Is this sufficient for 3 kids?

[Newnamenewnamenewnamenew]

apologies it’s long.

Posted before got a bit of a wake up call in terms of my budget. id love another child and time is ticking for me age wise, so it’s starting to be now or never. The question is can we afford it. I’d like a bit of impartial help when everything is laid out, because sometimes if feel like yeah, our income is fine (I’ve put it on that min income calculator thing online and we’re a few hundred quid up a week)

Ive worked really hard with DH do a budget, it’s below. We have 2 dc, is a third viable here? This is the here and now too, we have scope to get better jobs in the medium term and bolster our earnings. We have a small 4 bed house right now and a 7 seater car, so the ‘big’ things are already taken care of. Though we’d likely need to upsize in the future.

our gross income is £110k per year base. Bonuses can vary between £10-£15k, last year was a good year and we got £20k but that’s not the norm. 3-5% annual pay rises.

monthly income 6,400 salary + £170 (child benefit)
our living expenses (mortgage, car insurance, life insurance, food, fuel, household bills) £3130. Our mortgage is £1350, I’m confident this will go down when our fix is up though.
child savings £170 (CB)+ £100
£180 credit card (0% not too many more payments this is a mix of some work on the house and a root canal I needed)
£60 mobile phones
£500 childcare (this will reduce to about £350 in the new year)
hobbies- £75 (dance, football and swimming)
£90 car insurance
£100 days out
savings £1000
that leaves us then about £1000 which we then split equally between us and the basically give ourselves a personal allowance of about £100 a week, basically £800 a month for personal stuff. We buy kids clothes from the personal allowance as well as stuff for ourselves, haircuts etc.
which should leave about £150/£200 for us to use a sink fund for any unexpected events, if there’s none then it gets saved.

for another child we’d save the additional child benefit for that child plus an additional £50 a month. Worked out that way in the investment account that they have it could be about £25k at 18, to use for uni/ whatever (it’s the same as what we do currently)

private school isn’t a priority for us, we’ve several grammar schools around us and if that’s not a viable option we live close to one of the best state schools in the area.

we like our holidays but I shop around and I’m confident I can find holidays for 5 for not too much more than we pay now (I’ve checked)

what do we think?

The threads might be then, I want to convince my dh to have another baby

he’s since changed his mind as with our bonuses we come in at around 125k BUT that’s got in my head a little.

Bit extra that you’ve gone through my old posts but ok.

a) there’s enjoying life and then there’s being irresponsible and frittering money away and being surprised when you have less savings. He’s habits were from not preparing and on his cooking days leaving it til the last minute, whereas I prep food the night before. But having this new budget now and structure has helped him manage his money, be responsible and enjoy life

b) I’ve already had children with him.

c) even though he was a right plonker with his takeaway habit, he’s a good person.

do I like being full time, yes I like earning a FT salary and I work condensed hours. More wfh would be ideal but dh’s job is entirely wfh so that evens things out

So memorable that you can quote verbatim from different threads? Impressive

heeey now be fair, moaning husband’s takeaways isn’t the same as can I afford 3 kids? they do have finances in common though I’ll give you that.

you don’t have to read or engage with threads that wind you up you know

How old is the eldest? We earn more than you but haven't considered a third as we've found the kids actually often start costing more as they get older. We could say no to some of the extra-curricular activities our kids do but I love that we can give them opportunities we wouldn't be able to afford if we had a third. Don't underestimate how expensive wrap around care and holiday clubs are when they're at school either. Full time before and after school club for two is £800 a month for us.

They’re in reception. Youngest is due to get 30 hrs in the new year

wrap around club is already factored into childcare cost. Holiday club is £25 a day, we tend to balance with our annual leave so they’re only in for 2 / 3 weeks over the summer hols

I just added up what we spend on extra curricular activities for our kids; it's currently £336 a month; gymnastics for two, swimming for two, group music lessons through school for two, and private music lessons for one. Gymnastics and swimming are through the local leisure centres so nothing fancy. It adds up quickly.

Good detective work none the less

Hmm lot of comments being deleted on this thread?