Do you have any money?

[beardedladydragon]

I just wondered if those of you with big families were able to save? We earn a good salary but we never seem to have any money left over to save. Is it even possible or do we just prioritise other things?

[SansasEscape]

How big is a big family?

[BeauticianNotMagician81]

We are trying to save a house deposit. We do manage a bit each month. We have four children. We haven't been abroad for a few years, don't have takeaways, use martins energy save club and always search for voucher codes for anything before buying.

[FATEdestiny]

We save for our annual budget.

Family of 6 with 5 birthdays between Sept-Christmas. So all our spending happens between August - December. I therefore save from Jan-July ready to start spending on holiday, birthdays and Christmas.

But we don't save longer term than that.

[gossipgirlxoxo]

We have three. Same as pp, save for annual expenses and that's all we can manage at the moment.

[Babyroobs]

We have 4 children and earn £56k between us but never seem to have anything left at the end of the month. DC's include 3 teenage boys though so food and clothing/ shoe expenditure is high. We have just paid off the mortgage so I'm hoping that the excess money will mean we can have a few more treats/ holidays etc. We have just scrimped by or had minor debts for the past 17 years and it's a stressful way of living !

[Babyroobs]

Sorry just realised I didn't answer the original question ! We have never had savings until recently when dh inherited some money so we now have some savings but nothing we have saved ourselves.

[littlepeas]

I have 3, so definitely on the smaller side of a larger family, but we are doing ok financially. They are in private school, so obviously that is a huge chunk, but we still manage to live pretty comfortably. I think a fourth would push us into the realms of struggling a bit though (assuming they stay in private).

We do have some savings - I like to have a years school fees in the bank, just in case - but it is difficult to save for anything else. I suppose, like anything else, you decide what your priorities are and act accordingly. We will never have pots of money (despite a very good salary), but I am very happy with my dc's school and it feels worthwhile.