Is this sufficient for 3 kids?

There is quite a bit you haven't explicitly budgeted for as far as I can see - birthdays/christmas, home maintenance, car maintenance just off the top of my head. Sure you can afford them, but you don't just have £££ "personal spends" - all that stuff is coming out too. Just budget for them, then you'll know how much you've ACTUALLY got as personal spends.

Agree with a PP who said don't buy kids clothes out of your allowance. Anyone I've ever known who does this, the mum ends up buying all.the kids clothes, so she effectively gets less to spend on herself and that's not fair.

Yes, you can. You have a huge salary, a four-bed house and a seven-seater car.

So you couldn't afford childcare in your area except for this one place?

This is what I think is the spanner in the works.

There was a place like this near us a few years ago. Council pulled the funding. A lot of parents with a lot of problems because no where else was as comparably priced.

Local government is under so much pressure at the moment.

I would want to know that I could make it work paying full whack if I had to

Crikey, no learning for the love of learning in your world then. DS's Masters wasn't paid for, his PhD was partially funded. Well worth it for him. He is an academic and turned his thesis into a monograph, rated 4*. My employer funded Prof quals for me and there was an option of working up the dissertation to a Masters. DH paid for it for my 50th 😀

Them getting older (teens) is more expensive and you need more space so this comes down to what kind of lifestyles

I have found, I needed an extension to my house to create two living spaces assuming you don't want to be in the same room as the Xbox and you don't agree with this stuff in their bedrooms

Expectation of birthday and Christmas presents are higher as they enter the deep joy that is social media.

Extra tuition if it goes Pete tong at school, cars, university fees as they get older.

Only you can decide if 3 is workable. And that comes down to lifestyle.

I chose 1 as a lone parent, but I wanted my DD to go to private school etc

These kind of posts are so weird to me. You're obviously intelligent, financially savvy, well paid, have a good work set up, live somewhere with excellent services, and with enough wiggle room in your budget so it's blindingly obvious you can afford this. Why come here unless for validation? And why do you need the approval of a bunch of strangers? If it's a rebuff to naysayers on your other thread why not post there?

Like others say, this is all very (from your info, unnecessarily) financially focused and I would be seeking out advice about the impact of a third on family dynamics, mental health, practicalities and logistics.

This is just turning into the last thread, with you having an answer for everything and not really considering what people are saying.

We can't promise you that you'll have 3 kids and have the holidays you want which is the crux of it right? Only you know the earning potential and risks in your family.

@Newnamenewnamenewnamenew please tell me about funded Masters degrees. There wasn't funding for mine or DS's. 2010 and 2017. DD hit lucky and did her teacher training via the apprenticeship route but whilst ds had some funding for his PhD we still had to help a bit

Depends what you want.

My dc are a little older now and want to do their hobbies - music, dance, sport, all expensive. Think lessons, equipment, exams/tests, shows, tournaments. All cost loads.

Plus wanting more expensive clothes/shoes. Not fancy fancy just less willing to wear supermarket stuff.

Extra costs at christmas. It can really add up.

My kids are 11, 9 and 3.5. We had that gap between two and three because we couldn't look after three small children, childcare fees and just for our sanity.

My 11 year old does soccer on Monday nights, rugby Wednesday nights, Taekwondo Thursday nights, rugby training/matches Saturday mornings and soccer matches on Sundays and swimming on Sunday evenings.
He recently started competitive swimming so training is going to be another day of the week as well.

My 9 year old does taekwondo on Thursdays, rugby, soccer, swimming on Saturdays. Come Saturday evening, we're all exhausted.

My 3 year old doesn't do any activity yet. She's due to start swimming when she turns 5. Technically she only costs us clothes due to being a different sex.

I would budget for a cleaner and even get some laundry (bed linens) laundered externally to reduce the workload.
A few people have said up thread that three kids is a different ball game and I agree. My house was quiet with two but not anymore.
Come next year, I'll have one starting primary, one in upper primary and one starting secondary. Wish me luck!
I didn't mention the financial aspect as it seems to be covered already. Goodluck with your decision.

My only regret in life is not having a third child. But the teenage years are tough and I might not have managed to keep working full time if there'd been three. Also don't just assume it will be one degree. There may be Masters and PhDs too.

However, you comment @Newnamenewnamenewnamenew that you can't imagine retiring before 70. I might have said the same at 40. At 64 I have to pace and get much more tired. Planning to retire next year.

Right now you won't get child benefit for a third child but this may change.

It reads like you want another child, so have it.

Yes it’s enough.

For example OP, any chance of you both going down to 4 days a week. A few families I know do this. One person takes Mondays off and the other Friday for example. Frees up those days for the kids’ after school activities/chill time/family time and reduces any nursery bills!

Money-wise it seems that you've done your sums and can cover everything at the moment.

I'd just suggest that time-wise it might be different as the DC get older. Can you manage when you have to try to juggle football, dance, swimming lessons, rugby, parties, drama class, music lessons or whatever else your DC might be into? When they are little it's easy but in my experience it's harder as they get older and want to do different things.

Also, as a PP mentioned, teenagers are very expensive. School trips, food bills, driving lessons, tech, clothes, trainers, hobbies, university, uniform... the list goes on and that's before you factor in adult prices for holidays, days out etc.

This, I think this is way more important than the money aspect.

My friend was in a similar position and they had a third child who was born with various disabilities (they had no clue). It completely turned all their lives upside down and although the 2 older children are wonderful with him, they've had a very different childhood since he was born. Not just from the money aspect, but the time and sacrifices of not being able to go to places, having to turn down invites to things etc. because it just doesn't work from a practical perspective.

Not saying this would happen to you of course, but regardless your time is going to be split more with more children.

What you are really asking is whether you can maintain your current standard of living with 3.

What do you want from life? What's most important to you?

You can make budgets and look logically all your want but realistically, of course you can afford another child with your income. So do you want to?

We have 3 and we were on less than half your income when we had our children. Less expensive area I assume given your mortgage as ours is a heck of a lot less but still. Mine are all teens now and we still earn a little less than you but we're close in income now. We have a nice house, nice holidays and enjoy ourselves. They are a joy. But there was never a doubt about the third, before we had them it was just that he didn't exist yet rather than whether we would or not.