We just did. Also I made $85000 per year and my home cost me $125,000. By the time I paid the mortgage more than that but 125 was the purchase price. It was worth 125 too though.
My nephew doesnt even work, lives on welfare, and has I think five children from as many different moms. It seems like hes stupid but biologically hes kicking my ass.
Kids need shelter, food, clothing, and entertainment.
Shelter: they can sleep in the same room as you do if needed.
Clothing:Cheap at Goodwill or Walmart
Food: stuff like half a grilled cheese sandwich and a tangerine. Doesn’t have to be expensive.
Entertainment: antenna TV is free. so is the library and park.
Also, once they reach school age, that keeps them for most of the day. When they’re younger the couple juggles the kid between shifts and gets breaks from friends and family. Plus, older kids mean free babysitters.
You make it work. We didn’t have enough money to order a pizza on Friday night but we never missed the rent. You keep working and striving for more. By the time our daughter was ready for college we made enough to pay for it.
I don’t feel like it’s that difficult if you shift your priorities. Most people I know with kids make $80,000 or less and the mom stays home. Some of the moms I know have side hustles but not many of them.
Find a job with decent insurance, cook at home, take care of your clothes and thrift shop or accept hand me downs. Make do with one vehicle or two inexpensive ones. Most of them own modest homes and are content with less so that their kids can do activities. Their priority is their children so it’s not a big deal to them that they don’t own expensive clothes or go on vacation every year.
A lot of times kids lead to working harder or additional jobs. I know before kids I had no aspirations to take on more work/move up/manage people. I’ve doubled my income since having kids
A lot of people make a lot of money. A lot of people are in a lot of debt. Some people prioritize their kids over other financial things. Some people don’t price their kids with a good life because they can’t afford it.
People with kids are no longer humans. They become robots and do everything to support their children. From morning til bedtime everything revolves around kids. So all the money to spend on self gets redirected to kids and many sacrifices get made. That’s how. All in hopes that the kids will reciprocate when they are old and the kids are adults.
Live in a LCOL area.
Buy second hand
Have a village
Cook at home
You don’t need all the fanciest equipment
Older siblings and cousins gave me hand me downs so I never had to buy clothes.
We’re a family of six and we’ve been debt free for years.
Once they hit elementary it gets easier assuming they are “healthy” otherwise and you have a decent age gap to brace for daycare/formula/diapers which there are also resources available within the community. Multi-generational housing is also a thing as is rasing children without a maximalist lifestyle. Those first 5 years are hard but possible as long as you are frugal and have a village
It’s something you plan for if you’re interested in having kids you gotta make the necessary sacrifices you don’t get to go out as much cut down on the luxuries etc etc me and my partner had one date night a month if we could afford it if not we stayed home
Save money before you have your kid. Figure out how much childcare is or if one of you can stay home. Have good health insurance. Only have one. That’s how we do it 😅
Go into debt to pay for daycare. Eventually recover. Go into debt for camps and activities, hopefully, go into big debt if you want help them pay for post secondary school.
Never have anything in savings. Put yourself second (I buy my clothes at the same spot I buy my groceries, drug store makeup and hair products, buy nothing groups for things that seem frivolous, date nights are grocery store bought splurges made when the kids are in bed).
But all totally worth it. The best part of my day is when my kids get home from school. That will never take away from the worst days when the bank account is in the minus 2 days after pay day.
All that being said, we have decent paying jobs. I bow down to those making minimum wage and doing the same.
Having kids affected what tax category I was in so I paid less taxes, and then I also got allowances back for having kids also.
Between 2 kids and making 73k last year, I paid $13 in taxes. My tax refund was close to $8000 since it also included the allowances for the kids.
I have to cut back on a lot of stuff for myself, especially on quality of meals. But these cuts for myself + government help allow me to get my kids good food, toys, books, and into community programs
breast feed that baby, it boosts the immune system. Healthy kids don’t actually cost very much money, especially if you get hand-me-downs from previous parents in the greater family. Kids don’t start costing you much money until they start asking for middle school prom dresses/suits
Comments
They have jobs.
They don’t
A lot of the poorest people in the world have kids. They don’t buy their kids all the stuff that would be ideal to buy them, but they do their best
Sex is so enjoyable, people make incredibly irresponsible decisions.
You just do it. I didn’t find them to be too expensive when they were small. Lots of hand-me-down clothes.
They make money
Government funding.
My friend gets over $3,000 a month from the government because she’s poor and has kids. She’s poor cuz she chooses not to work.
We just did. Also I made $85000 per year and my home cost me $125,000. By the time I paid the mortgage more than that but 125 was the purchase price. It was worth 125 too though.
My nephew doesnt even work, lives on welfare, and has I think five children from as many different moms. It seems like hes stupid but biologically hes kicking my ass.
Kids need shelter, food, clothing, and entertainment.
Shelter: they can sleep in the same room as you do if needed.
Clothing:Cheap at Goodwill or Walmart
Food: stuff like half a grilled cheese sandwich and a tangerine. Doesn’t have to be expensive.
Entertainment: antenna TV is free. so is the library and park.
Also, once they reach school age, that keeps them for most of the day. When they’re younger the couple juggles the kid between shifts and gets breaks from friends and family. Plus, older kids mean free babysitters.
It’s doable in many situations.
No savings and debt
You make it work. We didn’t have enough money to order a pizza on Friday night but we never missed the rent. You keep working and striving for more. By the time our daughter was ready for college we made enough to pay for it.
We don’t
I am the oldest of 5 and I bathed on a pond in the front yard the first 6 months of high school.
