DISQUS

Brian · 2 years ago

I think many of those things are good ideas whether you have a child or not.

As for my experience, raising my two children has been FAR more expensive than I could have ever dreamed. Even the staples like diapers and formula can add up to a hefty sum over a month. Luckily my wife is an avid garage sale shopper, so the clothing and toy purchases have been far less than they otherwise could have been.

My recommendation would be to sit down and make a detailed plan of your finances before deciding to have a child. Some friends of mine had to quit contributing to their 401k and other savings vehicles to alleviate the financial burden.

That being said, I'm not sure I would wait until you are in your perfect financial situation. Kids are wonderful and are worth the added expense.

WhatWorksForUs · 2 years ago

I think if you can prepare financially for kids - that'sgreat - but there really is no "perfect" time to have kids. Because, if you wait too long to have kids, then you can't keep up with them!

Joe · 2 years ago

About a month ago my wife of only 8 months told me she thought she was pregnant, and the next day we found out she was officially. That evening I went from a guestimate budget to a written down form. I'm always paranoid about money just because we both had our fair share of debt coming into the marriage. She has student loans and I had credit cards. We found that we should be fine if we start saving more then we even had been. A couple weeks later we found out there was another baby! I wasn't normal for a week!

Luckily she's going to be getting a raise at the beginning of the school year and I should be getting one myself before the babies show up. If I get another bonus like I did last year that'll be very helpful. One student loan payment that had been coming directly out of her check will be payed off soon, so that'll add to our monetary flexibility.

We're also very lucky that my health coverage is 100% for me and all family members with no money taken out of my check. I'm not all that religious, but someone has been looking out for me lately.

Day care is the one thing that scares me. I'm not sure how we're gonna go about it yet. I think we're gonna look for a college student to watch the kids at our house instead of sending them off some where.

J at IHB and HFF · 2 years ago

Hello. I do not want to fill the comments with a long list of details that are available elsewhere but most of the high-cost-children stories are what is spent, while what needs to be spent is closer to net zero.