Would you send your children to childcare for 45 hours per week so that you could work 40 hours per week to make a measly $3.80 per hour? Of course not, you say. But that is exactly what I was doing and didn’t even know it.

When I worked outside the home as a social worker, I made about $28,000 per year. Not a great salary but, combined with my husband’s, was a decent income. So why was I always broke? The reason was that I had no clue how much I spent to work outside the home.

Here is what I paid each year so that I could work:
- $3,000 Taxes
- $6,000 Childcare
- $2,400 Car expenses for new car

- $1,700 Commuting 10 miles a day.
- $1,000 Professional appearance (clothes, dry cleaning, etc)
- $1,000 Lunches.
- $2,600 Convenience foods and dining out (because I was too tired to cook).
- $2,400 I-deserve-this-because-I-work-so-hard items and guilt treats (toys, special outings) for my kids.

Total cost of work: $20,100!

I spent $20,100 to work! That came to a take home pay of $7,900 per year, $152 per week… a full $3.80 per hour!

How much do you pay to work?

Use the list below to calculate how much you pay to work.

Yearly Salary:
Work-related Expenses (listed below):
Federal Taxes:
State Taxes:
Local Taxes:
Social Security:
Medicare Tax:
Child Care:
Commuting (toll, parking, 2nd car):
Gasoline and mileage:
Car insurance (extra car, nicer car):
Clothing expenses (cleaning, new):
Gifts, special friends etc at work:
Convenience food for meals:
Eating Out:
Housekeeping help:
Grooming needs (hair, nails etc):
Guilt items for kids and family:
Extra cost related to lack of time to research cheaper prices:
Extra cost related to hiring help instead of making repairs yourself:
Total Expenses related to work:

Actual contribution to family income (salary – total work expenses = family contribution):

What did you discover? Is one-third, one-half or more of your income going to pay expenses just so you can work? It can be pretty depressing to learn you work hard but reap little reward for it. However, if working outside the home is costing you too much money, working at home may be the answer.

But before you quit your job, you need to determine how much your family needs to survive. This requires making a family budget and using it to calculate how much money, if any, you would need to earn from home if you quit your job.

After doing the exercises above I discovered I could work outside the home 40 hours a week to take home less than half my salary or I could work from home part-time, be with my kids, and earn about the same amount of take home pay. It wasn’t too hard a decision to make.