Financially speaking.....

[tostaky]

when does a child cost you more? when at nursery? when they are teenagers?

I am still undecided about a third DC, i am really scared we wont manage financially , then again they are lots of families who probably do ok with less income and 3 DCs.

I've only got 2 and aren't planning anymore but I think if you stopped to think whether you could afford children you'd probably realise you never could so wouldn't ever have any.

The more you have then the more stuff you've already got so dc3 wouldn't cost as much as dc1 (unless you got brand new everything for them, not hand me downs).

I reckon if you want another go for it, what's Smartprice beans for a couple of years!!!

x

I was watching big brother tonight ...I know!! Vanessa Feltz was saying that her one biggest regret was deciding to stop at 2 children for her very valid, sensible reasons e.g money. She wishes she had had more children and ignored the 'sensible' option. I think you will manage whatever, people just do don't they.

I think it depends more on what stage of life you are in rather than the stage your children are at? (If the last sentence made any sense)

It is easy to afford teenagers and university when you are 50 and 'at the top of your game'. It is expensive and hard when you are young and broke or nearing retirement and gearing down ...

Kids generally don't get cheaper the older they get

I've stopped at 2, partly for financial reasons but also for a few other reasons such as finally losing the baby weight and also because I would like more freedom at some stage, having been a mum since I was 17 I feel once dd2 reaches 18 I will be 41 and I will want to be able to do something just for me by then and I don't feel I can until my dd's are old enough to be totally dependant. Also because I really enjoy my lie in's and dd2 is almost 5 and in a couple of years I may be able to sleep in until 10am at weekends.

The biggest reason is lack of money though. We have quite a bit of debt so I don't feel we can afford to get into more debt by having a third child and also my dd1 would like to be able to go to university and we would like to buy a house at some point plus I haven't started a pension yet and I need to consider my old age.

Running one of those big cars could be a big expense, and more time out of work (if that's an issue).
But like IJAFW says, it depends on where you're at yourselves too.

Actually yes, just lots of things. I often wonder how parents with more DCs manage to even pay 3 or more dinnermonies and bus fairs.