Many moms would like to be a stay at home mom, but they don't think that they can afford to.  However, if staying at home is your dream, it's worth it to sit down with your family finances and looking at exactly what you have coming in and going out before you make a final decision that staying home isn't financially feasible. 

If being a stay at home mom is your dream, use this quick guide as a checklist to figure out if there is some way you can create a budget that will allow you to be home with your children. 

Looking at your Budget

The first step is to really look at your budget. If you don't have your budget on paper, this is the time to write it down.Write down everything that you spend on a monthly basis - housing, cars, insurance, utilities, taxes, insurance, food, gas, childcare, etc.  

Create another section for income. 

If you remove your income from the equation, do you have a shortfall? If so, don't decide right away that you can't stay home, there are lots of things that you can subtract if you become a stay at home mom. 

Adjust Monthly Budget

It's now time to adjust your budget based on what it would really look like if you were not working.  Deduct all costs associated with you getting back and forth to work, childcare, and any other expenses that would be reduced by your staying home.  For example, do you currently spend $50 a week eating out for lunch while you work? If so, deduct $200 a month from your budget, since you'll now be eating at home.  If you typically spend a few thousand dollars a year on clothing for work, you can likely reduce that expense by staying home as well.  

Take your new budget and check to see if you still have a shortfall.  If you find that you still can't afford to be a stay at home mom but you really want to be home, there are still some options that you can look at. 

Decide What You Can Live Without

If you still can't make it without your income, go back over your budget, looking very closely at each item. Are there areas where you can save some money to make it possible? For example, can you reduce your cable television package? Can you find cheaper car and house insurance rates? What are you currently spending on entertainment each month? Can  you make any reductions in those areas?  

Once you've cut extras from your budget, check again if staying home is affordable for you.  If you still can't afford to be a full-time stay at home mom, you still may not have to return to work full time if you don't want to. 

Investigate Ways to Make More Money

By now, you should have a good idea of what your shortfall would be if you decided to stay home with your chidlren.  If you get creative, there are actually lots of ways to make income while staying home. You can also choose to work very part-time.  For example, I was a waitress when I was younger, and I worked with a lot of stay at home moms who waitressed one or two nights a week for extra money to help their families meet the bills.  Something like this may work perfect for you.  

Also, keep your eyes open for work at home opportunities.  Stay at home moms can make money at home.  Here are some ideas to help you get started: 

~ Call center reps: There are a number of legitimate companies that hire people to answer phones from home. These calls can range to taking orders for Pizza Hut to taking pledges for PBS stations, and everything in between. 

~ Starting your own website or blog. You don't have to be an internet guru or a developer to make some decent money making your own content-based website or blogging. You just have to be willing to study and work a little.  These two options do take some time to build to a point where you will start to see income though.  

~ Freelance or Content Writing: There are lots of people making money online by writing for websites or web owners. There are opportunities to be paid a set fee up front and other opportunities in which you earn a portion of the revenue from your work.  These are great opportunities to make some extra money while staying at home. Again, it can take a little while to start to see decent earnings, probably not as long as a blog or website of your own, but it isn't immediate either.  

~ Other Freelance Work: There is a website that I am aware of called Elance, and it's a great place for stay at home moms to find legitimate work at home opportunities. You can find all kinds of potential freelance positions including virtual assitant, transription, writing, coding, and much more. 

If you really want to be a stay at home mom, chances are that you can find some way to make it work, or at least to cut the amount of hours that you'll have to work outside of your home.  

If staying home isn't an option right now, consider looking into ways to increase your income with work at home opportunities so that staying home may be an option in the future.