My wife shops at goodwill, cooks all our meals at home, cuts everyone's hair, doesn't do any make-up, nails, salons, etc.

We don't have any subscriptions, live in a place with low COLA, raise animals and garden, don't eat out, use cloth diapers and I buy used clothes for me and the kids and him. Except for shoes and underwear. We also pay for cars in cash exclusively. So they aren't brand new and nice but they get us from place a to b

The most important thing you'll want to do is create a realistic budget basing only on your husband's income. Go over bills, subscription services, groceries, gas, fun money. Figure out how much you want to save and invest each month. Come up with ways to cut back where you can. See if you can find cheaper offers for Internet and phone services, insurance etc. Not eating out and making all your meals at home is also going to save you a ton of money, and is realistic if you're staying at home. When you're grocery shopping, go with generic brand (unless the quality difference is noticible), go with simple ingredients, and stick to a grocery budget.

And lastly, start living on one income NOW while you still work, and save/invest your entire paycheck.

I agree…living off one income and saving the other was the some of the best advice anyone gave me.

I am not the super-penny pincher type personality but my husband and I still have been able to do this. Here are some things that helped me to get into the frame of mind: 1) Identifying as someone who was sort-of-minimalist or the FIRE (financial independent retire early) group. I surrounded myself with bloggers and others who enjoyed these lifestyles, and it helped me to not feel like I was living a lackluster life. It kept my habits longer too.

2) Writing out the few priorities in your budget that bring you the most joy, and cut off the rest.

3) Gratitude lists.

4) Having a ton of wishlists for things I wanted so I did not automatically buy something I wanted.

5) Having a (large) visual on the wall for both of us to look at every day to make it exciting to reach our savings goals.

6) Realizing that happiness is what everyone seeks when they buy stuff, so writing down the simple free pleasures I personally love and focusing on being happy and content before going into stores.

7) Deleting shopping apps from my phone.

8) Avoiding going into stores, or buying it online and picking it up from the store instead.

9) Setting ridiculously big, fun goals to aim towards. I’m not good with cutting back, but I <am> good at saving aggressively.

Good luck! It’ll feel amazing.

Budget. Don't go over budget. Find ways to save. Don't carry debt. Live in places others sneer at.

Don't live above your means. Be realistic about priorities.

Decide how to be where you want to be in, 5, 10 retirement age.

Grow your own food that you can. Be thrifty. Don't care about name brands and being fancy.

We retired at 36 and 49.we are 50 and 37 now. We have 6 kids, and a 7th due in dec.

We aren't quite there yet, but I will say that things are going to be tight for a while for us as we truly transition to one income - I just quit my job (in my third trimester with our first child), and don't plan on going back to work for probably a year after baby is born at minimum, and that is heavily dependent on what our situation looks like at that point - ideally I wouldn't need to work for a few more years. We may not have as much to set aside for saving and investing as we have previously had. My previous full-time salary and the extra from my year or so of part-time work, plus some investment income has helped us save a lot to be able to have good reserves, so we feel comfortable making the transition. My husband is also starting to look for a job with a higher potential for income increases over time (he's currently a teacher, and there is basically no real wage growth in that field at the moment), which will help a lot.

So essentially the current plan is to stick to our budget as closely as we can, and cut some of our extraneous expenses where necessary (a lot of these will probably end up being rolled into baby care costs). I do think our budget will probably go back to being more granular as we need to keep more of an eye on the expenses as well. Save if possible - I feel like a lot of this is part of my job as a SAHM / housewife, to give us bits of extra in our grocery budget, maybe gardening a little bit, etc. And honestly to try and increase his income a little bit as well, and maybe do a little more money-making investing stuff if the market gets less volatile.

I do find it helpful to have social media that is similarly focused - I made an account that is essentially my "housewife profile" where I follow a lot of women who are staying home, living on smaller incomes, embracing some more old-fashioned lifestyles, etc. to get ideas and motivation, too. We're never going to really be the "homesteader" types, but we can do a little bit here and there in suburbia, and focus on the things that are truly important to us when it comes to our budget.

