The Cavewife’s Perspective

The following is a guest post written by my wife, The Cavewife. I hope to convince her to become a regular contributor, since everything we do financially is guided by our joint efforts. Hers is a unique perspective that I would love to bring to you regularly.

I hope you enjoy reading my husband’s stories. He asked me to share my perspective on life today.

I’m a 27 year old stay-at-home mom to a cute little girl. Previously, I worked as an accounting clerk, but now I run the house and serve as bookkeeper for my husband’s business.

My story begins in high school. I worked a part-time job from the age of 16 until I graduated. I worked hard and earned good grades and even received a partial scholarship to a private college. At the time, I needed to purchase a used vehicle because the car I drove broke down and I could not afford to pay for the large expenses. I was lucky – I saved a large amount from working to make my down payment for my first car in cash (much to the surprise of the salesman at the dealership). My parents helped me pay for the car insurance; however, I was stuck with how to pay for the rest of my education and car payments.

I worked through college to help pay for my remaining education and car debt. I began to wonder if I had time for a life between school and work. It was stressful, but my parents weren’t going to support me, since they didn’t even want me to go to college. In their culture, girls are treated differently than boys. My older brother was able to attend a university without a problem from my parents and they supported him.

At the end of my junior year of college, I realized that working so much had taken a toll on me. I had to concentrate on my studies, so that I could graduate. I quit my job and I applied for student loans. I ended up graduating that year with a BA in Accounting and a year of student loan debt, which could have been worse.

After graduating, I had problems getting into the work world. I had a degree but my limited accounting experience hurt me. We knew we had some time before the student loan debt would be due, so I sent out many resumes to various accounting firms and large corporations but my only opportunity was as a teller position at a credit union. I worked there for a year and explored internal accounting opportunities, but it just wasn’t worth it. I finally got hired at a large company as an accounting clerk. The position was great at first, but after a while it was dragging me down. I applied for a staff accountant position there but was told that I did not have enough experience for that position. I continued to find ways to improve my skills by training in different accounting areas, but soon my life took another path.

In April 2006, we found out that I was pregnant. It was a bit of a surprise since we had just placed our starter home on the market and were looking for a family home. We ended up finding a larger home and then were left to ponder about what we were going to do in the upcoming months. Daycare costs were just outrageous. My drive out to work was costly since I had to fill up every few days. I always dreamed about being a stay-at-home mom, but we didn’t know if we could afford it. We finally decided that it would be best for me to stay home since we couldn’t trust anyone else taking care of our child. I quit my job in February last year and now I spend my days at home with our little girl and managing our house. It is not a paying job, but an important and fulfilling one.

Ed. Note: I’ve asked my wife to provide regular insights from her life as a stay-at-home mom trying to run a frugal household. I’ve done what I can for convincing her, but I bet some positive comments would definitely get her the rest of the way there! *hint, hint*