Font Resize
Five-year-old Megan Hartlaub enjoys trips to the zoo and spending days at the pool with her mom, Stephanie, and 1-year-old sister, Hope.
It's something she didn't get to do when she was in day care and her mom was working full time.
Ever since Stephanie and her husband, Adam, both 25, decided they could afford for her to be a stay-at-home mom, the girls have been spending a lot of time together.
"We built a little snowman one time," Megan said excitedly as she bounced up and down in the family's kitchen.
The economy might be in a downturn, but the Spring Grove family is able to make ends meet on Adam's income.
He works in the Glatfelter factory doing additive and stock-preparation work.
"Where I work helps," Adam said.
"But we still have to be conscious," Stephanie said. "He makes good money, but we still have to watch."
It was challenging at first. She was used to walking around different stores during her lunch breaks at work and occasionally picking up a new shirt or a pair of shoes if she found something she liked.
Now, on the rare occasions she shops at the mall, she asks herself, "Do I really need this?"
Coupons and store brands are two of her biggest lifelines.
She clips coupons from the Sunday circulars, prints from the Internet and exchanges with family members and neighbors.
Her clippings save her about $10 on her grocery store bill, she said.
That's money she can use to take her daughters for ice cream.
"Buying store-brand stuff cut the cost $40 to $50, (in a week)" she said.
Cutting costs at the grocery store saves her money to pay the monthly bills. Their mortgage payment is around $1,000. DirecTV is about $78. Phone and Internet is about $45. Cell phones are about $100.
Stephanie was eight months pregnant with Hope when she left her job as a receptionist at an insurance agency and started staying home
About a month or two before the switch, she started saving phone bills, car payments and grocery and gas receipts to calculate what the family spent in a week or a month.
Stephanie doesn't have the family's budget written out, but she has a firm idea of what they spend on a regular basis, and they always put money into savings for unplanned expenses.
Gas prices have made them even more cautious about their driving habits.
Adam drives a $900 Ford Escort he found on Craigslist, which gets about 30 miles to the gallon, to work and the gym. He also has a Ford Expedition that he drives very rarely.
Stephanie drives a Ford Explorer.
It's a gas guzzler, but it's bigger to keep her daughters safe, and has four-wheel
By driving slower, easing out at traffic lights instead of gunning the engine, keeping her RPMs under 2,000 and organizing her trips so she only drives once a day, she's able to make a tank of gas last more than two weeks.
In a month, the family only spends about $200 filling up the three cars.
To keep in-home energy costs low, she invested in drapery that keeps the heat in during the winter months and helps block out the strong sunlight during the summertime.
Going from a full-time job to staying at home was hard for Stephanie at first.
"I'd been working since I was 16," she said. "It's not something I ever thought I'd do."
Some of the moments she missed with her first daughter, she won't
She missed seeing Megan's first steps because she was at work. Hope is starting to walk now, and she's home to see it.
Plus, keeping the girls out of day care has cut down on medical bills. Megan used to have to go to the doctor often because she'd catch colds from other kids, but this past winter Stephanie said the girls were only sick once or twice.
When both girls are school-age, Stephanie might consider going back to work.
"Part time," she said. "Not full time. I want to be involved with them in school and be able to go on field trips."
jmilcetich@ydr.com; 771-2029
STEPHANIE'S MONEY-SAVING TIPS
Stephanie Hartlaub didn't know if staying home was an option financially for her family, but when she and her husband starting crunching the numbers, they realized with some smart savings they could make it work.
Here are some of Stephanie's tips on how to cut back:
--- Wash most of your laundry on cold instead of warm. It'll help to keep your gas bill down because the water needs energy to be heated.
--- To keep energy bills down, set the central air temperature around 78 degrees and close most of the blinds during the day. To save even more, buy black-out curtains to place behind your existing drapes to help keep the heat and cold out.
--- To save money on digital pictures, wait two to three days to get them developed. It's cheaper than printing them right out of the machine or getting them in an hour. You'll save about 10 cents per picture.
--- To have more money left over every month, eliminate debt by making payments more than the lowest required amount due. Only charge small amounts and pay off the bill when it comes.
--- Check sale circulars for what's on sale at the grocery store. To really save, buy an item that's on sale and use a coupon. Savings really add up when the item is buy one get one free.
--- Don't buy prepackaged meals like the boxed ones from Betty Crocker or Banquet. They can cost you around $6 and only give your family one meal. Value packs of chicken are about $2 more than a boxed meal but you can break them into smaller packages to make up numerous meals, not to mention that chicken's healthy and fills you up.
--- Use credit cards minimally and make sure to pay off the entire bill each month.
EXPERT ADVICE
Going from two incomes down to one has serious financial implications and should be well thought out and planned for by the entire family.
Financial experts say there are a few things every family needs to consider before making that decision.
Jennifer Stoner, a financial adviser for Smith Barney in York, and Carolyn Schaefer, the managing director of personal services at York Traditions Bank in York Township, offered some tips on what families need to consider before making this decision.
--- Look at the money coming in from both incomes and the money going out to pay bills and other expenses.
--- Compare that to the money coming in with one income.
--- Think about any debt you might have in order to see if there are ways to restructure your payments.
--- Determine what kind of financial sacrifices you would be willing to make.
--- Avoid borrowing against any retirement savings to finance your current situation.
--- Figure out which of your expenses are necessities and which are luxuries.
--- Draw up a budget.
--- Consider meeting with a financial planner to discuss different options.
