Hey Gals! I was wondering why some decide to work outside the home rather then from home? I use to work outside the home and with 2 little ones I decided to work from home and I'm so happy I made the decision!

Because I have yet to find a decent work from home option. I make almost $40,000 a year doing retail (no sales, no cold calling, etc) and I can't find anything to even come close to that in a work from home option. I don't really have the option of a "make up to...." kind of deal because I am the main income earner for my household, we depend on my steady income. I like having a roof over my head

Amen DiannC. I make just a smidge less than you and there is no out-of-home business that I've found that can without-a-doubt give me that much steady income. I'm also the primary income we get in our household. My SO makes significantly less than I do so it's just not an option for me. I don't resent him for it, it's just the way it is right now. We just couldn't survive on a smaller pay from my end. I'd LOVE to work at home or just be a SAHM. We just don't want to rely on something so unpredictable. Here, I get raises yearly and bonuses yearly. There's just no way I could get that plus the other benefits (medical, paid sick days, holidays, paid vacations, etc...) I get from working here from a work at home job. I know that spending time with my daughter is worth more than that, but struggling to pay the bills and provide for her a good life, food, clothes, and opportunities weighs a little more. I grew up pretty poor so I'm determined to give my daughter choices that I didn't have.

I choose to work outside of the home because I'm the breadwinner for our family, and I haven't yet found a job where I can earn what I earn now, doing what I do now, but from home. I'm lucky in that I've been with my company for long enough to have a good measure of seniority and flexibility -- that makes it a bit easier, for now!

Aside from the obvious, that it is terribly difficult to find a job at home to pay as much as an outside job, I have a couple of other reasons.

First of all, it is truly impossible to work and watch kids at the same time. While attempting to do both, you will actually be doing each one half-assed and this isn't fair to the kids or to the job. Kids need way too much attention when they are home and if you are not giving it to them, you might as well be at an office letting someone else play with them. I think that they would benefit far more. While you are working, they are running around with little structure and little supervision.

Secondly, I think thatt it is important for moms to get out and have their own life, It makes most women happier and fulfilled. When mom is happy, everyone is happy. I think that your children appreciate their time with you and you appreciate your time with them. I give my son 150% of my attention when i get off and we have a great time. Most of the stay at home moms that I have met look terrible, their kids are terribly rude and disobedient. They have forgotten to appreciate their time together and raising kids becomes a chore, which doesn't service anyone. My son LOVES his daycare, which is actually a private school with a fantastic staff. He gets excited every morning and laughs when his teacher comes to the door to get him. He loves the kids and is crazy social for being 8 months old. On top of that, he has learned so incredibly much from being around other babies.

I've always liked to work outside the home -- I like the separation of work and family/home, the ability to be 100% focused on each when I am there. I've been working from a home office for the past year, and while my daughter is in preschool and with a sitter for the full working day, I find that miss working outside, at an actual office -- my work is always there at home and I find it makes it tougher to focus on my family 100% when I am there.

I think you're really lucky to be able to work from home, but for most of us its just not an option. Especially in areas outside the urban centers, "working from home" is an alien concept for most employers. What I do I need to be in the office to do. I'm very lucky that I work for an organization that allows me to be very flexible in my schedule, but I've honestly never come across a non-programing job in my area that would allow me to work from home.

Also, I'll second what oceans mom says above: I think that watching a toddler (my son is 22 months) and working from home are fundamentally incompatible. When I'm with him I want to be with him, totally engaged with him. I'd be shortchanging both my son and my employer if I were to try and do both at once.

When my son was six months old, my husband came home and said, "you are driving me crazy, you need to meet people and start working again." I have now done this for over 10 years now. My son thrieved at day care and preschool. When he started kindergarten, he was a very well adjusted child. My friend who is a SAHM commented that she was amazed at how close I was with my son.She said that I spent more time playing with him than she had with her kids because when I got home, I was focused on him. She had critizied me for going back to work and had apologized when she saw how we were doing. I would like to work from home as my son gets older, so I can be there when the "teen" years hit. But as everyone has said, it really is hard to find that job that pays as much as I get to work at home.

im in the same boat- with the job i have in the legal field, working from home is not an option, you have to be in the office. plus i enjoy my independence during the day, i feel proud of my accomplishments in my career. It all balances out very well, and as someone mentioned early, if mom is happy, everybody is happy. luckily we have a fantastic nanny who takes care of our kids- they look forward to seeing her everyday, knowing that they are in good hands and are treated just as if i were home with them makes it so much easier to be away everyday. so although i would love to be home with my children during the day- unfortunately the money is outside of the home.

I absolutely LOVE my job and don't know that I could be a good mom if I left it because I'd miss it I feel I do worthwhile work and I'm able to make a difference in peoples' lives on a daily basis. My kids are both very social and well rounded and still love me so I don't think my working outside the home has had any negative effect on them...

1. The job I do cannot be done from the house.
2. I want...no, I NEED the mental stimulation of interacting with other people in my profession. Even if I could work from home, I wouldn't do it on a full time basis. I like being at home, but that's when I need time AWAY from the job, not have it at home with me.

