Agreed with most everything said.
My spouse saves us SO MUCH money staying home.
Likewise, if we are well on track to retirement, I am not sure I See the point of a second income. IF all goes well, when the kids are 6 & 8 (earliest we will consider a return to work) I expect to have 25% of my income going to retirement. So I can easily see us saying, "What's the point of working more?"
For my parents it was mostly they didn't see the point once they felt they were able to return to a 2-income-household. So my mom hasn't worked in 30 years, and my dad will retire soon too (he's not even 60).
I am largely feeling the same way.
(We saved 50% income before kids, so our retirement is doing great, which is another advantage).
Likewise, a hobby that brings in $10k/year on a very small/flexible work schedule can be a lot more lucrative than an expensive job that is taxed very heavily (as larger second incomes are). {"Expensive" meaning clothes, commuting expenses, and paying more for conveniences}. Likewise, someone that doesn't have to worry about household details at work can make significanly more. I think the value of a stay-at-home spouse is often overlooked in that regard.
I strongly agree with what OP and maat said though about living on one income. We have never lived up to a second income. If we had one, we would save most/all of it, just as we did before. But I think like many one-income families we feel we don't need that second income to secure our retirement. On the flip side, our kids should be in college/out on their own by the time we are 45. They certainly shouldn't need babysitting at 18. I think we'll have a lot of working years left and to reap a second income. & odds are that will be a significant bump to our savings.
& yeah, we have always been in the minority in our thinking.
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