student loans) and during that time we "practiced" living only on his salary. So, by the time we got married and pregnant (honeymoon baby) we were basically ready for me to quit. Definitely takes discipline though.

Basically, our entire life together (I was 18 when we met) we'd planned for me to stay home with a baby one day. It was that important to us. Before getting pregnant, I was in school, out of school working low wage jobs, and then back in school full time and working. So, I never made a ton of money at any of these things, and we never depended on what I did make. We always geared our lifestyle to my husband's one (relatively high) income. This means that we live a very different life than many of our friends, and that's something we're ok with.

We always assumed I would stay at home. I've always wanted to and we both thought it was important. Plus, we would have to pay for daycare, so it just wouldn't be worth enough. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was the only option in our minds so we make it work. People are surprised by how little we live off of sometimes (we rent a little house and only have one car) but we are nearly debt free because we don't have a mortgage or car payments. Or student loans.

Also, we've never had two full incomes, I was supporting Mr SH through school and he started working full time a month after I went on mat leave. So it's not like we had to make some big lifestyle change.

We aren't saving anything right now, but I know it will come, this is just the season we are in while they are little.

It's been a priority for us for me to stay at home with eventual children since before we got married. Because of this we started planning for it way in advance and always budgeted/lived off of just my husband's income, even when I was working (which was until DS was born last October). Since we did that we were able to save my income and build an emergency fund/savings and we were already used to living off of just what DH made.

We make sacrifices and our budget is tight some of the time but it's been an experience that I wouldn't trade for the world.

DH actually told long before we got married that I wasn't going to be able to be a SAHM, we wouldn't be able to afford it. I was crushed, but I understood and figured that was just life.

But when we were engaged I was working at a job that I hated to a point that it was giving me health issues and starting to give me depression. It was so so so stressful and I just had to get out. DH encouraged me to quit. It was 6 months until our wedding, so DH said not to look for another job because we were just going to go on our honeymoon. And then we were going to TTC and since I get crazy migraines we both thought that pregnancy and migraines and working wouldn't go well together (wow were we right, I was on the couch my entire 1st and second trimester, I could have never worked!) so I wasn't working for a long time and we were living off of DH's one income and doing fine.

Meanwhile by now DH had realized that my income wouldn't have made enough to pay for daycare anyway and we would be able to make it work with just his. It's not easy all of the time..... we have to budget and I'm always finding ways to save money like making my own laundry detergent and I don't get to go out and buy clothes whenever I want. But I don't care, I'd rather be home with LO.

I didn't know I wanted to stay home until DD was born so our plan was always for me to return to work. When we had DD and I realized I wanted to be at home, it took almost two years in order work it out. Even though DH could have supported us from the beginning, we had some financial things to do first (graduate DH from grad school, buy a new car, and build up some savings for my grad school). Plus I've always planned on only being home for a couple years. I think it's very possible I'll go back to work part-time next year, sooner than we had originally planned. So it took a lot of work and time in order to reach our goal, and even then it's very limited.

My journey into being a SAHM wasn't planned. When my second baby was born I wasn't offered FMLA and would have to go back after 8 weeks, which I hated because I was a teacher so it was the difference of putting an 8 week old in daycare or an almost 6 month old. So I quit. I looked for other teaching jobs that are close and a school I want to work in, but haven't found anything. I do have two part time jobs as tutors, so I supplement our income a little. But, at this point with two children I would have to make a lot of money to pay for two in daycare and actually bring some money home. We are having to be a little bit more frugal than I would like, but it isn't as hard as I would have thought.