While that seems cheap to me it’s really not when you think about how much stuff cost back then and what people made for a living. Were the good old days really so good? My grandmother got $2.00 a week for caring for a child in her home. She has about 14 of them! And that was per family! Even if they had three kids she still charged $2.00.

How times have changed!

Certainly the comments about higher cost of living and higher expectations for standard of living play are very accurate.

In my experience it’s very doable. I suppose we do make sacrifices in order for me to stay home, but I certainly don’t feel that we go without. Do we have everything want? No. But we have everything we need and then some.

Have a partner to stay at home to do child care, cook, clean, garden, etc
Yard sale, hand-me-down toys and clothes
No eating out
No new car
No fancy electronics and no cable TV
Vacations would mean car camping, no flying or hotels
Can only afford one kid, two would be stretching it
Kid could only participate in cheap sports

Aside from the one kid thing, this is how I was raised. And I would only be able to (barely) afford this because I make good money. Average money would not cut it.

People today think multiple TVs, high speed internet, cable TV, SUVs, destination vacations, cell phones (even for kids!), and fancy electronic toys and games are part of a basic standard of living. They’re not! I think having a computer is important because in today’s world kids need to grow up knowing how to use them, but they don’t have to be the latest model. Mine is six years old and works great. Mostly the need for two incomes is related to increased lifestyle expectations.

That said, housing costs are a huge issue where I live. The parents of a friend live a couple blocks from me and paid $18,000 for their house in the 60s. At the time it was twice her dad’s annual salary. In the late 70s my parents bought their house in the same city for four times my dad’s annual salary. Two years ago I bought my house (which is a lot smaller than my parent’s house and somewhat smaller that my friend’s childhood home) for almost six times my annual salary. My friend’s dad, my dad and I are all in the same salary bracket for our times so it is a good comparison. I could have one kid, my parents had three and my friend was one of nine.

We tried being a one-income family when we had our first kid, but it didn’t take(due to boredom and money issues). Now we’re trying it again (this time with two kids) after I’ve been laid off and am going back to school.

After a year, it’s not so bad. But I think we’re making due knowing it will be temporary.

So I guess I think it can be done. But it takes a lot of work.

@ Dawn – You know, that’s a very good point. I didn’t really give it much thought per se, because in my neighborhood growing up, we played in everyone else’s backyard. My next door neighbor was a good buddy and we even had the tin can telephones…amazingly that worked!

@ Kosmo – Easy credit is another factor. It certainly has driven the way we choose to spend our money.

@ BM – Looking at the issue from the perspective of the school districts is a good point. I don’t have kids, so I don’t really give much thought to that. At this point, I can afford to go where’s it’s cheaper.

@ Angie – Thank you for sharing! I know it can be done with one income these days, but I guess I’m really wondering what’s the threshold where it stops being possible. If the average family makes $32k, can they comfortably go with that one income? What about $27k? Is that too low? In your experience, do you think such a threshold exists?

@ Patrick – I think if I ever decide to have kids, I’ll go the route you and your wife chose. I think it makes sense to cover your bases. Not everyone is lucky enough to do that; however, I think it’s important to at least try. And thank you for your kind words about the article. It was derived from your article, so I must give the credit to you! ;)

@ Christine – I’m also trying to downsize my life, so I understand the challenge you face! Best of luck to you and I’m glad you found this article helpful.

Plus, back then you weren’t overloaded with stores/shopping and internet shopping. You had Gimmel’s, Woolworths, or Sears. And your food selections were not overloaded with convenience food. Women cooked back then to make mostly everything you needed from scratch. There is a great article about the past, here.

Well, I am in a transition currently seeking to downsize my family to a one income household. I would like to have the opportunity to downsize so that I may become an entreprenuer and/or my husband can retire. I am rather happy about this challenge. So, this post was a good one for the interests I am now pursuing. ;)