Question For parents with Kids

[EDIOH]

Ok, I have a question, this is only for my own reference.

I would like to know how your doing financialy? we are looking at having our first child, but we want to know what benifits we can get, wethere or not we are earning enought to have a kid.

So:

How many kids do you have?
How much rent do you pay?
Do both Mum and dad work?
How much do you spend on Kids? (under 1) (this include any child care if you have gone back to work)
Is it hard financialy?
Do you get any benifits?
How much do you earn. (i know this is personal but just a rounded figure would help.)
And anything else you think i need to know.

I want to know this to asses the situation. Whether or not i could be a stay at home mum, or have to go back to work. Because if it is too tough financially than we cant do it, but i would love to have a little baby of my own.

Also how much did you spend roughtly in the first year on your new born?

Thank you so much for the help ladies.

[bronny-jane]

kids- 2 and 1 due in september
rent- $120 a week- small country town
work- dh works im a sahm
$ on kids- bottle feed mine probabably around $80 each one- depends on what they need- cheaper now there older. thats per week- not to expensive
is it hard- only when i had a gambling problem-other than that no
benifits- i get full family tax benifit part b and partial part a
earn $- me nothing- dh- wage varies through year as he works in cellars making wine so it can be after tax around $520 min - $1200 during vintage.
anything else- i wouldnt have it any other way- although we want to buy our own house so after bubs is born i will get a job. but my sister is going to watch them for a magnificent sum of $150 a week.:yelclap:

[EDIOH]

Yeah, see we pay $380 a week rent. So thats a bit of a problem. I would really like a child, but im worried we would struggle financialy. I dont really want to go straight back to work. So i dont know. we have roughtly $3000 of expenses a month now, let alone with a child. I just need help to figure out wether or not we could do it.

[bronny-jane]

i honestly didnt think about costs. im sure you could make it work.
theres plenty of ways to make it cost less, eg breast feeding. dont give up hope yet.

[jaydensmum]

1 - I have one child and another one on the way
2 - We pay $185wk for rent
3 - Yes both of us work, but there was a period of 4 months when there was just one income.
4 - We buy nappies in the bulk packs which lasts us about 3 - 4 weeks. They are about $30. Every week we buy formula which is $15, we also buy tin food which is about $6. We buy wipes and nappy bags about every 2-3 weeks and they are about $5 -$10. All the other things like clothes, panadol etc we buy as we need it. When Jayden was born everyone went crazy and bought him heaps of clothes, so we didnt have to buy them. Its only now that we have started to buy clothes for him and we just put them on layby and pay it off.
5 - Yes it is hard at first financially, but if you do up a budget and stick to it you should be ok.
6 - We earn about $40, 000pa. We were surviving on $32,000 when i lost the work!! :eek:
7 - Try not to worry too much. Everyone struggles at first but it does get easier. My advice to you as i have said before is draw up a budget and try to stick with it. Also enjoy your bub while it lasts, they are only babies for such a short period of time and you dont want to throw it away worrying about finances.
Good luck with everything and if you need more info feel free to ask! :D

jaydensmum

[reAllytee]

As bronny-jane said dont give up hope yet !
If its what you really want to do then you can make it work !
Bubs was a suprise for us & things have been hard due to the fact i had been made redundant 2mths previously then got m/s so bad i couldnt get another job even if temporary. So we survived on the one wage from then on & we decided it was better for us to buy which we had planned to later in the year anyways so we were only doing it 3mths early. We only looked at those suitable in price that we could afford with the one wage as we knew i didnt want to go back to work anytime soon so this meant we had to look in different areas to where we originally planned. But all came good !

We pay less than what you do a week on our mortgage so much more worthwhile especially as it means it will be "ours".
We have had to cut right back on luxuries so we hardly eat out or buy clothes unless they are really needed.
Bubs did cost a lot in some ways but at the same time friends & family buy a lot to help you out & if your smart & say go with cloth then you save again or even if you start with disposables then change when your comfy again you will start saving then. Formula feeding obviously costs more but we had no choice in this so like when we used nappies we kept an eye out for the specials & bought more when it was cheap so hopefully bf works for you & this will save you heaps.
Always remember you can buy a lot of second hand baby stuff really cheap from the paper or ebay that is good quality as well as in top condition & its also amazing what you can use from around your house that saves money eg. rather than buying a baby bath just use your kitchen sink or laundry tub while they are too little for the big bath ! If you have a spare chest of drawers use them for bub rather than buying a new set just paint them for a fresh look !

