Dont let yourself turn into a guilty working mother: take charge now!

“I am exhausted all the time”

“There is never enough help or time to do everything I want”

“I am feeling guilty about something or the other all the time!”

If you are a working mother, chances are, these phrases sound very familiar to you!  Suddenly life is completely out of control for you – where others see the boss lady at home and at work, you feel like you are struggling not to sink.

It is a particularly challenging scenario for contemporary Indian women. Not only are they driven to make full use of their education and experience in the workplace, they also aspire for rich family lives too. And why not? Men have had it for centuries! The catch of course, is that it was easier for men because the women were managing the home. And while women have moved out of the house, the household responsibility is still far from being fully shared. (Ariel advertisement, anyone?).

But in so far as a lot of women find themselves in this situation, the question is, what is the best way around it? There is enough and more matter available for anyone who wants to read and watch about how to balance life better. Each family learns this in their own way, but here are some two bits from us to help your thinking further.

Let us begin at the start: When a working couple decides to start a family. It’s a no brainer that women’s careers then take a backseat, at least for a while. This has numerous implications for the both of them and women in particular, from its psychological impact to the family’s financials.

Lakshmi Rebecca, of the popular web show – Chai with Lakshmi – quizzed people familiar with the challenge of starting families in the modern day scenario sometime ago. A key take-away from the three participants was that while everyone finds is difficult at some level to manage the situation, planning ahead well, for the family, can be quite fruitful. The full video is there below.

We at Contemporary Indian Woman, had also highlighted one aspect of starting a family – the financial one. Below are our three suggestions for planning finances better:

1.  Plan for a family early: If you as a married couple wish to start a family, it would help to financially prepare in advance for the scenario. If you are looking to start a family two years from now, start assessing today what you would like your financial standing to be when you do have a family. This is important, since planning a family means increased expenses.

2.  Ensure a personal financial safety net: In order to ensure financial security, when you start a family, make sure to have investments in your name as a woman. While investments in the couple’s name and in the husband’s name are security enough in regular scenarios, in the event of a situation like a divorce or any untoward event, it can create an extremely stressful situation. It will do no harm to therefore have personal investments. Make a commitment to investing regularly from your monthly incomes. 

3.  Become active in financial matters: Often, women tend to leave investment related financial decisions in the hands of their better halves, while concentrating more on the expenses. In the present times, there are easy and accessible tools for everyone to become financially aware and educated. The more aware women become of financial matters beyond earning and expenses, the more likely it is for them to take charge of their financial destinies.

You can read the entire article here: Planning for a family? Take charge of your finances now!