Being a stay-at-home-parent is nowhere near as common as it once was. Needing two full-time incomes to make ends meet is a reality so many families face, and unfortunately, it’s one that also comes with a lot of other sobering truths. We will never have enough time. It’s just not possible to be there for every significant moment in our kids’ lives. We’ll never feel like we can give a 100% to both work and family. Work/life balance doesn’t really ever happen. We will feel burned out nearly all the time. And even though we spend so much time working away from our kids, sometimes all the bills still won’t get paid.
“We used to be in this golden age where you could own a home, a car, and get by on a single income — that is a bygone era,” Bankrate’s economic analyst Sarah Foster told CNBC.
The truth is, there are so many things that make up this current reality. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, dual-income households rose above single-income households decades ago and stayed the majority. In the US in 2024, roughly 23.4% of married-couple families had only one spouse employed, indicating they relied on a single income source, while nearly half (49.6%) had both spouses working.
Considering the large disparity, a lot of us in the dual income bucket are left wondering … how? One Canadian mom on Reddit flat-out asked how others were doing it (and how they were spending/saving) as she and her husband are largely in the single income category.
“I feel like my partner [does] well and I love staying home but I also feel like we aren’t saving enough,” she confessed in the thread. “I’m not sure if I’m the problem and we are just spending poorly. Or if the world is just too expensive.”
SAHM moms, how much do you live on?
byu/Itchy-Ad-5436 inParenting
Both Canadians and Americans shared how they were able to pull it off, and the contingencies vary quite a bit.
“I live in Florida and my husband makes $43k a year,” shared one stay-at-home parent. “I wouldn’t call it comfortable, but the bills are paid, we all eat well, and a little money can go in savings. We pinch pennies and don’t go out much, but every 3-6 months we try to take some kind of hiking/camping trip for a few days.”
But here’s the kicker: They only have one child and their home was passed down to them, so they don’t have the burden of a mortgage.
Others shared how their status was likely going to have to change soon.
“My husband makes approximately $96K a year take home. With overtime he might make anywhere from $110K-$120K but we don’t count on that money. We have 2 kids. It’s not enough anymore,” one person wrote. “It was 5 years ago. But my healthcare premium is going to be $1,300 a month this year…So, I’m officially looking for a job again and it hurts my heart so much. I loved being a SAHM.”
Another person mentioned cutting every corner to make it happen.
“Husband makes $50k a year. We average $1k in savings a month,” one mom shared. “We have one child, a fully paid off car, and use fully paid off phones. We also cut back on streaming services to make our monthly bills go down so we only pay for Hulu+live tv and Netflix. Most of our money goes towards rent which is about 1500 but we try to only spend money when necessary and usually it’s only groceries every two weeks.”
The thing is, making comparisons and sweeping generalizations about finances is not always beneficial. My husband and I do really well on paper, but the amount of debt from school, taxes, and more makes it feel like we are barely comfortable with us both working. There are so many factors to consider as well, such as location. But considering how much the prices of things have surged the past several years, I think we can all confidently say it’s very different from when our parents were raising us.
