By creating an environment where people can’t spend, lockdowns are forcing families to rethink their finances and their priorities. Those who aren’t out of a job are saving more, too. And with schools closed across the nation, parents are spending an inordinate amount of time with their children. Add it all up, and it just may lead to a complete paradigm shift, one in which parents realize that what they thought was necessary before the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t actually necessary.
For 30 years, the media have been there to tell us it’s impossible for one parent to stay home with their children, even though this flies in the face of cold-hard facts: The majority of married mothers with children under 18 are either not employed or are employed part time, and they are not wealthy. Moreover, 67% of mothers with children under 18 have gone on the record to say their “ideal” work situation is to work part time or not at all. Yet rather than discuss economical ways to make this happen, we tell them it can’t be done.
That is a lie. For most families, it absolutely can be done. But it does require a change in lifestyle — the very same one families are experiencing now thanks to stay-at-home orders. As Dave Ramsey noted on a recent podcast: “The vast majority of Americans don’t have needs. They just have wants.”
All too often, we get stuck in a rut and don’t realize there’s another way until we’re forced to do so. Perhaps not having had access to your hairstylist has made you realize you like your hair longer. Perhaps not being able to go to restaurants has caused you to realize you like to cook. Perhaps not going to work showed you just how much better life at home with your children can be. Perhaps not being able to go to work in your office made you realize you actually hate your job. That your pocketbook is thicker as a result of all this is simply a boon.
To be sure, learning to live on one income isn’t easy, and not every single family will be able to make it happen. But most will if they want it badly enough. There are almost always options, as everyone is now learning as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns. If you can’t get what you want, you make do with something else. If you need money, you start stockpiling like mad. If you can’t find what you want to eat, you create something from whatever is in the fridge. The list is endless.
But all too often, that list only grows when we’re forced to make it grow. That’s the thing about money: The more we have, the more we tend to spend. The amount of income one has doesn’t always translate to a better life, and it doesn’t automatically lead to wealth. Wealth isn’t what you earn, it’s what you accumulate. Anyone can accumulate wealth if they choose to. It doesn’t matter where you came from or what your salary may be. A firm budget and a willingness to live on less will almost always create wealth.
If you don’t believe me, believe Chris Hogan, author of Everyday Millionaires, who notes that the vast majority of millionaires are everyday folks. “Eight out of 10 millionaires come from families at or below the middle-class income level.” If teachers and cops can build wealth, surely parents can live on one income for a specified period of time. It’s not a matter of whether it can done; it’s a matter of whether or not one is willing to do it.
It’s time to put the bogus narrative that parents “must have two incomes to survive” in the trash heap, where it belongs. If you’re a parent who wants to stay home with the children but is constantly told you can’t, I have news for you: Those people are wrong.
COVID-19 shows it.
Suzanne Venker (@SuzanneVenker) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She’s the author of five books and a relationship coach, as well as host of The Suzanne Venker Show. Her website is www.suzannevenker.com.
