| I discovered that there were jobs where I could | | | | I made Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, Christmas |
| take my children with me; I could have a small | | | | ornaments and Halloween costumes. |
| in-home business to work around my parenting | | | | I sewed and did my own home decorations, |
| timetable and/or I could save on costs in order to | | | | recovering our sofa and chair, making curtains, |
| have more useable income. Over the time my five | | | | drapes, bedspreads and decorative pillows. |
| children were pre-schoolers, I employed all of these | | | | I used coupons and watched for specials and |
| methods. It also helped considerably that my husband | | | | sales. |
| worked steadily and made decent money. | | | | Baking was done from 'scratch'. |
| I began by considering the talents I had but especially | | | | Vacations were simple family camping trips and |
| what could be worked around my children's | | | | occasionally included a special trip such as Disneyland. |
| schedules, their ages and even their individual | | | | Swapping outgrown children's clothes with |
| personalities. I realized there were several things I | | | | friends. |
| could do to earn extra money and which didn't | | | | Taking turns babysitting. |
| disrupt time with my children. | | | | Serving basic wholesome food rather than more |
| Doing housecleaning and laundry for seniors while | | | | expensive gourmet foods or fancy sugary |
| taking my children with me. (This worked when I had | | | | concoctions like some of the cereals offered. |
| only one and two children. Thankfully, they were well | | | | Purchasing from the day-old bins. In this way |
| behaved and by taking toys for them to play with, | | | | food costs were reduced considerably. |
| and letting them 'help', the situation worked quite well. | | | | Reused and recycled. |
| It did not work as well when I had three children.) | | | | We made up games and friends and family were |
| Daycare, looking after two, and sometimes | | | | a large part of our social life. |
| three, extra children. (This worked well until my fifth | | | | There are many ways to be financially creative. |
| child came along.) | | | | Saving and being economical became something our |
| A small in-home business begun when my fifth | | | | whole family participated in especially as the children |
| child was about one year old. (Here I went back to | | | | grew old enough to understand the value of money. |
| considering my talents) I had earlier purchased a small | | | | Children don't need to have the latest toys |
| kiln and used it as a hobby. After taking some | | | | advertised on T.V. and they can be taught to be |
| courses, I began to give instruction in ceramics after | | | | creative in their play. I found that probably one of |
| my children had been tucked into bed. I was able to | | | | the most important things when trying to save is not |
| have classes three evenings a week and eventually | | | | being tempted into spending money on something |
| expanded the classes to 36 students a week, until | | | | that wasn't absolutely necessary. |
| my fifth child began school. | | | | Many people emphatically declare that it takes two |
| To contribute also to the amount earned, I cut costs | | | | people to work nowadays in order to raise a family. I |
| where I could and saved in areas where I could do | | | | disagree that this is an absolute necessity. In my |
| things myself: | | | | opinion, it depends how badly you want to raise your |
| I made many of the children's clothes when they | | | | own children versus having nice furniture, a new |
| were small as well as many of my own. I was also | | | | house to show off, new cars in the driveway, trendy |
| happy with hand-me-downs and shopped at discount | | | | clothes and everything else that goes along with this |
| outlets. | | | | lifestyle. (There are many single moms, and dads, |
| I cut the children's hair myself, as well as my | | | | raising children alone on one income so the argument |
| own. True, I was not a fashion leader but that wasn't | | | | of 'it takes the income of two parents working to |
| what my aim was at that time. | | | | raise a family' is not particularly valid. |