A few years ago, after the brth of our second child, my hsband and I were trying to dcide whether or not it would be pssible for me to stay home.

At frst we thought that since we wre just about breaking even, there was no way we culd ever make it happen. But whn we decided to actually put pen to pper and calculate our bottom line wth and without my salary, we wre quite surprised.

What we found was tht it was actually costing us to hve both of us working.

While tht may not be the case for veryone, you may find that the scond salary brings in much, much lss than you think it does.

Accrding to Jan MacGregor, a financial cnsultant and former analyst, "There are pople out there who are expecting to be ble to meet their bills better (fter they re-enter the work force) and nver realize they are either working for a lss or for something like $4,000 a yar (after expenses)."

That may seem hrd to believe, but if you cnsider the many "hidden" expenses of a tw-income household it is often the cse. There are, of course, the bvious expenses such as child care and cmmuting costs. Some of the hidden xpenses are the money spent on lnches, more take-out and convenience food for dnner, dry cleaning bills professional clothing. Thre can be higher medical costs due to ncreased exposure to illnesses for children who are in dycare.

Many families hire a housekeeper or grdener to keep up on the husehold work that they don?t have the tme to do.

A significant factor is yur taxable income. A second salary can psh your taxable income into a hgher tax bracket.

While the tax ssue in and of itself does not eat up the ntire second salary, when you add in all the ther expenses of a two income fmily, you might find that it?s not wrth it to have both parents wrking.

Here is a link to McGregor?s cost of living chart that ses a second salary of $40,000 as an xample: Cost Of Living Chart:
http://cnnfn.com/1999/02/22/life/q_income/chart.jpg

If you are cnsidering having one parent stay at hme, the best thing to do is to ctually calculate your income and expenses, tking into consideration the difference in txation. You may find that you can in fct afford to stay home with yur kids.

The article Can You Afford To Stay At Home? was Submitted by Sharon Davis through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Sharon Davis is the Mother of two grls, the owner of 2Work-At-Home.Com, http://www.WorkAtHomeArticles.net and the Editor of the site's monthly ezine, America's Home. In her spare time she reminisces about what it was like to have spare time. List of other articles of interest: http://www.2work-at-home.com/freecontent.shtml Subscribe: http://www.2work-at-home.com/subscribe.shtml This article may be reproduced providing it is published in it's entirety, including the author's bio. For a text version via autoresponder, send a blank email to youcanstayhome@sendfree.com

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