Hi guys! I'm new to the site. I'm expecting my first child in February. I'm trying to figure out if I can be a stay at home/ mostly stay at home single mom.
I don't have a lot of money. I'm a massage therapist, so I make my own hours. And I don't need to work forty hours in a week to make ends meet. I just have to make sure that I keep booking clients.
I live at home right now, but my parents want me to get a "real" job and put my son in daycare. They want me to move out.
I went to school for massage therapy. To me, this IS my real job. And soon my job will be to raise a healthy, happy little boy. I'm conflicted. I don't want to put him in daycare. It's expensive, and I'd much rather be his caretaker during the day. But I think my parents will see me as a bad mother if I don't go out and get a full time job.
I feel like my baby needs me most when he's very small, and as he gets bigger, I can go back to work more.
So I guess my question is how do I do this? And how do I do this if I have to move out of the house?

WOW!
I do not have an answer for you. All I can say is that you should not let someon else dictate to you how to raise your child. Your at home with those that want to dictate so that makes it a bit hard.
If you are able to make enough money as a massage therapist to get a place on your own and live then there should not be a problem.
Do you plan on getting any support from the father?

I don't actually make enough money as a massage therapist to live alone with the baby, and still be able to stay with him most of the time. My main problem is my car. I have high payments and high insurance. My credit is poor, so my interest rate is high. The car has depreciated in value since I bought it. I'd still owe if I sold it. Also, I need a good reliable car to get to work.
The father is giving me support money. Actually, he's being very good about it. But he doesn't make a lot either, so it really wouldn't be enough to cover car and rent combined with my salary.
I just don't want to leave my son for ten hours a day while he is an infant. It doesn't seem right to me.

I am so sorry for your situation. I wish your parents would be more willing to help you out.

I wish they were, too. But since they are not, I'm going to have to find another way to raise my son my way, and not be dependent on them. Where there is a will there is a way. I'm determined.
I was reading about single parents who live off of school loans and grants while completing their education and still being hom with the kids a lot. Does anyone know more about that?

I thought I posted something but I can't see it anywhere, I don't know where it went, any ways, I work out of the house and I'm doing ok, I think is the best I can do for my daughter so I can only suggest you to try to do the same, that way you'll be in control of a lot of things, and this is really important when you are a single parent

Adrian

What kind of work do you do? I'm sure I could see clients in my house...if I had a house. Ha ha. But if there were a way to work from home, I'd definetly do it. Any suggestions?

Well, I'm in the transportation business, I used to be a truck driver, had a couple of customers and use brokers for the rest of the work, I had two trucks, now I have only one and I hired a few what we call owner operators, they own the truck but I give them the work and make a commission on it. I also got my brokers license so I can post loads on the trucking boards too. my parents made good money selling furniture out of their garage for a while, the open a furniture store, bought the building and 10 years later retired with a very nice rent on the property, some people run travel agencies, Claims collectors, sell insurance.
There are a few magazines about home businesses ( www.homebusinessmag.com and www.entrepreneur.com) check them out, but I notice they have a lot of home based businesses that looks like the only one making money is the guy selling the study course or the program.
Adrian

Yes those are two great sites...I have used them myself...

perhaps you can take in more clients by getting work where they already have clients...in order to get enough money to pay bills...unfortunately being a stay at home mom and making a full time income, i don't know anyone who has done it, unless they run a full time business from their home, which would still require someone in the home to help you out with the kids....So I think it is a decision you will have to make...Obviously your parents are not giving you much choice...unless you can make a deal with them and you go to work for so many months to save money to put a downpayment on a home, and in that home maybe you can rent part of it out to help out with the mortgage payments so you can continue to work part-time.