Something New…

Remember last week when I asked for your input on a little project I was thinking about? Well I got some great responses which encouraged me to take it to the next level. Now Lovely Crafty Home won’t be going anywhere, but I thought the focus of this new blog deserved its own platform.

The catalyst for this project was a conversation I had with my mom while she was here visiting. You guys know I post about certain money saving things on LCH already (like homemade laundry detergent and bread making), but over breakfast one morning we got on the topic of homemaking/staying at home with kids, and it sort of involved into a whole campaign. A campaign for choice.

The idea came to me as a sort of spin-off from that extreme couponing show. I heard one of the women claim that she brought in over $30,000 that year by using coupons. I loved that she recognized her couponing as a significant financial contribution to the household. That was the first time I’d ever really thought of it that way, and I began to think of all the other ways that homemaking could do the same.

I’m already in the camp that considers homemaking/kid raising a job. But what if we could put a dollar amount on it? If you could add $30-40,000 a year to your family’s bank account by staying home and changing some habits, wouldn’t it be worth considering?

I’m not passing judgement on daycare or women with careers, I’m only talking about having a choice in the matter. Sometimes we feel trapped by having a career and also wanting to have children. I can’t tell you how many friends I have dealing with this issue. Many of them are professionals who make decent money and feel they have no choice but to continue working after kids. My mom calls this “The Middle Class Trap.” You both work, you buy a house and cars with combined income, then you’re stuck.

Everyone’s situation is different, but whether you’re on the fence about going back to work (6 weeks maternity is a joke!), you hate your job, you have more than one job, your husband has more than one job, or you’d just like to save money every year, I want to help you do that.  Why? Because that’s what I want for myself too!

I went to college and got an engineering degree. This affords me the opportunity to work and make very decent income, which I did for 4 years before getting laid off in 2008. Let me tell you, the worse thing about getting laid off is the ego blow. It is very hard to not take it personally. I was destroyed about it for a long time. I tried to get a new job, but we don’t live in a very big manufacturing city and jobs were already scarce. The market here is saturated with out of work engineers. We tried to move and sell our house, but that didn’t pan out. I thought I could fix a few things here and there in the house to make it sell. It turned out to be a lot of fun and people were curious about how I was doing what I was doing, so I started a blog.  Before blogging, I was guilt ridden about not working. Even though we were not in dire financial stress like a lot of Americans out there (something I am continually grateful for), it was hard for me to answer that question “So, what do you do?” I would love to be able to say I’m a blogger and homemaker without feeling somehow “less” than my old self. Rachael, version 2.0 is still not quite comfortable with the idea of having an alternative “job” and taking care of my household. I mean I don’t even have children, and what self-respecting 29 year old woman stays home? This is how I feel most of the time. And I know some of you out there feel the same way.

Smart Mrs. Evans is devoted to getting back to basics in the home. It’s about learning to cook real healthy food, switch to homemade versions of convenience items, manage a household, and most importantly: monetizing these activities.

So without further ado, I introduce you to…

{http://www.smartmrsevans.com}

It’s VERY new and will be changing almost daily I’m sure. I couldn’t wait to share and get some feedback from you guys. My plan is to take submissions for money saving ideas and post them in a way that breaks down the cost savings. If you know of any websites on the same topic or if you have any ideas yourself, please pass them along: smartmrsevans@gmail.com.