Can You Make Ends Meet on a Single Income?


My wife and I made a conscious decision roughly 20 years ago to live on a single income. At the time, we just had our first child and we didn’t feel right leaving her at day care all day long. Also, my wife really wanted to be home with our daughter. At that time, my wife and I were making roughly the same salary. So, in effect, we basically took a 50% pay cut by having her stay at home and live off of one income. Eventually we went through all of our savings. In time, due to increases in my salary, we were able to stabilize and start saving money for the future – but this took many years.

We ended up having another child four years later. Currently one is in college and the other is in high school. Granted, we live frugally and don’t splurge on expensive vacations, electronic gadgets, or a fancy house. My wife also cooks each night which saves us on restaurant bills. With the advent of college bills and a stabilizing of my salary, there tends to be a whole lot of month at the end of the paycheck. It seems that even though the economy is still in a funk, prices are still going up…but not commensurate with my compensation.

I went in for a financial consultation the other day and it wasn’t pretty. The suggestion by the financial advisor was to try to supplement my income. So I have been doing just that in the form of freelance writing. I am also trying to think of other ways to bring in some more money to pay the bills and to put away more for our future.

Are you feeling the same pinch that I am feeling? Can you make ends meet on just one salary? Are you looking for ways to supplement your income or have you already done so?


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I am a fellow cubicle dweller and have been working as a software professional for over 20 years. I have a passion site devoted to enhancing your Workspace and Cubicle Accessories. The site is called WorkspaceBliss.com. It used to be called CubicleBliss.com but I wanted to expand my reach to anyone wanting to enhance their own workspace!

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