How much do you need to earn for 3 kids?

[Allthegoodnamesaregonegone]

When you don’t live in London and have very average expenses?

for arguments sake, I googled and saw the average mortgage is £1400
average heating for 4/5 people is £200 a month (British Gas website)

assume no ‘bad debts’ and no private school

id love another kid, if possible, but I do see on here often on the cost of a third and that being a large factor, so I’d like to understand what is the amount people think you need to earn pre tax to live comfortably with 3.

Our take home is just over 5k a month, 3 kids, £1000 mortgage. It's quite tight since the cost of living went up holidays go on the credit card and paid over the year but essentials are met.

@Allthegoodnamesaregonegone go onto a holiday company website and get a quote for the same sort of holidays you would usually have but with two adults and three teens and see what the prices are then.

the car yes, house sort of (would need some creativity, it’s 4 bed but we wfh, so we’d some creativity and then likely have to move.

We save £50 for each child a month for the future + CB equally divided in a stocks and shares isa- so that we could do.

holidays… that’s the worry for me

We have a combined income of around 105 k (after tax and pension obviously do not come out with that)
3 children. 2 cars on finance etc. just moved house so couldn’t afford a holiday last year.
hoping going forward with budgeting we will be able to afford one family holiday abroad a year and maybe one other little European getaway.

Where do you go on holiday to spend that much for 2 adults and 2 kids?we have a small 4 bed (2 double 2 singles and one open plan downstairs) so enough for us now but unlikely long term. Surely 3 reception rooms isn’t necessary?

I haven't said anywhere what we have is necessary, it's what we want.

Holidays we like mix of North America and AI Europe. In an ideal work we'd have a luxury AI holiday once a year, and an adventurous sightseeing trip long haul. Florida alone cost us £12000 so we only went once that year. We plan to do California and Japan, neither of these are cheap, again it depends on what your family wants.

3 reception rooms = living room, office (I WFH so this is non-negotiable), and the 3rd is technically a dining room but our kitchen is a kitchen/diner/living space so we use it as a living room for the teens, if they were younger it would be a playroom I guess. It's really nice as they get older they have a space to socialise and game, bring friends over, so they're not constantly hidden in their rooms.

As I say not necessary, but what we want and improves our lives.

*world

That’s actually filled me with confidence there’s holidays that we’d happily take now for around a similar price point to what we’d pay now.

Is there any chance you’re going to those locations for the Disney parks?

if so this is my life goal…

we did wdw just gone 2 weeks at pop for 6k, Disney hols are a non negotiable for us but I’ve seen cbr and pors have 5th sleeper rooms.

sorry I read 3 receptions rooms as 3 separate lounges.

we’re the same insofar as wfh, need a space, currently use the large spare as a spare/ office.

@Allthegoodnamesaregonegone haha busted, well I wouldn't say Disney is THE goal (teens just love Japanese culture, like many these days!) but yes we would go to Disney in all locations. But California will be a full road trip so is coming out roughly £12k as well actually (although I probably do tailor to this budget). Florida ours were 12 and 9 so on the higher pricing, we did Pop as well actually but also went to Universal. £12k includes the spending money. Although the dining package is back now, it wasn't when we went so that would save a bit, but still be over £10k.

Have you done a TUI short notice Disney deal, no dining but I saw wilderness lodge (flights hotel tickets) 11 nights for 6k… nearly booked it, except I’d just got back!

this is going to be my secret hack moving forward now, so many 000s cheaper.

check out ever after holidays too! Saw an absolute belter for Pixar place and aulani

It really depends on your outgoings and any debts etc. I also personally don't feel small children cost that much! I guess when they become teenagers etc it may be more. We have 3 very young children and one on the way.

Our total household income including child benefit is around £4k per month which will obviously go up slightly when we start getting child benefit for number 4. We don't have any credit cards, loans or overdrafts to pay. Our mortgage is £1200 and then the other bills like food shopping, council tax, diesel for the car, gas and electricity, insurances etc bump our total up to just under £3k. We aren't particularly frugal and if we want something or the kids need something we buy it. We don't spend loads on birthdays and Christmas because there's just no need. We also don't really take holidays except UK breaks but that's mostly to do with the kids ages at the moment!