Depends on your definition of afford I guess
they put themselves second. it’s sacrifice. and it’s wonderful.
My mom, full of wisdom told me once “if you wait till you can afford it, you’ll never have them”
Two kids later, all I can say, is you just do. Nothing prepares you to have kids, except having kids. You’ll figure it out. Just do it.
Define “afford”. Kids need a roof, clothing, food and love. None of it need be expensive.
I had my first child 13 years ago and second 9 years ago. It was easier back then. Unfortunately the cost of living has gone up but not our paychecks.
I don’t feel like it’s that difficult if you shift your priorities. Most people I know with kids make $80,000 or less and the mom stays home. Some of the moms I know have side hustles but not many of them.
Find a job with decent insurance, cook at home, take care of your clothes and thrift shop or accept hand me downs. Make do with one vehicle or two inexpensive ones. Most of them own modest homes and are content with less so that their kids can do activities. Their priority is their children so it’s not a big deal to them that they don’t own expensive clothes or go on vacation every year.
So what im gathering is its challenging, but never impossible, and always worth it?
Many get food stamps, section 8, medicaid and wicked. Basically tax payers suppoer their kids.
My kid is 10 years old and I still can’t afford her.
A lot of times kids lead to working harder or additional jobs. I know before kids I had no aspirations to take on more work/move up/manage people. I’ve doubled my income since having kids
By not falling for the marketing that says kids need lots of expensive stuff.
Breastfeeding is nearly free if you don’t invest a ton in unnecessary nursing “gear.”
Cloth diapers can be nearly free if you’re smart about it IF you have a way to launder them.
Older kids can be well cared for with hand me down clothes from neighbors, and walks and park time.
You can buy a car seat that will last the first 5-6 years of a child’s life for around $150 or less, and a booster for age 5-11ish for about $30.
And kids also don’t really eat that much.
A lot of people make a lot of money. A lot of people are in a lot of debt. Some people prioritize their kids over other financial things. Some people don’t price their kids with a good life because they can’t afford it.
Make money, hand me downs, family help
very simple, irresponsible
A lot of them cannot and just pass the suffering down to their children.
They don’t
Two above average incomes leaves you with plenty of spare money
With or without that. Family can help a lot too.
People with kids are no longer humans. They become robots and do everything to support their children. From morning til bedtime everything revolves around kids. So all the money to spend on self gets redirected to kids and many sacrifices get made. That’s how. All in hopes that the kids will reciprocate when they are old and the kids are adults.
Live in a LCOL area.
Buy second hand
Have a village
Cook at home
You don’t need all the fanciest equipment
Older siblings and cousins gave me hand me downs so I never had to buy clothes.
We’re a family of six and we’ve been debt free for years.
Many don’t consider their own finances. They rely on government assistance.
Bleed the beast is all about trying to bankrupt government by any means possible.
People who want kids make the decision to be financially destitute for 19 years.
Once they hit elementary it gets easier assuming they are “healthy” otherwise and you have a decent age gap to brace for daycare/formula/diapers which there are also resources available within the community. Multi-generational housing is also a thing as is rasing children without a maximalist lifestyle. Those first 5 years are hard but possible as long as you are frugal and have a village
When I was a kid, I shared a bed, had family showers and used the water from it to flush the toilet.
We lived on just basic food and had no luxuries.
It isn’t that hard really.
They often don’t
Sustaining a life is wildly different than maximizing a life’s potential or comfort.
Keeping a child alive is, basically, pretty easy. Giving them a great childhood, family structure, education…that’s a different story.
Work.
Go to work and make money.
We don’t
Entertainment? Chores to make them part of the family dynamic.
With money
They don’t. They’re thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
For me the answer is barely. But I don’t have a choice with a 13 y.o. because it’s way too late to sell her to science or the circus.
Ya just make it work
It’s something you plan for if you’re interested in having kids you gotta make the necessary sacrifices you don’t get to go out as much cut down on the luxuries etc etc me and my partner had one date night a month if we could afford it if not we stayed home
I want to have kids when I get a stable income and my kids can be supported with it
Save money before you have your kid. Figure out how much childcare is or if one of you can stay home. Have good health insurance. Only have one. That’s how we do it 😅
We make it up along the way. We sacrifice A LOT.
Go into debt to pay for daycare. Eventually recover. Go into debt for camps and activities, hopefully, go into big debt if you want help them pay for post secondary school.
Never have anything in savings. Put yourself second (I buy my clothes at the same spot I buy my groceries, drug store makeup and hair products, buy nothing groups for things that seem frivolous, date nights are grocery store bought splurges made when the kids are in bed).
But all totally worth it. The best part of my day is when my kids get home from school. That will never take away from the worst days when the bank account is in the minus 2 days after pay day.
All that being said, we have decent paying jobs. I bow down to those making minimum wage and doing the same.
I live in the us,
Having kids affected what tax category I was in so I paid less taxes, and then I also got allowances back for having kids also.
Between 2 kids and making 73k last year, I paid $13 in taxes. My tax refund was close to $8000 since it also included the allowances for the kids.
I have to cut back on a lot of stuff for myself, especially on quality of meals. But these cuts for myself + government help allow me to get my kids good food, toys, books, and into community programs
breast feed that baby, it boosts the immune system. Healthy kids don’t actually cost very much money, especially if you get hand-me-downs from previous parents in the greater family. Kids don’t start costing you much money until they start asking for middle school prom dresses/suits
Put them to work. Coal mines, chimney sweeps, powder monkeys on warships.