How to Pay Off Your Student Loans as a Stay at Home Parent

It is true creative jewish mom is a blog about creativity and life in Israel, but some of the other aspects of life can often take us away from the creative endeavors or meaningful relationships we ought to pursue. I am all about sharing tips to reduce stress, especially at a time like this, and combine that with encouraging parents to nurture their children, I’m here to spread that message as well. Carrying debt is certainly on of those “aspects” that can weigh a person down, so lets take a look at a few options one can pursue in order to spend more time adding joy to your life! One of the worst aspects of carrying debt is that it can limit your options as an individual and as a family. Even some “good” debt, such as a mortgage or student loans, can make you feel like it is too risky to give up a second income for example, and take the leap into becoming a stay at home parent. However, if you sit down and look at the numbers as well as taking some steps to change your financial situation, one parent just might be able to stay home with the kids full-time. And that would be amazing, even if for just a few years! While I don’t know if there are any conclusive studies, children raised with a stay at home parent who is raising them with love and attention and intent are more stable and more able to have their own healthy relationships. How we nurture our children affects their lives immensely and the lives of their children as well. So when you think about the sacrifices you may have to make in order to become a stay at home parent, think of all the generations to come that will benefit!

Here’s a short list of some things to consider:

Compare Costs
You might feel like you need to keep working so you can make those monthly payments, but take a look at the cost of child care. Some parents find that when they add this in together with commute expenses, the costs of a professional wardrobe and other associated expenses, like extra child care after hours, they are not actually bringing home very much money at all. A stressful lifestyle also has a huge cost when it comes to health, as stress breads health problems, which can in turn be very costly, yikes!

Refinance Student Loans
You may be able to cut your monthly expenses significantly by refinancing your loan with a private lender. This could mean extending the terms for repayment or simply securing a lower interest rate. Either way, you will have more money left over each month. Even if you end up paying off your loans for a longer period of time than you would have otherwise, you may decide it’s worth it in order to achieve a rich and rewarding stay at home lifestyle with your kids.

Work from Home Opportunities
It’s important to be realistic about these, as there are a plenty “get rich from working at home” scams out there, and there is also a lot of misconception regarding how much work you can get done while at home with the kids, and working at home. When your children are under five, you may want to look for opportunities that allow you to work in short bursts or that you can set aside for a while if necessary. As your children get older and more independent, you’ll be able to take on more traditional work opportunities if that appeals to you. However, even if you are not able to work as much as you would prefer when your child is young, you may be able to make enough to cover the cost of loan payments. Keep in mind as well, that with more time focused on home there are many ways to live a budget friendly life! Start your own garden, buy food in bulk, prepare more homemade from scratch meals, keep an eye out for sales on items you use regularly and even consider selling your children’s gently used clothing and toys at a yard sale or online. And once you form a community with other stay at home parents, rather than invest in costly after school activities and clubs, why not form your own network of workshops and activities for kids, with each parent teaching a skill like music, art, craft, electronics, carpentry, gardening etc. You can also trade babysitting services and help each other out when it comes to leading a budget conscious lifestyle.

Reduce Your Expenses
Figures that show the cost of raising a child over a span of 18 years leaves out two important caveats: babies really don’t need much, and many of those costs are optional. Yes, your child needs to be fed, clothed and housed, but everything doesn’t need to be purchased brand new. Furthermore, those costs are often part of a time trade off for working parents. As a stay at home parent, you may have more of an opportunity to explore and take advantage of lower-cost options. For example, when you aren’t rushing between work and home, you’ll have more time to prepare meals instead of grabbing takeout. Keep an eye out for retailers and manufacturers offering freebies to new parents.

Your values and how you choose to raise your children, together with the family traditions you create all have an impact on your budget, and can either help or hinder your desire to be a stay at home parent. Start a family tradition of focusing on quality time together for birthdays and holidays rather than giving expensive gifts, and plan really fun family holidays that are car trips or camping trips with lots of adventure, rather than opting for expensive hotels and airfare. Most importantly of all, don’t look at what others are doing, keep your eyes on your own family’s goals, and explain to your children that the most important thing in life is love, which lasts forever, whereas the flashy stuff the neighbor kid has is meaningless.

Wishing you all the very best as you travel down the road of parent hood, and pat yourself on the back for reading this article in the first place!