Article

Your maternity leave is quickly coming to an end and its time to ask
yourself "can I afford to go back to work?" Yes, I mean work, can
you afford to go back to work? At this point you must think I'm
crazy, work gives you a paycheque, staying home gives you
nothing dollar wise. A wise person once said, its not what you
make but what you spend that counts. Lets look at the cost of
going back to work.

Most women when making this decision look at the paycheque net
taxes and think, yes that's worth going back to work. They forget
to subtract the cost of working, things like:

Daycare, this will take 1/2 your paycheque in most cases
Gas back n forth to work and at today's prices that is a huge chunk
Public transit to work and back, those tickets add up
Lunches out because lets face it you'll be too tired to make lunch every day
Dinners out and take out because you'll be too tired to make dinner every night
Wardrobe, nylons and accessories because you can't go to work in PJs
Fundraisers because everyone with a kid wants you to buy something
Convenience groceries because you won't have time to bake cookies

You may have more expenses depending on your job and where
you live. After you have subtracted all these expenses ask yourself
"can I afford to go back to work?" Is it really worth it to be away
from your child in their development years? For some the answer
will be yes, some women make a lot of money and financially it still
makes sense for the family. For some they will have no choice as
they are the only parent and the family won't eat if she doesn't
work. For the majority though whats left over after all the expenses
isn't much.

Every mother has to make this choice, for some it's an easier
decision than for others. Take a moment to journal the costs, your
thoughts and your emotions, weighing all the pros and cons. After
a week or so go back over all the data and you may find the
decision to be a lot easier than you thought it was. Whatever you
decide will be the best decision for you and no matter what anyone
else says, you will know your reasons for either working or staying
home were the right ones.