Would you send your children to
childcare for 45 hours per week so that you could work 40 hours per week to make a
measly $3.80 per hour? Of course not, you say. But how do you
know you aren't doing just that? I certainly never thought as a
professional social worker that I would be making only $3.80 per hour.
But that is exactly what I was doing.
When I worked as a social worker, I made about $28,000 per year. Not a great salary but, combined with my
husband's, was a decent income. So why was I always broke? Why did we have
a good income but couldn't afford to go on vacation? Worse, I
couldn't afford to take the full 12 weeks allotted for maternity leave
when my second child was born. The reason was that I had no clue how
much I spent to work outside the home.
Here is what I paid each year so that I could work: - $3,000 for Federal and State government income tax, Social Security payments and Medicare tax. - $6,000 for childcare - $2,400 extra for car payments, car insurance, and personal property tax for a newer car. - $1,700 for commuting 10 miles a day. - $1,000 for clothes, dry cleaning and other items and services related to my professional appearance. - $1,000 for lunches. - $2,600 for convenience foods and dining out because I was too tired to cook. - $2,400 for I-deserve-this-because-I-work-so-hard items and guilt treats (toys, special outings) for my kids.
Total cost of work: $20,100!
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I
spent $20,100 to work! That equaled an income of $7,900 per year,
$152 per week... a full $3.80 per hour!
How much do you pay to work
outside the home? Use the list below to calculate how much you pay to work.
Yearly Salary: Work-related Expenses (listed below): Federal
Taxes: State Taxes: Local Taxes: Social Security: Medicare Tax:
Child Care: Commuting (toll, parking, 2nd car): Gasoline and mileage:
Car insurance (extra car, nicer car): Clothing expenses (cleaning, new):
Gifts, special friends etc at work: Convenience food for meals: Eating
Out: Housekeeping help: Grooming needs (hair, nails etc): Guilt
items for kids and family: Extra cost related to lack of time to research
cheaper prices: Extra cost related to hiring help instead of making
repairs yourself: Total Expenses related to work:
Actual
contribution to family income (salary - total work expenses = family
contribution):
What did you discover? Is one-third, one-half or
more of your income going to pay expenses just so you can work? It can be
pretty depressing to learn you work hard but reap little reward for it.
However, if working outside the home is costing you a lot of money, working
at home may be the answer. But don't quit your job yet.
HOW MUCH
DO YOU NEED TO SURVIVE?
Before you quit your job, you need to
determine how much your family needs to survive. This requires making the
dreaded family budget but it's a necessary hassle if you are serious about
wanting to work at home.
Here are some items to include in your
budget:
Household: Mortgage/rent Homeowner association fees
Taxes (usually included in mortgage) Insurance (usually included in
mortgage) Electric Gas Water Sewer Telephone Maintenance
Other
Insurance: Life Medical Dental Eye Other
Automobile: Car payments Insurance Personal Property
Tax/registration fees Maintenance Gas
Loans or Debts:
Student loans Consumer debt (credit and store cards) Other obligations
such as taxes
Other Obligations: Child Support Alimony
Other Expenses: Clothes Food Grocery Dinner out Lunches
Medical Fun Stuff Cable Videos Excursions Magazine
subscriptions Vacations Hobbies/interests Grooming (hair cuts etc)
Dry Cleaning Gifts Cash Emergency Savings Other
Total
Expenses:
Now you can calculate how much money, if any, you would
need to earn from home if you quit your job. Take your Total Expenses and
subtract the amount of money that comes into your home without your income.
For example, if your monthly expenses are $2,500 and your spouse earns
$1,900, you would need to earn a net amount of $600 ($2,500 - $1,900 =
$600). Or would you? While $600 isn't that much to earn it isn't that much
to save either. Look over your budget again and see if there are areas
that you can save money. Can you survive with one car or a cheaper car? Can
you cut your grocery bill? Can you use the library to borrow books and
videos for free instead of paying for them? Once you stay home, you will
have more time to bargain shop for clothes, repair services, and other needs
cutting costs on those items.
When I did this exercise I sold my
$350.00 per month car and bought a $188.00 per month car that also saved me
on insurance and personal property tax. I cut my grocery bill by 20% and my
utility bill by 10%. I joined barter and swap clubs on the Internet for
books and other items. With my new budget makeover, I saved about $700 per
month.
After doing the exercises above I discovered I could work
outside the home 40 hours per week to take home less than half my salary or
I could work from home part-time, be with my kids, and earn about the same
amount of take home pay. It wasn't too hard of a decision to make.
By now you
should know how expensive it is for you to work outside the home. Perhaps
you were lucky and discovered that you pay more to work than to stay home.
But even if you found that you would still need to earn an income from home,
the amount should be significantly less than what you would have to earn
working outside the home. You can now begin to search for work that will
allow you to earn that amount from home.
About the Author:
Leslie Truex owns Work-At-Home Success, a free work-at-home resource
(http://www.workathomesuccess.com)
and is the author of Jobs At Home:
A Complete Guide to Finding or Creating a
Work-At-Home Job