@Allthegoodnamesaregonegone oh nice!

Jointly DH and I earn £57k a year (just over £4000pcm after tax and student loans), we're e letting our third in the spring (we will have 3 under 4). Our mortgage is currently £650pcm, and we only run one car, but we have plenty left over for savings each month, and enjoy trips out every weekend (economically, we visit National Trust houses or enjoy walks in the countryside).

It's perfectly manageable, if you budget well.

I have three under five and we're quite comfortable on about £1500 of disposable income per month after all bills and food is paid for. Including food it's probably about £2000pcm. We also save £1500pcm so we can dip into that to pay for bigger one offs, like a holiday.

I think it’s the childcare when they are young. We’re lucky our bill has never been that crazy high, even with 2 children in nursery, but that’s because our nursery is subsidised by the LA

Whattttt. How is your mortgage so low?

I haven’t read the whole thread but I think you need to look at it differently, rather than how much do you have to earn to afford kids, you need to ask, how much does a third kid cost and see if you can afford that.

a third kid is cheaper than the first, mainly due to handed down clothes and toys. The third child doesn’t affect your mortgage or energy bills materially unless you need to move house for more space. It sometimes affects the car you drive depending on whether you need three car seats simultaneously. If already a sahm it won’t affect earnings, but if you work, you’ll need to fund another round of childcare and it might hinder your career development. You won’t notice the additional food costs until the third child gets to about 8.

holidays with three children are more expensive once the third is out of a cot as most family rooms accomodate two adults and two kids.

I have three children, it is important to remember that whilst babies and small children can be cheap, teenagers are not so much. Even a night away (when travelling) involves two rooms at the likes of a Premier Inn.

University, even with pretty much a full maintenance loan I am having to top up DD. So far, thankfully, neither her or my 16 year want driving lessons but that is another expense.

I know a lot of things are a choice, but it is important to factor that in.

We have three and because we had low, and occasionally non existent, childcare cost having three as opposed to two wasn't a huge increase in outlay. Obviously it was more expensive I suppose but it didn't change our lifestyle.

Now they are all older, the eldest is on the cusp of uni, and the only reason we are not rocking in a corner is because over that time we've had a significant leap in income and seeing light at the end of the tunnel with mortgage repayments.

Keeping adult sized humans, with adult sized clothes, social lives, hobbies and now a few tutors in the mix and hurtling towards handing out £8k for uni accommodation for 9 consecutive years is enough to make me heave a sigh of relief we didn't have four.

Good for you for planning ahead. We went for 3 without a second thought.
I wouldn't say that the additional cost of no.3 was that much nor did it outweigh the joy.
The expensive years kicked in once we had solo trips, driving lessons and university to pay for. But you have time to plan and save for this.
No one will go without but you will all need to manage expectations about bedrooms, holidays, tech, clothes and trainers etc.
Follow your heart.

PS: AoA, PoR work for WDW, and also look at renting DVC points for bigger units. Although free dining with 5 in a room makes it very affordable. Universal resort hotels will do a rollaway bed.

We are in the south where property is expensive. For two children to live a comfortable lifestyle we would need 5k. So minimum 5.5k for 3 children.
Comfortable denoting food budget of £150 a week, some money to save, one holiday a year (alternate between uk and abroad), the ability to go swimming/to cinema/ to the zoo once a month, kids able to do some hobbies and adults able to have some spending for themselves.

We have four kids. We have am income of about 3500 a month. We rent out house (650 a month). We manage fine

We started out with 3 on a gross income of £34k. It was tight but fine as they were small. Now I have teens and our gross income is closer to £80k but we've never been more stretched.. however this is less the kids fault and more us taking on a big mortgage and a bit of debt.
Against MN usual advice but I'd never decide on a child based on money.

Wow. I can't imagine being on that kind of salary.

How'd you manage that?

Ours is just under £700 but we would have to move to have a 3rd as we've only got a 2 bed