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Family Values: Net Worth and Self-worth

The struggle between your desire to be physically and emotionally available to your family and the need for financial survival can be a long and difficult battle for most of us. If you decide to stay at home, then you will probably need to reduce household expenses and/or figure out a way to generate income from home.

Reducing household expenses may include things such as eliminating car payments by selling your expensive vehicle and buying something older for cash. If you have two vehicles, then it may be necessary to down-size to a single vehicle to save on road taxes and insurance. You may have to change your eating and shopping habits to accommodate a smaller income. The adjustments to your finances need to be carefully managed if you want to stay at home.

You will most likely need to have some money of your own regardless of how much money your partner earns because you will need to feel like you are contributing to household expenses in some consistent way and you will need to have something of your own that you have earned. You need to be mentally tough to stay at home because there will be times that you feel frustrated when money is tight and you want to do something or you want your child to have something that's just not in the budget. You may feel as if your contribution to the home is unappreciated and under-valued. These are the reasons that you need something of your own to engage your talents and imagination and to bolster your sense of worth.

If your desire to stay home full-time is strong enough, then you can find a way to make it happen without losing your self-identity and respect. You could run a business at home such as childcare services , either during the day or as a part-time service before and after school. You could even offer childcare during school holidays only.

You could offer private tutoring at home, and this can be on an instrument (guitar/piano...) or any subject. It's easy enough to find potential students by placing a long-term, inexpensive advert in a local town or school newspaper and/or signing up with a referral agency. Whatever type of service you offer, you should always promote your website which clearly explains what type of services you have available and have a message machine or voice-mail.

Perhaps you don't want to offer any type of service in your home, then you could still be a tutor online. You can start by contacting a company such as tutors.com and find out how to get involved.

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