In many places in America, supporting a family on one income would be extremely difficult because of the cost of housing nowadays.
This issue doesn’t get talked about much, but one reason so many wives work nowadays , is because it takes both of their incomes to qualify for a mortgage to buy a house.
That’s because ever since we let them vote the cost of government has gone through the roof and that means higher household income is needed.
It might be difficult to qualify for a mortgage on one income, but it is doable. Set your sights on a home that you can afford, not some fancy schmancy house with a bunch of upgrades before you even move in. I believe they are called fixer uppers.
Live within your means. This may mean adhering to a strict budget and few frills. Buy slightly used clothing at resale shops for your kids. That’s what we did until we were able to save enough to fix up the house, and then move to a nicer neighborhood.
Few seem to understand that you don’t have to “have it all” right out of the gate. We are on our 4th house, and it took us some 30 years to achieve this beautiful home that we live in now.
“This issue doesn’t get talked about much, but one reason so many wives work nowadays , is because it takes both of their incomes to qualify for a mortgage to buy a house.”
It’s a chicken and egg situation though. Are women forced to work because incomes are too stagnant for most single income families to own a home? Or are incomes stagnant because women entered the workforce en masse and devalued the price of labor?
“In many places in America, supporting a family on one income would be extremely difficult because of the cost of housing nowadays.”
A clue that it is a poor place to live.
The answer is to move. If the place you live is too expensive move to a cheaper area. Yes, been there done that.
I grew up in a working class neighborhood in the 1950s. My mother, and all the other women in the neighborhood, stayed home. The men's occupations included fireman, policeman, auto painter, breadman, security guard, glazier, etc. Living on their salaries meant raising their families of 2-4 children (one family had 5 kids, another had 7) in 900-1000 sf houses, one car, no air conditioning, and so forth. I suppose they could have put thier wives to work in order to afford some of those things but it seemed like no one questioned that, all-in-all, women's role as homemaker was accepted and honored.
My point is not that your observation about today's cost of housing is wrong. OTOH, we just might want to re-examine our priorities.