[lonelappde]

It would be easier if families stopped the rat race and stopped sending two parents to careers. career minded people could pair up with home-minded people instead of striving for dual incomes. In good times those home minded people could use their free time to be pillars of the community.

[cafard]

Apart from the raw matter of money, there was motivation for women to get into the job market perhaps fifty years ago. In part this was a desire for autonomy, in part it was likely a reaction to the increasing divorce rates in the 1960s and 1970s; there was less sense of security in stepping out of the job market for any length of time.

[chadlavi]

Good luck paying for a family on a single income. What planet do you live on?

[steverb]

It's doable. Wife and I have done it for literally 23 years. With 4 kids.

Granted, after year 3 (and kid 2) I was making entry level developer money, but here in the south 18 years ago that was a long way from FU money. We made sacrifices and decided that some things were more important than others. Our vacations were camp outs, our four kids wore secondhand (and third/fourth hand) clothes. I bought (and still buy) most of my clothes from Goodwill or Walmart. We have never had the newest anything. There was a period of about two years where we were a single car family.

It's doable. You will have to lower your standard of consumption, probably a lot, but in our case it was totally the better choice. YMMV.