Is this sufficient for 3 kids?

Also two DC means you can drive them to wherever it needs to be for clubs. If you have three, then you'll have to say no to some of if you end up needing to be at three places at the same time.

@Newnamenewnamenewnamenew you allow your child to do it if you can afford it. DC is into figure skating. Private lessons are £27 for half an hour, and then you pay £10 ice time on top. So £37 just for a lesson a week. Mine are casual so they don't often go for extra practice. But if they are competive, you have to pay extra to be in the synchro team, exact practice ice time, compeition dresses. It adds up very quickly.

Swimming is cheaper and I think £25 per 30min lesson.

Music is cheaper and we pay £20 per half hour lesson. Exam fees are minimal. We have ensembles organised by the county music service which is like £40 a term.

I had a third child and then my husband left, and I was made redundant. 10 years in and I am fucking skint but really happy, and my kids are happy too. Don’t fret about the finances, sounds like you have loads compared to us and we’re living a good life with lots of joy and love. Go for it if that’s what you want.

I see someone mentions the teenage years already. Childcare is a lot cheaper than teenagers. And I had both of them in full time nursery. It depends on where you live and that will affect what they ask.

Our children go to state schools but in an area where parents generally can afford things. I laugh when I saw a post complaining about £2 christmas contributions. Secondary sent an email giving us some figures to work towards. The most expensive is a special trip for £4300. That isn't linked to any subjects so DC won't be going. But all the other subject trips are around £1500. DC is interested in doing Geography and Music and the two trips are over £3000. Then there are trips for MFL. Even if your child is only going to one, this is around £1500.

Then all the kids have Apple Watch. DC was the last to still have a fitbit. Homework are done on laptop and communicated via emails and apps, submitted on Microsoft 365. You'll need to get them smart phones and laptops each.

They eat like adults. Many attraction entry tickets charge adult fees after 12. Flights are similar.

But having said that, I think you have enough money. But don't underestimate the cost of teenagers if you want to keep up with the Jones a bit.

It’s like, how long is a piece of string OP?

DS’s cricket is £200 for sept to April and then what like £30 a month April to sept? Something like that? Then all the kit.

Theatre class is £330 a TERM 😭

Piano lessons £20 for half an hour, every week x2

But then Beavers things are like £8 for the most amazing activity day a child could ever imagine and their one off activities are like £1 or something. Can’t remember how much a term, not much.

Footie through school is maybe £20 a term, but if he wanted to do local club that’s £140 a season, then a weird amount of kids I know are part of a premiership academy which I’m sure is ££££

You really can’t predict a number, just see what happens and then see if you can afford it.

I can't work out your budget of £75 for hobbies either.

I pay £60 per child per month for swimming lessons. Then other activities are between £5-10 a week per activity. My 3 are all under 5. So over £300 per month to do swimming each and 1 activity each per week.

probably at least £100 per child per month, but like the pp said - costs will change and you can't base your decision to have a child on whether you acn afford hobbies.

some are much cheaper. I pay around £90 a year for rugby including training & matches. conversely i pay £70 a week for horse riding, £90 a month for swimming & £300 a term for dancing. Each hobby has it's own pricing structure. music lessons or other sports will be more.

Does she NEED to think about driving lessons and uni?
That's the point though isn't it, no one NEEDS to go on holiday, or after school activities but most of us have a list of wants for our children, likely longer than needs.

I don't think parents earning that much can ignore uni though, we're supposed to contribute. My DH was devastated when I told him 😂

By the time your kids are older, costs will have changed anyway. Either do it or don’t, and cut your cloth accordingly. You can’t be hyper prepared for everything.

Does she NEED to think about driving lessons and uni? My parents never paid for me to go to uni or have driving lessons (I'm early twenties before someone mentions it being different these days) and neither did most of my friends parents. They may not even want to go to uni.

Op has a house big enough for each child to have their own room and a pretty high income. There are people on their fifth kid in circumstances half as good as ops doing less overthinking on this.

That's probably what's wrong with the world though 😂

I always think it’s crazy when people are entitled to child benefit and they just use it to save, you obviously don’t need child benefit if it’s just to be saved

I have 3 and we have a third of your salary and make it work, you just do. And if you struggle financially and have to cut back on holidays etc then so be it. But it’s not all about finances. I wouldn’t change my set up for the world. My third was a bit of a surprise, we had stopped at 2 but had a random naughty night and along came a baby 🤣
What I struggle with more than anything is having my enough time for them all. At the minute, it’s hard juggling all the different school bits, listening to them read, learning phonics, getting them to different clubs. Mentally I used to be very organised and knew exactly what was on the school calendar. Now I’m struggling to remember who needs what and when. I just worry sometimes that I’m not enough for them all and it will only get harder as the youngest gets older. And I have a supportive and hands on husband. Just something else to think about, it’s not all about money.

I am just going mention other considerations with having 3 children which are not financial. I have 3 but due to having twins after my first. So we were thrown into having 3, so had to just make it work. But I would say additional issues with having 3 children are

• Activities and holidays not set up for families of 5. Lots of activities (I.e. swimming, rides etc) require 1:1 child to adult ratio which means we can't go. We have for example been refused entry into center parcs swimming pool due to this ratio issue.
• Adults are out numbered by the children and so all my children miss out on 1:1 time.
• Also on this it can make bedtime a bit of a juggling act when they all want time/attention.
• GP's cannot cope with all 3 children at one time for any length of time. So they will have max 2 at a time.
• Need a larger car

You can afford it on paper but are you allowing for larger car for instance, also your holiday figures are completely unrealistic, they are running at £1000 + per person sharing one room but leap up a lot for 5 because of needing a suite at 4*

i think you should go for a third. its clearly what you want and your finances can handle it.

i dont think you've allowed enough for kids hobbies, but not everyone priorities clubs the same way. I spend a lot more on my 3.

good luck, it'll all work out in the end!

Plenty on income and outgoings. A little surprised actually that your savings aren't higher and you have credit card debt at all (even if small) given you qualify for child benefit and therefore the 110k base must be a split between you which keeps you under the threshold, and therefore you're not taxed on that as highly as a single income 110k. I think you actually have room to save more in prep for a third and to have a cushion moving forward

Perhaps in your partner's field you need a Masters to do a PhD, I certainly didn't.