I will also say that my working part-time again is not out of the question if it becomes either necessary or would be useful for some extra cash. It's not necessarily plan A, especially when our child / potential children are small, but it is a possibility. But we are also realistic in that we enjoy some things that are relatively expensive, so

Living within our means. I used to work pt which paid off my car, paid my phone, gave me a little savings, let me invest in hobbies, and I helped out with bills a bit. Now I just cover groceries, my medical insurance, and my phone payment by babysitting occasionally. I use apps like Rakuten and ibotta to get cash back. I often get free items from them. My fiance does some side hustle for his extra spending cash/fun $.

For 2 people our groceries are $250 a month (was $200 before inflation/last year). I shop sales, buy in season or frozen produce, and try not to waste food. Being able to stretch leftovers is helpful. Turn old rice to fried rice. Turn leftover homemade mac n cheese to chili mac. Cooking from scratch can be much cheaper than pre-made items especially if making a large amount.

I do my own nails and skincare treatments. Occasionally I'll dye my own hair but I also use Groupon for haircut/color. For makeup/skincare/haircare products I have a subscription box and shop sales if I need anything else.

For my clothes I've been the same size since hs so that helps. I thrift and don't turn down hand me downs. Occasionally I'll do a shein haul or shop a really good sale. For shoes I wait for good sales.

I don't go out and drink anymore so that's saved a good amount. Our date nights aren't too expensive. Dates this year: walks in parks, museums, botanical gardens, jet skiing (we own one), ice cream out, paint night at home, etc.

I read somewhere (I think it was The Millionaire Next Door but I'm not sure) about the concept of one spouse being on "offense" and the other being on "defense". That is, his role is to try to increase money coming in to the household, while your financial role will be to find ways to decrease outflows. I think that's a helpful mental framework.

If you aren't already doing it, talk to him about you taking over the household budget as part of being a homemaker. Adopt a mindset that part of your "job" is to find ways to live within his income. I can almost guarantee that whatever he makes, there are people out there finding ways to live in far less.

The real trick is that you and he have to both be fully onboard that any sacrifices you make are worth it for you to be a homemaker.

I’ve been doing side hustle stuff but with everything being expensive and my side hustles not working anymore we’re scrambling- we are low income though at about 36K total.

Being frugal. I shop at yard sales and thrift stores mainly for clothing, furniture, dishes, etc.. We have a budget for groceries. We don’t try to buy too many snacks/junk food because it adds up. I try to find free events for entertainment.

Either your husband needs to be rockstar doctor attorney rich or you need to live in an area and have a circle of friends where every woman is a stay at home mom / single income. If you live in an area that requires dual income then you are setting yourself up for failure with only 1 income. If all of your fellow wife friends are working and you are not then you are going to be bored as fuck. It’s less about the amount of money or budget and more about the environment that you live in

get a rich husband

My husband works as a Hotshotter, Class 5 commercial driving. He pulls 1-2 loads a week. Where I live it is lucrative and he is home more this way than most entry level jobs that make the same income.

Edit to elaborate a little; He’s gone about 72 hours at a time per trip and makes around 2500-3000$ before taxes and any other expenses per trip.

My husband works in tech so he earns a fair amount both in salary and equity. If I worked too we’d probably earn a third more in salary but not enough to significantly change our tax bracket or lifestyle post taxes. I see myself as the person who looks to save money wherever we can. I cook nearly all of our meals from scratch so our food bills are fairly low. I don’t buy new clothes or makeup, I buy second hand whenever possible. We can afford to spend more but have a list of priorities we’d like to save for. I also manage most of the budgeting of the income so we’re on top of our finances.

He’s got a pretty good sense of his income trajectory so we’ve got good plans for it. We have our first child on the way and plan to have more. Planning to homeschool as well so it will save us a significant amount of money in childcare and schooling for me to stay at home with them. I’d recommend starting with a budget and a list of shared financial goals. Use an excel or budget worksheets to organize your current and expected income and savings over the next few years.