Have just been reading some of the threads about only children and wondered whether many people out there decided not to have a second or third child for financial reasons. We live in the South-East and have one child who is nearly one. I would quite like a second one, but couldn't afford it till DC1 is at least four and nearly in school. I can't afford to work FT and pay two lots of childcare and not working or working P/T isn't financially viable either. Catch 22. I am quite angry about this situation because both my DH and I are professional and successful people and (what a joke!) higher rate tax payers. And yet, because of the cost of housing, childcare and living in the UK, and especially in the S-E (add to this the cost of commuting to London for my DH), we are wondering how ON EARTH people afford it. We like enjoying ourselves but have one fairly modest foreign holiday every 12-18 months, two small cars, and probably go out to dinner together once every six weeks. I don't call this extravagant. It makes me so cross that our government is so useless at funding childcare. Are there people with similar stories out there? And families who do manage financially, and if so how much disposable income do they reckon you need a month to survive and have a tiny bit of fun? Sorry to ask such a vulgar question, but I would be seriously interested to know.