Originally Posted by forest beekeeper
Both myself and my wife have been budget counselors during my 20+ year Naval career; helping military servicemembers and their families when they found they had financial problems.
It is a very common stereotype that with a deploying servicemember bringing in a paycheck, the dependant spouse wants to go out and have a job too. This is very common.
Shes gets a job and then she needs things. Her own car, a professional wardrobe, money for commuting, business lunches, office parties, and sometimes after she works a long hard day she wants to stop off for a drink [why not she has worked hard, she deserves it].
When the dependant spouse leaves the home; nobody is left to clean their home. Nobody is cooking, nobody is doing the laundry, and nobody is babysitting.
So as a result the family budget goes way up.
The added expense of: Her car, her wardrobe, her commuting, her lunches, her hard earned 'after-work' drink, a house cleaner, restaurant food [since they no longer eat at home], laundry, and day care; is a lot.
This happens more often than not. When she goes out and begins a minimum wage job, her new income is less then the increase in living expenses they feel.
In terms of 'Household Economics', it is very common that a household with two income earners, will have a much higher cost-of-living. And it is not uncommon to see the increase as being more than the second wager earned is bringing home.
At work, I very often met with men, went over their budgets with them and had to explain that their wives needed to stop their out-of-home job. She needed to focus on being a 'home-maker'. Sometimes they brought their wife into work, so that I could sit with the both of them to show them the math.
My wife did her budget counseling in the 'Family Service Centers' on-base. She saw about half / half, the servicemembers coming in, or the wives coming in for counseling.
This is a very common scene. If nobody is at home; then nobody is cleaning the home. Nobody is cooking, nobody is doing the laundry, and nobody is babysitting.
It is cheaper to clean your home yourself; rather than to hire someone else to do it.
It is cheaper to cook at home. Better yet cooking from scratch is cheapest. Rather than eating out, or buying prepared dinners. Grocery stores offer both. A bag of rice, a box of pasta, flour, fresh veggies, all these things are cheap as compared to prepared frozen dinners.
Laundry and day care can likewise add up very quickly.
A single wage-earner combined with a home-maker can raise a family on a very low budget. Their cost-of-living can be low, if they choose to keep it low, and they can have money left over to invest with.
The minute that both adults go out into the work-place, their cost-of-living goes up. Period.
How does this effect our society? if homemakers are not seen as a noble endeavor, and working moms are praised, then every one wants to follow a professional career. Everyone is working, and everyone's cost-of-living goes up.
My Dw stayed home and focused on being a homemaker. Since she is an accountant at heart, she took courses from time to time to keep up on her career field. And she volunteered one day a week to help other military families, by offering budget counseling and tax-planning.
We were able to maintain a very low cost-of-living and we were able to invest. We bought an apartment building at each duty station. She stayed 'home' and managed the apartments, while I deployed.
By working together; one working outside of the home and one working in the home; we kept our living expenses low, we invested and we grew our portfolio.
I have since retired. Now I stay home, and she goes out to pursue her career.
One of us is home to cook and do laundry, and to maintain the home-based endeavors; while the other is out in the 'work-force'. All while maintaining a low cost-of-living.
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