We get very little via centrelink due to my partner being in a higher bracket but at least looked at it as helping with nappies. Now that we use cloth it helps with us finally getting some savings together or our emergency fund LOL.
Remember there is the baby bonus we got this & it was used to help with many things & even put a little aside for bubs in his own account.

If worse comes to worse i will go back to work but we looked into & by the time we pay for childcare its just not worth it.

Its hard very hard but if you want to you can do it. You just have to cut back so i would advise living off one wage for a few months & see how you go ! Tis amazing what you can come up with when you have to :)

Good luck sorry to have rambled i hope you can find a way to make it work :fingerscrossed:

[heymamma]

Kids: 3 ages you can see in my signature
Rent: $320pw
Work: DH works im a sahm
How much spent on kids: you under 1 but my boys are both in nappies they are in the same size though... $85 fortnight on nappies $45 fortnight formular $13 wipes fortnight. Food on Ethan fortnightly $15 thats jar food. Then you also have clothes , medicine if they get sick etc.
We do struggle i cant remember the last time i got to buy new clothes or anything for myself or DH.
Benifits : i get family tax benifit part a & part b,, $585 fortnight Dh is on $40,000Yr
But we couldnt afford it when we had our first,,, i just thought to myself though if everyone in the world waited till they could afford it ..there wouldnt be alot of kids around.

[EDIOH]

Hi, what is a sahm???

Never heard of it.

[ThomasMum]

SAHM is Stay At Home Mums btw

Hiya,

At the moment, one boy and loving it! :yelclap:

We own a place, and no the bank doesn't own it---anymore
:yelclap:
Dh works full time Mon-Fri, after taking 9 month leave I went back to work 2 days/week Thu/Fri when Thomas was 5 mo, not for the money, but because I want to keep my career on track as I have only been working for the last 3 years (yes I was a spoilt brat)
I don't know how much we have spent for Thomas, but without my husband's help I wouldn't be able to go to work because there's no way I could afford to pay the childcare fees.
I have to be honest, it's hard. raising a child is expensive unfortunately whether you like it or not, you need food, roof under our head. thats why we did everything before we decided to have bub including travelling all over the world, renovated our place, finished our degree and so on, this way you will enjoy parenting immensely because you mentally spiritually and materially ready. <---this is JMHO, so I don't want anyone out there take it the wrong way yeah :D

No we don't receive any benefits whatsoever except a baby bonus which still sitting un-touched in Thomas's account.
I earn 5 figures, Dh earns 6 figures.

It's good that you are doing some research, but at the end of the day its you and your DH life, don't try to pleased anyone else, don't feel guilty if you had to go back to work, don't feel guilty if you cant breastfeed your bub too long, don't feel guilty if you can't go to the party nomore, and if you and your family are happy, then you don't owe anyone explanation. This is Your Life :thumbsup:

[Seekrit]

Kids - 1 on the way :)
Rent - $260/w
Work - Both of us do, I work 24 hours a week, he works.. heaps. :p But when I go on leave, 24 weeks of it will be on half pay.
Spending on kids - I don't know yet. :S
Hard - We're learning to curb our spending habits. :)
Benefits - I don't know, sorry.
Earnings - I earn around $18k, He earns around $30k. I think.

We may not be ready, financially, but I'm of the thought that if you wait until you're ready, you never will be. :)

[lexi'smum]

I feel you spend what you have, If you have alot, you spend alot, (probably more then you have) if you dont have much, you still survive, but on the finer things, you budget more and if you want it you make do, raising children doesnt mean the best of everything.

There was no way I could of afforded it if I had planned it all, but you get by, its amazing actually how well off you do. No one will let a baby go hungry or un clothed or such, theres so much help out there.

I praise you for doing all your research, its very admirable.
But it all depends where you want to be in life, If you want your children to have the best and latest of everything to live in a huge house in the nicest suburb -like if that REALLY matters to you then you best wait, but if you just want to comfortably get by, then its completly possible.

To have the choice of what and where you want to be in life is a great thing, but wheather you can afford it or not, babies/ children are alot more then money. Make sure your ready, in all aspects. :)

I dont mean any of this negatively, and I hope you havnt taken it that way, good luck with everything :hugs:

[EDIOH]

I feel you spend what you have, If you have alot, you spend alot, (probably more then you have) if you dont have much, you still survive, but on the finer things, you budget more and if you want it you make do, raising children doesnt mean the best of everything.

