Right, we are already at the bone, HOW can we afford 3 kids, and a car to transport them in, on one income? HOW?

[fillyjonk]

We are bascially breaking even every month

We hardly have extravagent lifestyles.

We cook everything from scratch, though I accept there could be less strawberies and more reuse of leftovers.

We buy 90% organic

All kids clothes, and most of ours, are handmedowns or from ebay/charity shops. Ditto most toys etc.

We use reusable nappies etc.

Holidays-camping, or with grandparents

Have already shopped around for cheapest utilites / insuance etc - ta Martin's Money Tips

I want a very safe car with 3 x ISOFIX seats, this is non negotiable, I am utterly utterly neurotic about car safety. This looks like the fiat multipla and whoa they are expensive.

Plus also-there WILL be another mouth to feed, clothe, etc.

pmsl

oooh yes, socks

I have seen a LOVELY pattern for knitted socks, in a debbie bliss book.

Nope F&Z

Doubt it's me, tbh we live nearer Ipswich but figured it's closer to Norwich than Wales. Moved out here end of last year and think it's great

Filly offer still stands for bike seat thingy, obviously free, just let me know

hmm i am really tempted esp since peachy has offered me a cycle.

aaargh

let me think, let me think...

how many kids will you have after bump arrives?? and i must have missed your pg announcement, so congratulations.

NAMES let's talk names

oh pmsl

I AM skipping the holidays

FOUR YEARS ITS BEEN

aside from visiting parents and inlaws and jesus, that is NOT a holiday. But camping is fab, if hard work. We usually go with a bunch of friends with PFBs...so as to spread the joy a bit...

I do have an allotment but I find that with young babies I never go up there, its not til they are abot 18 months that it becomes possible (and then I seem to have another one)

misdee-this will be no 3. and am bricking it.

frank oh I dunno. Names. thats a problem. dp and i can't agree on names , EVER. I just ended up letting him choose ds and dd's name, I got bored.

Lol at Fix it again Tony! Kerrymum I'd say that FIAT are safe as long as it's not Italians driving them... (and everytime I go back to Italy I notice that the driving gets worse).
As I said we have a Multipla, which we love like a family pet, but dh now want to change it for a second hand car produced in sweden...

can i recommend our car. nissan tino, 3 car seats fit in the back (2 isofix, baby seat in the middle). massive boot space, room for dh equipment and spares. they arent badly priced second hand.

Cheapest route is therapy so you're not neurotic about car safety.

Our new car cost £900.

i am sooooo deeply resentful of having to have a new car

i am seriously trying to work out if i actually need one.

i did have, i think , in retrospect, quite bad pnd after dd . never detected because hv only came twice and no one actually ASKED me how I was feeling...and I wasn't about to TELL anyone.

I think in part it was caused by being pretty isolated with a seriously colicky newborn and a 22 mo.

oh big aaaargh

have you been in a crash, xenia?

i was in a 5 car pile up just before dd was born. Hit from behind at 35 mph

car in front written off

car behind written off

both drivers taken away in ambulances and back of car in front was wrecked

me in my fairly new tank of a skoda fabia drove away from the wreck.

I don't think its something i want to compromise on, really

What about finding a good mobile hairdresser - advantages - far cheaper than salon, no childcare issue as he/she comes to your house plus social contact if you're feeling stuck at home with three kids!

What are your skills? There are lots of tutoring jobs / proof-reading from home /dog-walking (take kids along too) / local rag deliveries that you kid fit in around the kids. Delivering a local paper round here earns about £40 a week and that's something the kids might enjoy helping you with. Perhaps not very exciting but would get you out and about and earn a bit of extra cash! Failing that find an ebay gap in the market and make your fortune!

well dp did a pretty good job of names so far I think

perhaps that is another job you can leave to him, then

[coy] or Frances is quite a pleasant name?

Youc an compromise on age though FJ if not safety! I've been in a bad accdent too (in a mini!!), and also seen my mest amte killed in a bike crash so I know what you mean- but Espaces are supposed to be hugely safe (which) and ours still cost £1100 (with roofbox)- coz its old. they don't rust, they're amde of non metals!

I used to panic about the gas guzzling but Dh got a Daihatsu super mini from the local garage for a loaner- sis exactly the same MPG! )we do have the smallest engine though- we love holding up the traffic going up the hill LOL!)

Congratulations Filly - I was in a similar position as you last year, happily accidently pregnant with no. 3 and only DH working, so I really understand how you are feeling.

We needed to changed our car to an MPV, I looked for ages on the net but eventually found a great car on autotrader site, a 2000 citroen Xsara from a small garage, old I know but its in excellent condition and only 37,000 miles on the clock...

I can only echo others hints such as dry cuts at the hairdressers, gratefully receiving any friends 'hand me downs' and Meal planning.

My biggest personal sacrifice was my 2 monthly highlights appointment at the hairdressers, cost £90 and I really miss it, I do home colouring now (as am v grey ) But it just doesn't look anywhere near as good

Don't Renaults have 3 isofix? (Scenic and Modus)

Having managed for years with 4 children in "normal" cars this "I've got 3 kids so I need a people carrier" really winds me up. Seems to be endemic now. 5 people fit into a normal family car. It's the 6th that causes the problems.

oh sod it

5 NT poeple fit into a normal car

most people I know with 5 or less in their family who run a MPV do so because they go camping etc- I have some wonderful figures somewhere showing how much better for the environment a trip by RANGE ROVER (the ultimate gas guzzler) of 1000 miles to go camping is compared to a trip to france in a plane. There are lots of ways to be helping the environment, owning a bigger car doesnt automatical;ly mean youre the worst.

Also will re-point out that the daihatsu super mini we had as a loaner costs exactly the same in petrol as our (well serviced) L reg espace

Truth be told I think most peole exewmpt ourc ar as 2 of our 3 are SN (and we are trying for no 4 albeit with little luck). I just dont get why larger cars are targetted mroe than holidays abroad as an example.

OK rant over I apologise

Peachy you make a very good point about how the two things are viewed, and I think the answer is that a large car is very visible and used on most days, so is seen as more self-indulgent over a long period of time IYSWIM, and more of a conscious two fingers to the environment

whereas a foreign holiday by aeroplane is "just a little treat" and seen as a one off extravagance, the kind of mistake anyone could make

Except that since wwe bought the largre car we now catch the bus unless we have a car full / ds3 or a large amount of shopping! Work is the only exception for Dh, and thats only coz he cant find a local job on a public transport route- he would love to.

Thats the thing imo: its about minimising the effect you have on the environment isn't it? And if buying a bigger car motivates you to think more maybe its not so bad?

The other point of course for alrger famillies is that its big car or "2" smaller ones!

"5 people fit into a normal family car."

oh good

which, please?

bearing in mind that I want all three kids in the BACK

(oh i should say-I know there is a technical distinction between MPVs and large saloon cars like the ford mondao but...I don't see the difference really. Ones long, the other's wide. So when I said MPV I just meant...bigger than a skoda fabia/golf/focus)

You used to be able to fit three children in the back of a normal car but since the child car seat laws were brought in it is very very hard to fit three car seats safely into the back.

We have a Land Rover (I know, stone me now) which we bought when I was pregnant with no 3. In our defence it is very old (and apparently reusing is even better than recycling ) and it is better than a people carrier as we can fit three children in PLUS a big dog and the pram.

We used to fit 5 in or Proton Persona with car seats BUT it wasn't exactrly an easy fir- it was right at the maximum! And they wouldn't have been able to grow any more.