How feasible would it be for a family of 4 to live off of one income while the other parent?!
Answers: homesteads....garden (freeze, can) chickens(eggs and meat) one goat to milk
It is feasible. Check out a web site www.newdream.org for some ideas and tips.
It sounds like you are wanting to be almost totally self sufficient. We are not self sufficient, but we limit what we buy and buy items that are environmentally responsible. We concern ourselves with quality, not quantity.
I myself work 40 + hours/week (can't say I like my job though) and my wife stays home with our 2 kids (4 and 8 years old). We (actually my wife) has home schooled in the past here in Wisconsin and enjoyed it, we moved recently so had to enroll kids in "regular" school this year. Check out www.wivcs.org for homeschool info. in Wisconsin. Try searching for charter schools or home school in your state if home schooling interests you.
Here is a "list" of how we keep money spent at a minimum:
No cable/dish for TV, this keeps the kids from turning into TV zombies and saves at least $50.00/month.
I take the bus or ride my bike to work.
I pack a lunch, don't buy lunch.
Where I live we can use the high school gym, don't have to pay for a gym membership.
A public library, if it's decent will have an abundance of kid's books, movies, sometimes toys, and books on tape. You can check all the above out, then turn it back in and you don't have the clutter of "stuff" in your house when the kids loose interest.
We don't have the latest and greatest, we don't need it. No Xbox, no iPhone (I do have a Trac phone), no iPod, no huge entertainment system. We do have one TV, DVD player, VCR and radio/cd player.
We currently have a 2004 Chrysler minivan we purchased used for $9,000 and typically keep our car 10 years or more. I do my own oil/filter changes and eaily done maintenance items like air filter, spark plugs and wires.
I can rant and rave for quite a while on our nations consumption of resources. It's time we start to live simply so others can simply live.
kind of hard to understand??? and answer?
how much income????
how many chickens????
id say get the job but dont spend any money from the second job, after a month or two ask if you'd be comfortable living like this.
if so you can always quit. if not, well your not up s**t creek.
If your children are old enough, I'd ask them thier opinion... They will have to become involved in this lifestyle...Also there will be things thier friends have that their parents can't afford to give to them. But having money and material things shouldn't be as important in your life as we all have let it become. I think this could be a good life but it will be hard work and the weather could wipe you out on the gardening etc. It should be everyones decision and not just one person's "dream"... Good luck
Well, as long as you save the money that you would have spent on car and mortgage payments for emergencies (car repair, etc) and the working parent has health care coverage, it seems very doable and worthwhile.