How to survive as a one-income family
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Why is debt such an issue? "Living on one income is much riskier, financially. If anything happens to the main earner in the family, you don't want to have a lot of unnecessary debts to pay." Vyge also agrees with the Siversons' no credit-card-use plan: "Most single-income households do not have the money to be using credit cards, period."

Before you quit: Here are a few things you should do before one of you quits to stay home with Junior:

How to survive on one income 1. Track actual expenses for one to three months. 2. Try living on the working spouse's income for three months. 3. Get insurance, update wills, consider a home equity line of credit. 4. Check into tax implications. 5. Don't put off retirement planning.

1. Track your actual expenses for one to three months before you quit. Vyge tells his clients to use cash and account for every penny in a small notebook or use a single checking account and debit card during that period. McCoy agrees. "And be honest," she says. "If you got money from the ATM and used some of it on groceries, the rest on entertainment, don't mark it all down as groceries. You've got to be clear on what you're really spending."

2. Try living on the working spouse's income for three months before you quit. You'll probably need to adjust your budget a few times during the trial period -- but better to do it now than when you're actually in the hot seat. Sock away as much of the second income as you can in an emergency fund. Vyge suggests putting three months of your expenses in a money market fund and another three months into certificates of deposit.

3. Get life and disability insurance for both parents, update your wills and consider setting up a home equity line of credit. While the first two items are "musts," the line of credit is debatable. "I personally don't think couples should get in the habit of relying on this credit line," says Katherine Holden, a Certified Financial Planner in Wayne, Pa. "If work needs to be done on the house, yes, home equity can be used. But home equity is not intended to finance a vacation, purchase expensive jewelry or put braces on the kids' teeth."

4. Check into tax implications. Depending on your joint income, cutting back to one salary for the household could decrease your taxes if you move to a lower tax bracket. Paying less in taxes could help make the decision to quit easier. Have a financial planner or tax professional estimate how your tax situation might change if one of you quits.

5. Don't put off retirement planning. Vyge says many couples think of retirement savings as a "someday expense." That's especially true when they're trying to justify cutting back to one income. In fact, he says, "retirement is an expense that is as real as taxes. You've got to think of your retirement savings as a real bill you need to pay today."

While you might not be able to sock away as much into your retirement plan as you could with two incomes, plan to save 10 percent of the earner's income for now. The Siversons are using bonuses and any other unexpected income to fund retirement. If you go back to being a two-income family when the kids are older, you can catch up, says Vyge. But don't totally forgo your future just to make it through the baby years.

In the long run, say both Siverson and McCoy, deciding whether you can afford to stay home is also about deciding what you're willing to sacrifice financially for that opportunity. "I don't want to scare anyone off, but there are times when it's hard to be at home," says McCoy. "You might not be able to afford going out to dinner and going to the mall whenever you want. It's not easy."

The financial trade is worth it for Siverson. "All those things you buy become handcuffs. You have to keep working to pay for them. The way I think about it is this: By quitting my job, I bought my freedom," she says.

Use Bankrate's free, interactive home budgeting tool to determine if you can afford to live on one income.