Here's my story, although I am by no means making a full time salary from my work! Also, I had 2 reasons that I wanted to quit working, one was so that I could spend my time pursuing my passions (art) and the other was to homeschool my son.
My husband and I were (are) low income to begin with, so we found a grant for those in our bracket to buy a first home in an area that needed to be revitalized. We made sure to get a house with a payment that we could handle on one income. It's small and very plain and in an older area, but we can afford it and it'll have some good equity when we go to sell. I also got books at the library about saving money on bills, groceries, etc. Oh yeah, and I sold my car and haven't had one since! (2.5 years now) No cable TV, no vacations, no fancy haircuts, no health insurance, no savings... but no job!
For the transition I started doing a home party thing, and that helped. I have been supplementing with freelance work since I quit that and am also giving lessons to some children in our homeschool group. And of course, I get the occasional commission.
It's not the best spot to be in, and I know it would be even harder if we were older and already had a house, a couple car payments and a certain lifestyle all set up. But I am trying to look at the long term and focus on what the sacrafice will bring us. While I am focusing on art and HSing, my husband is going back to college full time (while working!) so in 5-10 years we should both be making money at stuff we like and eventually getting into a more comfortable lifestyle. In the scheme of things, it's really only a short time to sacrafice, if it means getting to spend the rest of your life doing what you love.
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