BOOK REVIEW: A little book with 100 practical and applicable ideas …

Even in 2018, there are a lot of working moms who long to stay home with their kids but think doing so is impossible.

For many of those moms, though, it actually is possible with some degree of lifestyle changes.

Let’s face it, to be able to stay home with your child(ren), you may have to make deep changes in your lifestyle unless your spouse has a hefty income that doesn’t require you to contribute employment income. But it really can be possible to stay home with the kids, meet your family’s needs, and have an enjoyable lifestyle, albeit a more frugal one.

That’s the initial message in Erin Odom’s book, “You Can Stay Home With Your Kids!” (published by Zondervan). When I first considered receiving this book to review, I thought it would only be a worthwhile “read” if the ideas it contained were actually practical and applicable. It’s easy to see books claiming to be full of ideas, but many of them are applicable to only some people, and often aren’t practical.

That’s not this book.

“You Can Stay Home With Your Kids!” fully delivers on its subtitle: “100 Tips, Tricks, and Ways to Make it Work on a Budget.” As I read my way through all 100 tips, tricks, and ways, I was pleased to find they were all genuinely practical ideas, and applicable to a large, general audience.

Odom divides her ideas and suggestions into different topics from how to curb spending, to eating well on a budget, making your own household products, and entertaining your family without spending a fortune, to shopping second-hand, how to provide for healthcare needs, and ideas for creating more income that can be generated from home.

Many of these practical and applicable ideas can be found on lists and blog posts, but putting them all together in a small, square hardback book makes them easily accessible. Each idea is shared very concisely, so instead of reading long chapters for a suggestion, Odom limits most suggestions to a few paragraphs at most.

So if you really want to be able to stay home with your kids, this little book may have the practical and applicable ideas you need to make that happen. It would be worth getting the book to see.

Scotty

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”