Off the top of my head, I think these line items would change for us, but I'm sure there are some I haven't thought of.
Decrease:
Daycare
Eating out
Increase:
Utilities
What cuts or additions did/could you make if one parent stays home?
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Decreases:
Transportation (car, public)
Car Maintenance
Clothing allowanceFood for us was a wash, because I still had to eat breakfast and lunch, just at home, not out.
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decrease: clothes for me, eating out, transportation, childcare
increase: utilities, grocery bill, clothes/things for LO (too much online shopping time!) -
@looch: I'm surprised your transportation expenses went down, when I had a job where I drove there & stayed all day I used my car a lot less than I do as a nanny now basically doing SAHM stuff. I guess it depends on how much you are out & about, we are out a LOT.
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@mrs. bird: I had an expensive monthly train pass when I was working. I switched to daily tickets when I wasn't working, that's largely why. I also walked a LOT more.
Also, on the days I wasn't taking the train, my husband was driving me a bit, which increased our gas expenditures.
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@looch: oh that makes sense. I drive a Pacifica & the stupid thing (er, maybe I'm the stupid one for buying it) gets 14 mpg, so my running around doing stuff all day adds up fast!
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Decrease
Daycare
Eating outIncrease
Gas (we commute together now, if one of us stayed home we would use our second car more often)
Groceries -
I have a pretty long commute, so the amount we spend on gas would go down dramatically. But I am currently on insurance through my employer and DH is on insurance through his, so the cost of insurance would go way up for us if I had to be on his.
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For us, the big decrease was child care, but now that LO is older, we spend about $100 per month on enrichment classes
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Increase: milk.
I must drink about 10 coffees a day!!
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I'm a SAHM, and our most significant changes have been:
Natural decreases - gasoline (I had over an hour commute to work each way), clothing, eating out
Self-imposed decreases - a lot of discretionary spending on things we "want" but don't actually need (our household income was cut in half when I quit working), gym membership
Increases - groceries (but only slightly, and we're still ahead on food overall since we eat out less), museum/zoo/pool memberships
Our utilities have stayed pretty much the same - we have two large dogs, so we kept our house at a comfortable temperature even when I worked. -
Ha, I have been thinking about this, maybe to do a post on it? One big one I have noticed is clothes. My kid just doesn't need a ton. He wears diapers around the house and had one or two "nice" outfits, usually supplied by his grandparents. No shoes necessary, even when he starts to walk he will only need one. Same goes for me. I wear the same old crap every day! I may not be as attractive to my hubby, but I can promise you that paying for extra clothes would make me even less attractive in his eyes, lol!
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