There was no way I could of afforded it if I had planned it all, but you get by, its amazing actually how well off you do. No one will let a baby go hungry or un clothed or such, theres so much help out there.

I praise you for doing all your research, its very admirable.
But it all depends where you want to be in life, If you want your children to have the best and latest of everything to live in a huge house in the nicest suburb -like if that REALLY matters to you then you best wait, but if you just want to comfortably get by, then its completly possible.

To have the choice of what and where you want to be in life is a great thing, but wheather you can afford it or not, babies/ children are alot more then money. Make sure your ready, in all aspects. :)

I dont mean any of this negatively, and I hope you havnt taken it that way, good luck with everything :hugs:

Not taken Negatively at all, This is why i asked you girls, because i knew id get honest answers. Its good to read about all different situations.

That way i am prepared when the time is right.

Because of having read all this, we now know that we have to rent something cheaper, make sure we clear the cc and try to have a little savings under our belts.

I definently not after the best of the best, i actualy realy like 2nd hand stuff and so on.

Keep them comming girls and thank you all so much. Very much appretiated.

[zenifa]

Firstly, having a baby is the most wonderful thing in the world, but it does change your life, including financially. Not just because of the amount you spend on your child, but its the lost income, once maternity leave entitlements, baby bonus etc run out. For us at the moment, its a major issue in deciding whether to expand our family.

Kids - 1
Mortgage - $400 p/w (no other debts just credit card)
Work - Both of us do, I work part time; DH works full time
Spending on kids - Hard to say, I use disp nappies/baby wipes for going out and cloth nappies/cotton balls & water at home. I make my own baby food, have been given lots of new and 2nd hand baby clothes; bought some items like car seats 2nd hand but after the initial set up, $30/week but it varies.
Benefits - We aren't eligible at the moment but may get some family tax benefit at tax time.
Earnings - Again hard to say, I used to earn $60K, but now I'm part time so it may be $20k; DH $60K

We had some savings for when baby came along, and to cover the six week period between my maternity leave ending and my return to part time work. We aren't extravagant but have had to curb our spending, for eg, we only eat out on special occasions and have takeaway as a treat; dvds instead of going to the movies, less holidays, have to really think about all of our purchases as we are on a really tight budget and we have decent wages. We were lucky that we travelled and lived overseas and did lots of things we wanted to before we had our DD, but it is tough. I don't mean to be -ve, just realistic. Good luck !!

[onabreak]

This is our situation

How many kids do you have? 1 daughter and a step son who lives with his mum see him once a week.

How much rent do you pay? We don't rent pay a mortgage $790.00/week

Do both Mum and dad work? Only hubby works, I am a SAHM

How much do you spend on Kids? (under 1) (this include any child care if you have gone back to work) Daughter stays at home with me. She is 16mths old and probably spend $50/wk on nappies, food etc

Is it hard financialy? Not really, hubby work is seasonal so sometimes it can be hard

Do you get any benifits? Family allowance $44/fortnight

How much do you earn. (i know this is personal but just a rounded figure would help.) 6 Figure amount (this is what our business turns over, we pay our selves a percentage out of this plus pay 3 employees and numerous expenses for materials, cars, insurance etc etc.

And anything else you think i need to know: Sometimes you do have some expenses that come up unexpectidly and for example if daughter gets sicks and needs medicine. I find that you spend more on them when they are new borns etc cause they quickly out grow clothes, once they hit about one they will plateau for awhile and will fit into clothes longer. You will receive $4000 from the government this year so that will be a big help for you. There are less fortunate people out there and they seem to be able to survive. Where there is a will there is a way.

Goodluck with what you decide to do.

[shed]

When we found out our baby was on his way we both panicked until we sat down and did the sums and were shocked to realise that we are actually going to be okay. There won't be any trips to Disneyland any time soon but we are going to be a lot better off than we thought.

Don't forget - In the fifties people did the "one wage" thing for their whole lives and they seemed to get by allright!!

[sugar n spice]

Ok, I have a question, this is only for my own reference.

I would like to know how your doing financialy? we are looking at having our first child, but we want to know what benifits we can get, wethere or not we are earning enought to have a kid.

