A Penny Saved is Two Pennies Earned

Last week I wrote about housewives working for pennies. This week I'm going to look at that topic from a slightly different angle. I recently read an interesting article by Jonathon at My Money Blog about taxes and how much you really earn while working as an employee, or even self-employed.

Now what do taxes have to do with being frugal? When you, as a housewife, save $1, you're really saving one dollar. But when you as a working wife make $1, you're only making $0.70- .90. And what about the costs of commuting, dressing finely for the office, lunches out, daycare, etc.? That further reduces your "earnings".

Now What?

If you, like me, quit your job to be a housewife or stay-at-home mom (more tax savings with kids!), you have the wonderful privilege of getting out of this spending-earning cycle.

The question becomes, as 'just' a housewife, how much can you save? Could you actually save more than you were making at work? This has been my little experiment since I got married in March, and I really believe it is feasible. There are many ways to save, especially when you aren't working a job and have some extra time on your hands. What about the following areas:

Food
Household supplies
Clothing
Gifts
Entertainment
Personal Care
Gasoline

I think there is a lot of room for savings there! Armed with a few (or many) skills, you could be spending pennies on the dollar for the above items AND no need to pay the 6% (Michigan) sales tax when you make things yourself. :)

*In certain situations (earning too little for the size of a family, for example) taxation can actually reverse itself and result in a tax credit instead of payment.