65 | Living on One Income in 2026
As a Canadian SAHM
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Is it possible to live on one income in 2026? Is it wise to do so? Let’s break it down today!
We’ve probably all heard the acronym DINK (Double Income, No Kids), which is often painted as the ideal.
But recently I heard another one:
SILK — Single Income, Lots of Kids.
This is my life right now with four kids four and under, so I want to give you a peek behind the curtain. This is not a how-to guide. I don’t know your situation, your expenses, or your income. It would be naive of me to tell you how to live on one income.
Instead, I’ll share what it looks like for us.
DISCLAIMER: I do not currently make enough to break even on my blog or podcast, so we are truly a single-income family at this point.
Is One Income the “Ideal”?
Honestly, I’m not going to paint our life as the “ideal” I used to think the nuclear family with a working dad and stay-at-home-mom was the ideal until I read the book Take Back Your Familyby Jefferson Bethke.
In this book, the author talks about how this model didn’t really exist until the Industrial Revolution. Before that, families worked together, on farms, in trades, in businesses. Kids were integrated into the work.
Eventually we want to pursue a more integrated life where we can work and generate income together, but we don’t know what that will look like.
Is it possible to live on one income?
I’ll be honest, living on one income is HARD. We believe it is worth the sacrifice so I can be the one to raise and school our kids, but we have to be very disciplined with our money to make it work.
I think most families today probably need about 1.5 incomes.
We know families making it work through:
Long hours (60+ hours/week)
Multiple jobs
Part-time work from mom
Since we’ve lived on one income since we got married (first mine while my husband was in school, then his when we had kids) it is all we’ve ever known. I’m thankful we never got a taste of the dual-income life because I know it would have made it hard to cut back.
Do I save money by staying at home?
People often say, “I couldn’t afford to stay home.”
But sometimes I think I couldn’t afford to work. Childcare alone (for four kids) would cost more than anything I’m qualified to do. At this point in our journey, I’m almost certain I will never return to a traditional job.
But there are other expenses we had when I was working (even before kids). Here are some that come to mind:
Food (less time to cook from scratch = more convenience meals)
Clothes (work attire!)
House cleaning (if I worked full-time, I would 100% outsource this)
Transportation to and from work
Other miscellaneous spending (when I worked full-time, I wasn’t taking the time to budget and save money in other ways)
What Living on One Income Actually Looks Like
Like I said, there are a lot of sacrifices we make in order to live below our means on one income. Since we have always lived on one income, this feels fairly natural to us, but I can see how it would seem shocking if this is a lifestyle you aren’t used to.
We don’t buy a lot of things. Just to name a few:
No subscriptions (no Amazon Prime either! We buy way less since I cancelled it.)
We rarely buy new clothes
No new tech (we love our old dumb phones, and my husband built our computers)
We rarely eat out or have date nights out of the house
Fun money is limited to $50 per week if the budget supports it
If you want to hear more, go listen to episode 40 where I share 10 things I don’t buy anymore.
It’s not glamourous, but again, its worth it.
Our Weekly Budgeting System
We budget weekly, not monthly.
My husband is in construction, so he gets paid weekly and his income fluctuates. I find it works well for us to do everything in cash (or on a debit card) once the money is physically in our account.
Our budget is a list of priorities to make sure that even if its a smaller paycheque, the important stuff gets covered before we do the fun stuff.
Each week:
Tithe first (transfer 10% to tithe account)
Transfer the weekly amount to the house account
Leave about $300 in our chequing account for groceries, gas and misc spending
Then (if possible) I transfer money into each of our savings accounts:
Retirement
Sinking Fund (for annual insurance payments, car repairs and other unexpected spending)
Car fund (to replace our vehicles when they die)
Then, if there is enough, we each get $50 in “fun money” for the week
When our monthly child benefit cheque comes in, I top up our savings accounts and set some aside to go in the kids’ education account.
How we stay organised
We have many savings accounts for everything so we can clearly see what our money is allocated for. We keep the money we plan to use in our regular bank in a regular savings account, and we have many high-yeild savings accounts for things like our sinking funds, car fund and emergency fund. I love using WealthSimple for things like this because I can easily transfer money over. Having it seperate from my bank account helps us to view this money as “gone” so we aren’t tempted to spend it prematurely.
Since we are in Canada, we use an RSP for retirement, an RESP for the kids’ education to ensure we are getting the government grants, and we have a TFSA for other long-term savings goals.
A Lesson in Stewardship
There have been many times I’ve prayed “God, please increase our finances.” And instead of more money, we got a lesson on stewardship.
Sometimes, we realize we haven’t been tithing enough, sometimes, there is an area we need to cut our spending.
Back in 2023 after having my third baby, we stopped using credit cards. I always said “it’s fine, I always pay it off” but after listening to many hours of Rachel Cruze, I realized, I always spend more money on a credit card. And, we fall into the habit of paying for last weeks’ purchases instead of working ahead the way we are forced to by using debit. This switch seemed difficult at first, but I’m so thankful we made the switch!
(P.S. This doesn’t mean I can’t shop online. I simply enter my debit card information as I would a credit card, but there is no bill to pay off later.)
Final Thoughts
Living on one income is not easy.
It’s not always ideal.
And it’s not the right choice for everyone.
But here’s what I believe:
God cares about your finances. If you are overwhelmed with money right now, or you want to stay home and you don’t know how to make it work, pray. Talk to Him. He will guide you and your husband!
When we choose to steward what we have well, God honors that.
May God bless you and your finances this week!
If you’re here in Canada, check out WealthSimple for all your long-term and short-term savings needs.
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