I’m Nicole Prom, M.S.Ed., Ed.S. Throughout my parenting journey with 3 kids on a single income, I have become an expert in living comfortably within our means without feeling restricted and I will help you do the same.
How We Became a One Income Family
The month we paid off my student loans, which we had been attacking heavily, I decided I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom for my first child who was 9 months old at the time and was constantly sick due to being in daycare.
We went through a lot of financial planning to do to make sure this was a sustainable choice and one we could live comfortably with long term. My husband and I discussed this at length, had many budget meetings with each other including forecasting spreadsheets and more to see if this would be a viable choice.
Before long, we realized that especially with the cost of daycare, the amount of burnout I was experiencing, and us wanting to have more children within the next year or so, that it made sense for me to leave my career.
I was in a contract with the school so I had to wait until the school year was over, which happened to align with his first birthday, to be completely done with my job.
Since then, we’ve been a one-income family and within a year of me leaving my career, I became pregnant with identical twins, which are as you can imagine, quite the expense having two babies at once!
I started this blog to help others gain the financial peace that I have without feeling like they need to sacrifice the things they love. I honestly hadn’t really thought about being an expert in this until my dad kept saying how impressed he was with how my husband and I manage our money and how open we are with each other about it. This led me to think, well hey, maybe other people need help with this!
Education
My professional background includes a Master’s Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, which focused heavily on gathering, analyzing, and explaining data. My love of data has continued beyond my career as a school psychologist and has helped me within my budgeting and money saving endeavors.
Featured In
This blog is my second blog, my first is The Way it Really Is, a mom blog about parenting and raising children, especially twins. I have been featured on Authority Magazine on Medium.com, Bold Journey, Voyage Minnesota, and Canvas Rebel. I’ve been on blogs including SheKnows, All About Twins, All Modern Mommy, Techie Mama, Rent.com, and Four Columns of a Balanced Life. I’ve also been on two podcasts, the Plan to Eat Podcast and Holistic Hormone Healing Podcast.
FAQ
What’s with all the letters after your name?
All those letters after my name basically just mean I spent a whole bunch of money attaining two graduate degrees in order to become a school psychologist. Seven years of undergrad and grad school + 7 years of being a school psychologist = burnout, especially as a new mom.
M.S.Ed.: Masters Degree in Education
Ed.S. Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology. This was the degree I had to attain in order to become a school psychologist. It is basically between a Masters Degree and a Doctoral Degree. Within the school system I was labeled as having a Masters Degree plus 45 Credits. Basically, a lot of intense education.
I also used to have NCSP after my name as I was a Nationally Certified School Psychologist but I let that credential lapse when I left my career.
How do you have 2 blogs yet consider yourself only living on your husbands income?
Well, let me tell ya, blogging isn’t as lucrative as some would lead you to believe. Lol
I have had my first blog, The Way it Really Is, since 2020 but it became official in 2022 when I registered it as an LLC. I’ve written over 250 blog posts, spent thousands of hours learning about blogging from ‘experts’, thousands of hours working in my blog, creating content, marketing, digital products, and more.
Yet, right now I’m lucky if I pull in $100 a month. That’s just about enough to keep my blog going but nothing to pay myself with. Everything I make goes back to my blog, and now blogs, so though that income is reported on my taxes, that money doesn’t make it into our family bank account. This is partially because there isn’t enough to pay me as having a blog costs money and also because as an LLC I’m not allowed to pay myself.
So, we’re still a 1-income family.
Why should we listen to you?
My husband and I are probably one of the few couples who DON’T fight about money. At all.
That’s a lot to say especially for a family of 5 living on one income. This isn’t an accident, this is something that we have worked hard on throughout our marriage to ensure that we can live comfortably while also not spending impulsively.
Back when we had two incomes and were new parents with a child in full-time daycare (basically my whole paycheck) we paid off my graduate school loans which started at $55K but with a 6.5% interest rate through FAFSA back in 2011 so we paid much more than the original amount by the time we paid them off in full 6 years later.
At that time, neither one of us had high paying jobs. Daycare plus our family insurance was basically my whole paycheck. We also were able to save up enough money, before we had our first child, to put a down payment on our first home, buy our first home, complete $50K of repairs on our first home within the first 6 months (it wasn’t supposed to be a fixer upper…) all without taking on debt.
I don’t say these things to brag, I say them to prove that I have a lot of experience stretching what we have, living on little, and making things work.
We’ve lived on a single income for the past 7 years, moved to a bigger house when the twins were 6 months old because we needed the space, and have our mortgage as our only debt.
I’m here to teach you what I know so you can live comfortably as well.
Throughout my parenting journey with 3 kids on a single income, I have become an expert in living comfortably within our means without feeling restricted and I will help you do the same.
I'm a former school psychologist who left my career to stay home with my children, hence the one-income family and needing to adapt to that mentality while still living comfortably.