How does everyone cope with the expense of having a child?

You know what it is expensive but I will say that in the end you seem to find a way to get what the child needs. It does get rough at times. Now with everything going up it seems harder but we take it day by day.

My mother had a saying that you "cut your cloth" in the tough times, meaning that you reduce your expenses and live within your means according to what you have in your bank account.

Same with kids. I don't know about yours, but mine has so many things that are luxuries as opposed to necessities. Food, clothing, shelter- those are necessities I'd say. A new Playstation game is not.

When money gets tight, he simply doesn't get the extras any more. That said, us parents are the first ones to miss out before the kids do.

Children can be expensive.

I am very lucky that my daughter has grasped that you have to work for what you want, when she is particularly helpful she earns herself a little money to put in her piggy bank. This has helped her realise that money does not grow on trees, and that us paretns have to pay for everything that our children want and need.

Two working parents can easily cope with one child 's expenses , in my opinion. The real problem occurs when there are many kids in the house and only salary .I know families with 4, 5, 8. 12 and even 18 children if you can imagine that .
And figure out that in that family the mother simply can't afford to go for another work outside home as she would need some help at home .

With my twins I didn't want to go out to work and let someone else care for them. The cost of having two in childcare seemed rather expensive anyway. I work from home and my income is not great. We do not buy luxury items for the children very often. They have food and clothes but most of their toys are birthday/christmas gifts from other people. We do not spoil ourselves either.

I guess as we pay all of our spare money off of our mortgage (as we want to pay it back early) we will have to stop paying out as much if we start feeling the pinch.

we neverthought about it. the kids are here we just make do and get what they ned and want......
i never really think about it.......
i dont anyone from my generation back ever thiks about it, you just do it....
in any way that you can. but that doesnt mean go overbaord,

julie

Originally Posted by tater03

You know what it is expensive but I will say that in the end you seem to find a way to get what the child needs. It does get rough at times. Now with everything going up it seems harder but we take it day by day.

Exactly how it is with me, even though we are absolutely in such a tight fix, somehow we find a way to provide just enough for our children, and there are times when it gets very trying and stressful but at the end of the day, because of our determination to earn enough to be able to support their needs, we actually end up with quite enough.

Sometimes, when there's absolutely no other way out, I use the budget I've set aside for bills and just pay the bills later.