How to be a stay at home mum?

On Sunday we had our great friends S and B and baby J around for the day.  They recently had a baby (the recipient of these by the way Zoom Cardigan and Bootees ) he is utterly adorable and I certainly can't remember Little L ever being that small and wobbly headed.  Anyway we got chatting about the dreaded when are you going back to work???  And B being very honest said February and admitted that she is dreading it and would do anything not to return.

Having had over two years of going to play groups etc with Little L I have heard this many times but when it comes down to it most people do go back to work after their maternity pay dwindles down to the minimum.  And whilst they say they really don't want to go back to work they do and parcel off baby to Grandma or Nursery.  When we decided to have children after many years of thinking about it we knew that one way or another I would be a stay at home mum.  And so far I am but that didn't happen by accident or by some kind miracle, it has involved years of saving, scrimping, thinking ahead and now sacrifices, some might say of, no foreign holidays, no new cars, very few new clothes, no fancy phones, no nights out, freezing in winter, eating on a tight budget and many more things.  To lots of people this might sound pretty depressing/boring but it's worth it to know that Little L gets the best care day in day out i.e. from her Mum (I'm no super mum but mummy is better than Grandma or some randomer at a nursery).  And they do all go to school when they are four so you can go back to work then.

So a question could more people be a "stay at home Mum" if they really wanted to??  Or are some sacrifices in quality of life/luxuries a step too far to take??

At the moment I am trying to sell stuff on Ebay and need to get my ass into gear and sell some hand made wares on the internet.  But for now we are all very happy with our arrangement, skip diving and eating smart price beans ....... only kidding.