For more families, Mom tops money

Erin DeMund gives careful consideration to every dollar her family spends. Movies and restaurant meals are out of the question. The bills get paid but there's never money left to save -- for day-to-day emergencies, much less college or retirement.

DeMund, 29, is a stay-at-home mom. Husband Corey Nutting, also 29, is an elementary school teacher. And they are part of an increasing number of U.S. families in which mom stays home with the children.

"I wasn't really eager to go back to work. I was enjoying spending time with Wyatt and he was so little," said DeMund of her decision to quit her teaching job after her son was born in April 2005.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is planning to release data in mid-February that will show that more households of all income levels have a mom at home than at most times in the past decade, said economist Emy Sok. Past studies have shown that moms were staying at home more in affluent households.

DeMund and Nutting, who met teaching at Community Charter School in Charlotte, N.C., decided that what income she'd bring home after day-care expenses wouldn't be worth her time away from Wyatt. They figured they could cut expenses and come out the same. But it hasn't been easy.

"We used to have the freedom to say, `I want to buy a new pair of pants,' or whatever," said DeMund, who is expecting a second son next month.

The BLS data is also expected to show that moms are putting their careers on hold for shorter periods of time, often to see their babies to their first birthday.

Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, sees the phenomenon of women staying out of the work force for shorter periods as evidence that "we're moving toward a new era of flex careers."

Some corporations offer formal programs that keep women connected to work. And many smaller businesses help women arrange part-time work or flexible hours to make it easier for them to return, she said.

Cindie Riedinger, 33, always wanted to stay at her northeast Charlotte home when she had children. While dating, she and husband Eric Riedinger, also 33 and a civil engineer, agreed that that would be best for their future family.

Sacrifices have included living in a smaller house where the dishwasher is currently broken. The children's clothes come from church consignment sales.

But Riedinger doesn't plan for a long professional hiatus. She quit her job as a recreation therapist when daughter Hailey, 4, was born. Son Joseph came two years later.

She is starting nursing school in January and will go back to work when both kids are in school.

"The reason I want to go back to work is for intellectual fulfillment - doing something more than I have done now, not that I haven't enjoyed it," Riedinger said.

Other moms are finding ways to combine a little work while staying at home. Suzanne Barber of Fort Mill, S.C., is working part-time in human resources for Frito-Lay in Charlotte on the two mornings that her sons Henry, 4, and William, 2, attend a mother's morning out day-care program.

The former full-time executive found the job through Mom Corps, a kind of temporary employment agency with a Charlotte office that targets high-charging moms who want to put in a few hours a week to earn a little extra cash and keep up their skills and contacts.

"I grew up with a stay-at-home mom. I felt it was an important thing to do," Barber said. "You only get that chance once. I didn't want to look back and think, `Gosh, I wish I had done that.' "

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(McClatchy newspapers correspondent Pam Kelley contributed to this report.)

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Amy Baldwin covers money-related topics for 20- and 30-somethings in "Out of the Red." Have a question about your personal finances? Contact her at (704) 358-5179 or abaldwin@charlotteobserver.com. Leave your name and daytime phone number.

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(c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.). Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.