So:

How many kids do you have?
How much rent do you pay?
Do both Mum and dad work?
How much do you spend on Kids? (under 1) (this include any child care if you have gone back to work)
Is it hard financialy?
Do you get any benifits?
How much do you earn. (i know this is personal but just a rounded figure would help.)
And anything else you think i need to know.

I want to know this to asses the situation. Whether or not i could be a stay at home mum, or have to go back to work. Because if it is too tough financially than we cant do it, but i would love to have a little baby of my own.

Also how much did you spend roughtly in the first year on your new born?

Thank you so much for the help ladies.


How many kids do you have? - 2
How much rent do you pay? - $200 wk + currently $131 month morgage which is steadily going up as we build our dream home
Do both Mum and dad work? no just dad
How much do you spend on Kids? (under 1) (this include any child care if you have gone back to work) kids under 1 i couldn't breast feed so i suppse 3 - 4 cans of formula s26 brand = $48 - $64 fortnight, nappies $40 fortnight (guessing) wipes $30 fortnight, baby food on average i think it cost about $150 pretty much what you get paid by centerlink pays for what they need.
Is it hard financialy? sometimes, but not often
Do you get any benifits - all of part b and a small part of part a
How much do you earn. if you really want to know i will pm but i wont post that info, sorry ( a good wage)

when they get sick which isn't often things are tight then as you have the cost of drs now most of them bulk bill now for under 16s but then you have medication ie panadol antibiotices etc and then usually someone else get sick in the family so theres that but you deal with it and move on.

Personally i wanted a kid and started trying i didn't even think about cost. buy secondhand baby stuff. i and my sister and sil share our stuff around as we need it. my sister is preg for the first time and they earn what we do pretty much but between two of them so they are going to be very tight with only one of them but my son is 14 mnths so i can pass all my stuff on to her.

when i comes to buying a house and stuff i prefer to think there is no point getting a loan based on two incomes that way you have the choice to work or not and aren't tiedown to an impossible debt rather something that is more manageable.

hope this helps

[Melo]

How many kids do you have? 1
How much rent do you pay? $400 per week
Do both Mum and dad work? DP works, I'm a SAHM!
How much do you spend on Kids? (under 1) (this include any child care if you have gone back to work): Um... DS is forumla fed so thats around $23 for a can a week, and nappies (try to buy them on special) so that is probably $30 and i'll stock up then. DS eats canned food so thats around $10 a week.. Then there is wipes and disposable nappy bags - Hmmmm $30 a fortnight?
Is it hard financialy? Depends on what month it is, it is especially when all the bills come in at once - eg. $1000 power bill, $850 health insurance!
Do you get any benifits? Nope, will claim this back at Tax time.
How much do we earn? (i know this is personal but just a rounded figure would help.) Oooh anywhere between $80K to $85K.

[sugar n spice]

mum2jacob out of interest how do you managae to get a $1000 electricity bill.
we find it easier to pay health insurance fortnightly so that is one thing we spread out.

there are ways to make things cheaper and easier if needed you can do it.

[EDIOH]

You girls are all so wonderfull, thanks to all your generous information, i believe you have turned my hubby around. Because he has been doing some budgeting after all the information i forwarded him that you girls shared with me, he has come up with a plan. Very happy. Looks like i might be popping out a little baby around July next year. :smiliedance:


Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you :kiss: :hugs:

[My3kids]

How many kids do you have? 3
How much rent do you pay? we paying our house off so probably $200 a week
Do both Mum and dad work? ONly Dad now
How much do you spend on Kids? (under 1) (this include any child care if you have gone back to work) probably about $50 (Honestly I don't really think about it)
Is it hard financialy? NO we coping
Do you get any benifits? yes family part payment or something like that it's around $200 a fortnight
How much do you earn. (i know this is personal but just a rounded figure would help.) 55K
And anything else you think i need to know. Honestly It will cost $$$ at the start because your buying all the funurite and baby needs but after that it's not that much, Wait till they start school that's when you start really forking out the big bucks!

[aggero]

As my mum always say's you can never afford to have kids :D

We are TTC#1 ATM and I am also concered about how we will get by. We have decided to pull our belts in now and pay as much as possible of our mortgage ($350/week) so that when bubs does arrive we don't have to stress about that straight away.

