Not Working While Husband is in Med School

DukesMom

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Hey! I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to NOT work while your husband is in med school. Currently, my husband is a software engineer and I am returning to school to pursue my grad degree in teaching in a few weeks. Our plan is to try to conceive during my first year of teaching (Fall 2009) with the idea that I will be a SAHM to our child/children. This is VERY important to both of us, as I have worked as both a childcare provider in a corporate childcare AND as a nanny and have seen what it does to children (particularly infants) to not have a SAH parent, even if the caregiver (such as myself) is very educated, loving, and attentive. What is stressing me out is my husband's recent decision (it was joint!) to become a physician and enter med school in a few years after taking his last pre-reqs, the MCAT and applying. I DO not want to have to work and put my kids in daycare or with a nanny UNLESS we get into OHSU and can be near my parents/sister/girlfriends, etc. I could possibly do an in-home daycare while he is in med-school (maybe for other physician's kiddos. Anyway, please let me know if anyone has heard of wives being SAHM while their husband is in med-school. Thanks so much!

Dukesmom

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It really depends on living expenses and how much you will spend. Would it be possible? Sure anything is possible, but there are alot of added costs. Vehicles, rent/housing, health insurance, utilities, etc. The less you cut down on your costs, the easier it is to live off of a med student budget. My husband and I lived off his med student budget (I took out minimum for tuition for my schooling and $2000 spending per semester). You could always find ways to make open your own childcare and offer to watch other children to make money, or work part-time. But living off of a med-student budget will get expensive (with private loans). You can do it but its never suggested. It all depends on planning. If you pay everything off ahead of time I could see it work if your thrify.
 
Dukes,

It is absolutely possible. My wife stays home with our three kids and one of my classmates has a wife who stays home with their daughter. We are in the south and COL is low. We take out the Fed. max. No private loans. we figured what my wife would make and with what childcare costs it wasn't worthwhile for her to work. We have always had a parent at home with our kids because that was important to us. We were fairly well off when I was working in engineering. we scraped through when she was working in customer service. Regardless, it is amazing how cheap you can live if you drive old paid for cars, do the maintenance yourself, shop for food at discount stores. Cook from scratch, not pre made or processed food. Kids share a bedroom. walking to school. We are blessed to have a house on scholarship from a neighborhood church the reduced rent allows us to reduce loans and save for a 2nd car for me to use during 3rd yr clerkships. My wife has done some freelance work for her former employer that allows us to take trips during school breaks. I got a PT job as a AV asst. that paid $2K/yr to attend class and help the prof. with technical problems.

To sum it up decide what is important to you i.e stay home with the kids, and figure out how to do it. I would recommend living near helpful relatives and friends if at all possible. Things won't work out exactly the way you plan but they do work out if you have plans to fall back on. Good Luck and God Bless
 
Hey! I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to NOT work while your husband is in med school. Currently, my husband is a software engineer and I am returning to school to pursue my grad degree in teaching in a few weeks.

I hope it's possible, because I'm getting ready to start med school and my wife will be staying home with the kids!

If your husband is a software engineer [boy, it seems like there are a lot of us out there going from CS to med school], hopefully you've got enough income now that you're saving some for school. Keep doing that, and see if you can do more. The more money you put away while he's working, the longer you'll be able to stay home or the less you'll have to take out in loans.

Are you in education already? If you get a master's, work just one year, and then don't work for a few years, do you know what you'll need to do to get/keep certification? Regardless of your husband's plans, try to figure out that part of your path before going back to school so you don't end up making extra work for yourself.

Good luck!
 
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