But things can change, and working from home may be a more pleasant option than giving up on the stay at home dream altogether. Good thing it may be manageable if you plan ahead and be realistic about your own capabilities.

So when should you start trying to work at home?

If Your Family is Carrying a Heavy Debt Load

For this, I generally mean beyond a mortgage. Most people carry a mortgage on their home for quite a number of years, and that's not a bad thing so long as it is manageable. But credit card debt, student loan debts and so forth are more of a problem.

Working at home is a way to get some of that debt paid down a little more quickly.

If Your Family is Living Month to Month

Just look at all the reports of how the economy is going right now. We can argue about recession versus stagflation going on, but things are pretty rough out there for a lot of families. And in many cases that's because they didn't have any sort of cushion for their family in case of a lost job.

Jobs can be lost for so many reasons. Layoffs and medical issues come immediately to mind.

If you don't have several months' worth of income saved up for such a crisis, your family can be in deep trouble if the only wage earner suddenly isn't bringing in much money, or is bringing in significantly less.

If you start working at home you can bring that cushion up. It can be protection for your family in case of difficulties. Much better than living month to month.

Just Because You WANT to

Sometimes you just want more from your life than taking care of home and family. Especially as children get older there's only so much you can do, after all. Working at home gives you the chance to still be there while pursuing one of your own interests.

We have a huge advantage over mothers who worked at home in the past. There are a lot more options. We can go beyond the traditional options of daycare and network marketing, and follow still more of our own interests.

For that matter, network marketing has expanded beyond the most established companies. You have many more options available to you, and so can enjoy working in this industry with more options for what you're selling.

You can start a website. You can be a remote worker for all kinds of companies, doing customer service, data entry, transcription or many other jobs. You can hire yourself out as a freelance writer, programmer, designer, whatever suits your skills.

So What's the Catch?

The catch, of course, is that not everyone will succeed in working at home. It does take from your day. It takes effort. It's flat out difficult for many people to find opportunities that aren't scams.

If you decide you want to work at home, don't be in a rush about it. Don't allow hype to catch your attention, or worse yet, your wallet. Take your time and do your research. Ask other people about it. The work at home community is generally very willing to help new members figure out what is legitimate. While you can't trust everyone you meet online, getting more eyes on what you think will be good can help you to spot potential problems before you're paying for them.