I plan to be a SAHM and my DH does earn a good wage but we also have a substantial portion of his income going towards his DD from a previous relationship. In addition to child support we pay school fees, dancing lessons etc and although we can have our child support reduced because of this my DSD mum has said that if we do she will just stop her dancing and put her in a state school :thumbsdown: Very difficult as we want the best for her but I don't want my 'new' family to suffer either

[pumpkin]

As my mum always say's you can never afford to have kids :D

We are TTC#1 ATM and I am also concered about how we will get by. We have decided to pull our belts in now and pay as much as possible of our mortgage ($350/week) so that when bubs does arrive we don't have to stress about that straight away.

I plan to be a SAHM and my DH does earn a good wage but we also have a substantial portion of his income going towards his DD from a previous relationship. In addition to child support we pay school fees, dancing lessons etc and although we can have our child support reduced because of this my DSD mum has said that if we do she will just stop her dancing and put her in a state school :thumbsdown: Very difficult as we want the best for her but I don't want my 'new' family to suffer either


don't let her try to manipulise you guys if she stops dancing then you guys take her. csa actually drop the money not you personally so she cant whinge to you as this is the amount they think she needs.iykwim

[MumsieMel]

How many kids do you have?
2

How much rent do you pay?
I dont we have a mortgage, of $1100 a fortnight.

Do both Mum and dad work?
Yes

How much do you spend on Kids? (under 1) (this include any child care if you have gone back to work)
$200/fort, not including food/nappies/wipes/outings

Is it hard financialy?
Can be sometimes

Do you get any benifits?
child Care Only

How much do you earn. (i know this is personal but just a rounded figure would help.)
Combined me and DH,

And anything else you think i need to know.
Finances are important, but no matter how much money you have, it will always be the love that counts! :hugs:

HTH!!

[Chickadee]

1 child
Rent - varies depending where we have lived. Between 200 pw to 330 pw.
Dad works full time, mum part time.
Costs- Childcare: $150-$250 pw. Formula & diapers: $50 pw?
Minimum benefits:

So many people disclosing their income... sorry, but that's my own business.

I think if a person wants children they will find a way to do it regardless of income. Obviously it's better not to struggle to pay bills so I can understand you wanting an idea of the costs of raising a child. But there is so much variation across the country in all the other costs of living (housing, healthcare, childcare, transport etc) that I'm not sure you can judge much by a person's total income.

[CJJHRA]

you can always work out what Family tax benifits you will get (or close to it) if you have a look at the centerlink site.
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/pg_payments.htm

A SAHM can get family tax benifit part B of up to $117 per fortnight if not eligble for parenting payment.

partner's income must be less than $1128.43 per fortnight to recieve part payments or parenting payment

depending on what your partner earns, you may get a healthcare card, and you may be able to get rent assistance.

Family tax part A is up to $137.06 per fortnight.

For the 8 of us, including rent, food, bills, fuel, carloan we spend probably between $800-$900 a week. our rent is $200 a week, fuel $100, car $200, food $200-300 bills $100

[BlessedWithBlue]

Before we had kids we were both working with an income of approx 55k p/a after i had ods we were on one wage and df's hours got cut big time so he was only earning $200 p/w if we were lucky and we were paying $180 p/w for rent but we managed and whatever situation we found ourselves in we still got through it. I think you do what you need to do to get by iykwim???

How many kids do you have? 2 and ttc #3

How much rent do you pay? $240 p/w

Do both Mum and dad work? No df works full time and i am a sahm

How much do you spend on Kids? yds doesn't have formula anymore, we use cloth nappies and buy disposables for bed time so a box of 80 lasts 2 months sometimes longer and we buy wipes in bulk every 6 weeks or so, so not including clothing and food about $60 p/month

Is it hard financialy? Only when there's a few bills to be paid off at once otherwise we are comfortable.

Do you get any benifits? Yes i get Parenting Payment Partnered and Family Tax Benefit.

How much do you earn? about $35k p/a

[EDIOH]

thank you very much for your honesty girls. Very much appretiated.

[Melo]

mum2jacob out of interest how do you managae to get a $1000 electricity bill.
we find it easier to pay health insurance fortnightly so that is one thing we spread out.

there are ways to make things cheaper and easier if needed you can do it.

Well we pay 12.67 cents per unit (0.1267).. For our domestic electricity we used 2206 Kwh = 2206 * 0.1267 = $279.50. For the aircon we used 4826 Kwh = $611.45.

So $279.50 + $611.45 + 20.68 (Supply Fee) + $89.90 (GST) = $1001.53

We will probably pay our health insurance fortnightly now too.