I manage 6 restaurants, and I can't do that from home.
I like working with my team and coaching them and being there when the lightbulb clicks on. It's a totally different fulfillment then what I get what I get at home. It's something that is all mine. (Well and my team's too). I would really miss that if I didn't work or worked in my home office away from people.
I do work from home one day a week, and I completely agree with oceans mom, when I'm trying to work and be with the girls at the same time, I'm not fully functional in either capacity.
I am also the primary breadwinner in our house, and always have been. That is a great source of pride for me as well, because that is not a role that any other woman in my family has ever held.

I live in a small town and unless I started a blog that everyone wanted to read...oh wait, I have a blog, but hardly anyone reads it (pity party for me) there are no other options that would pay me what I make. I am a teacher that is all the way over on the salary schedule because of my Masters and so I make really good money for the town I live in. I always try to think of things I could do at home to make the kind of money I do working out of the home, but there's nothing. I, also, am the primary bread winner. My husband was at one point, but they cut back hard on salaries. We also get our benefits from my job...and I'm Union President this year of our teacher's union...couldn't do that from home. Sounds like we all have very differing, but substantial reasons. Hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go....

I work outside the home because I am in graduate school and want to finish. I plan on continuing to work outside the home for lots of reasons. The jobs I want and am good at require it; If I worked at home I wouldn't do well at either working or taking care of my daughter (I'm just not good at it). I need a change of scenery. I too am trying to figure out how to spend the most/best time with my daughter and still have a career. Working at home isn't the solution for me.

I work outside the home, becasue I think it is incredibly important for mothers to have an identity besides "mom". Don't get me wrong, being a mom is AMAZING, but I need the other stimulation. I love my job and feel that i make a difference. My daughter is learning to socialize and interact with other people and children...I am extremely lucky to get the sumemrs with her and feel that we get the best of both worlds!

I work outside the home because I make more per hour that way. The seperation between work and home life is an added bonus. I am making the same- slightly less I did as a home day care provider but I am working 1/3 of the hours. Now when I am home, I really am just home and can focus on what is important to me and my family.

I work outside the home because I make more, I can feel like I have my own identify, and the more face time I have with my colleagues and higher-ups, the more valuable I appear. I can work at home on occasion, and do, or take time at the local Starbucks. But, overall, getting out of the house and being around adults and sharing work within a work setting helps me stay connected and on top of my game. I need to be more physically connected to feel productive. Virtual communications don't go as far for me as maybe they do for others. So in the end, it is about my work personality, the work personality of those I work with, and the selfish (yes selfish) quality of bringing in the most money I can to measure that I accomplished something. If I compromised, I think in the end I wouldn't be as happy and this would affect my ability to be a good mom.

I work outside the home because, like so many others have mentioned, I have yet to find a work from home opportunity that pays me consistently what i make in the office, and offers benefits or something comparable to the benefits I get from my current employer.

I think many of us also crave the adult interaction, and the ability to have some separation between work life and home life. If I could find an opportunity that allowed me to work flexible hours, I would definitely take it, and that may be a possibility for me in the future, but where I am right now it's just not in the cards.

When I have an infant, that might change, but my stepdaughter is old enough now that when she is with us, we can keep her engaged without one of us being with her all the time.

First, I'm a single parent and I need a certain level of income to support my family. I have yet to find a work-from-home option that would pay me enough.

Second, working at home is not an option in my current job. Third, even if it were an option, I don't know that I would opt to work at home. For me, work is work and home is home, and I don't like for them to overlap. I don't like to have my child at my office either, for that same reason. I need to be able to focus on one or the other.

Couple reasons, all of which have pretty much been mentioned, but I like to feel part of a conversation that's not about the daily grind. lol

1. Steady income. My husband is a stay at home daddy and is working on setting up his own internet business. Unfortunately, the military didn't ACTUALLY train him for a life outside of the military - guess he picked the wrong MOS. So, this is the best way for him to contribute, leaving me to be the breadwinner.

2. Experience. I'm pretty young and have not yet finished college. I want to run my own business someday, and there are things I'm learning by running someone else's restaurant that an online college can't teach me.

3. Cabin fever prevention. Sure, I'd love to spend more time with my guys, but I start feeling really cooped up if I spend more than 24 hours at home. Now I enjoy my time here a lot more.

4. Independance. I've known a lot of women now in their 40's and 50's who gave up their jobs when they had kids. Sadly, they ended up getting divorced for one reason or another and found that they had to return to the work force after 20+ years of domestic enginering. And guess what? This country has a problem with agism, so they've had a hard time finding decent paying jobs. No one wants to think that their marriage is going to end, but I have to be realistic and make sure I stay in the game.

Anyway, those are just my two pennies.

I want to work inside the home due to my little kids but cannot find legitimate work that doesn't involve mass selling. I would like to process medical claims or do typing work but so far, every opportunity that I ck out involves sending in a big amount of money and you have to have top notch computer software. But hey-if anyone has any ideas besides what I've written, let me know.