Stop Financing the Second Job
By Christian Horstmann | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
When child care rivals your mortgage payment and eats the “extra” paycheck, having a stay-at-home parent is the wiser investment.
We’ve been told for years that homeschooling is impossible because “you can’t make it on one income.” But when families pencil out the math, a different picture appears: the second paycheck often pays for the costs created by the second job: child care first, then commuting, meals out, and the “time savers” that keep the overbooked household afloat. On paper, it looks like gain. In reality, it’s a trade.
Consider just one budget line that eats the pay raise: full-time child care. Across Colorado, the average monthly price is over $1,000; but in nine of our ten most populous count...










![FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]](https://rockymountainvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B1-300x300.png)