To ask if you’ve got 3 kids?

But most of us are perfectly happy without spending £90 at the beach. But I guess we’re all different and have different priorities in life.

I agree with you. There are 5 of us in a 3 bed. Being financially secure is better for us than having the extra space.

Did you even read my post?

Yes we chose to do so. The point is, what kind of life is it to not have the option, or try and convince ourselves that we're perfectly happy never (or very rarely) having a treat.

We could never eat out and take a packed lunch. Virtually free. Not the life I want for my children. It's not about spoiling them, it's about having the choice. Definitely, they love a picnic. But not because treats have to be so few and far between that it's no ice-cream and packed lunch out of necessity.

3 kids, smallish 4 bed 1 bathroom semi. About to extend to add a bedroom, a bathroom and bigger kitchen. Combined salary 70k. We're not loaded but we're fine!

A tiny 4 bed house? 🤣 No they need to mind their own business.

3 here - single mum on about £38k
4 bed semi detached house (recently moved from a 3 bed). All have own rooms, 2 reception rooms and a conservatory. We all rub along ok, there’s enough space

Are they the same sex? I know loads of same sex siblings that shared a double bedroom growing up. Or you and DH could work elsewhere in the house so each child has their own bedroom?

£90 for a beach day! You’re choosing to spend that much, it’s not how much it costs. We live near the beach and go regularly in the summer. Today we went and it cost nothing. We walk or cycle down, we tend to bring snack or beers and picnic dinner. Might get an ice cream occasionally sure, but generally have hours of fun and definitely don’t spend 90 quid!

I know, I was hoping there would be a rate cut by now and we'd have tried to lock in a new fix, hasn't happened yet though and getting a bit nervous!

We will be ok though, my eldest starts school in September so we won't be paying for childcare for him anymore. I was hoping not to have to put the money we'd save straight into the mortgage but such is life.

When the rates dip, the prices will rise.

DT are at school from September though, so bloody awful double childcare is over.

Eldest was public school. DT we have been incredibly lucky and got them into a tiny state primary that is getting better results then the local public pre-prep, insanely competitive so no idea how we got two of the places, but frankly thank god because £7k term fees for the two of them, plus this impending mortgage would be impossible.

I have a 12 yo DSS ( with us 40% of the time) and 2 preschool age boys. We have a 3 bed end of terrace house. Original plan was for younger ones to share but for a variety of reasons we decided not to. We split the master bedroom so we now essentially have 3 box rooms for each of the boys and a double for me and DP.

Household income of approx 80k. So monthly take home of about 5k a month between us. Its pretty tight right now with both in full time nursery but my 4 yo is starting school this year and my 18 mo will get funding from September so it will become easier soon.

We live in an area where the average house is the national average house price. Our mortgage is 1200 a month

Have two, trying for a third.

Income is around 100k between us before tax. We both work part time. Mortgage is £1200 per month, likely to go up in September when our fixed rate ends.

We have a 3 bed terrace with a loft conversion. The children currently have a bedroom each, then there's our bedroom, and we use the loft conversion as a home office and occasional spare room.

If/when DC3 comes along we'll see if our older two are up for sharing a room. At the moment they love the idea but they keep each other awake like anything when they share on holiday. If sharing doesn't work we would use the loft conversion as our bedroom and convert our garden shed to a home office.

3 children, four bedrooms, two sitting rooms. All three have now left leaving myself and husband rattling a bit. Would quite like to downsize but then where would everyone go for Birthdays, Easter, Christmas?

Just found out I’m pregnant with dc3…bit of a surprise!

We have a 4 bed but DCs 1&2 currently share so that we have a spare room
and office. Planning to convert the loft so will have a 5 bed and will make one of the bigger rooms a combined office/guest room so everyone can have their own room eventually. DC’s 1&2 (boy and girl with 2 year gap) very happy to share atm.

I am a high earner, DH earns about the average U.K. wage, so we should be ok financially.

3DC. One 16, twins, 4.

Largish 5 bed. DH circa £150k. Me £30k part time.

Currently renting. Buying nice house soon. Mortgage will be over £3k a month. Probably £900 a month had we bought and fixed pre COVID. Fuck. We trip over each other a bit even in this size of house. 5 peoples stuff, clothes, school bits, hobbies, plus all the furniture and fittings a house needs, for 5, take up a lot of space. Dining table? Seats 8. Frankly that's not big enough if we just have my parents over and I want to put the side dishes in the centre of the table.

It depends on your aspirations. I couldn't just "survive" with 3DC. I need the big house and the nice car, and to show them all the countries and cultures and experiences we can on this brilliant planet we only get one shot on. We earn nearly £200k and I still buy nearly everything second hand because it's not enough money to have the life experience we want and buy everything new. I buy quality, eg duresta sofas but search high and low for a bargain, and buy an "as new" suite for £1,500 instead of £15,000.

I'm honestly in awe at people having 3DC on a combined income of under £50k. How you afford anything decent socially is beyond me. The pantomime this year, the five of us, tickets only, £196. Day out at the beach, took all our own lunch, but arrived and all had a hot chocolate etc, £28, ice-creams mid afternoon £22, three portions of fish n chips at the end of the day to share, £38. That's £90 on a day where the activity was free.
Meal out with drinks? £150 minimum. Was gifted tickets to the circus, not even a very good one, which would have been £160 had I bought them, that's without the popcorn and candyfloss. I can only imagine people on low incomes have a very very favourable mortgage.

But then if you don't really want to go out much, that beach day is £90, but only once a month. Greggs for all of us is £16. Walking in a park is free. Some museums are free. But it all depends if that's enough for you in life. Yeah, there's a lot of us and we could have saved £90 not buying ice-creams at the beach and sharing a chippie on the harbour wall...but we don't want that life, where it's nearly always "sorry, not today sweetheart" because of finances. Or cram round a dining table every night because it's the only table that fits in the dining room of a little house. Life's for living.

I love having a big family, the hustle and bustle at Christmas and BBQs, but I wouldn't want to do it struggling. That would not be fun at all, especially for the children.

3 children; DSS who we have 50% of the time, plus two DDs. We have a 4 bed, 2 reception semi (around 2400sqft) just outside London. At the moment the DDs are sharing a bedroom as I use the box as my office - we're in the planning stages of a loft conversion which will hopefully be done late next spring which will make our house either 5 bed with a small office, or a 6 bed. Household income c. £200k gross. I probably would have been open to having another if we'd thought about it before the youngest started school but she's 8 now and that ship has very much sailed!

3 DCs. All have big age gaps. Mortgage about 360 per month (made lots of overpayments over 15 years). 4 bedroom semi "up north." They have their own rooms but tend to hang out in each other's rooms, the older two watch films together. Younger two play games until one annoys the other. The youngest would happily share with the others.
I can never bring myself to post earnings. Not even in those surveys where you get asked. It's enough to live on.

We’re currently in a 3 bed terrace, 3 DDs (7/5/3) share a room - their choice. Only one bathroom (plus an outdoor loo!) which is pretty rubbish. We are actually just about to relocate out of London so we can afford somewhere bigger (5 bed) but mainly it’s to be near family as 3 DC is a lot with no support nearby. FWIW I saw your other thread and thought your house looked fine for 3 kids, especially for the first few years. Not everyone houses their children in a separate wing with a governess to keep them out of mischief (I can but dream…)

3 kids - 4 bed semi - 3 doubles and a single - 3 kids have own room as do I.

We have 2 downstairs rooms so one is my office

Don't earn much (below £45k) - (sorry I know that 'much' to a lot of people).

House was £150k 9 years ago - mainly because it was empty and needed work.

3 children. 4 bedrooms although DTs share and youngest is STILL in our bed so we have 2 unused bedrooms….

Total salaries would be 200k but I work part time, so closer to 175k. We live in a pricey part of the SE, just outside London.

Mortgage is about 1700 a month because we took a second mortgage to covert the loft last year.

3 bed, very small third bedroom.Dc had bunk beds until they left home. Did have more downstairs space though and a garden.