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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I paid $186/week at a nice church daycare in 2012 for my 2 year old. The most I paid for infant care was $300/week and at NAEYC center.  Ex and I split daycare. DD went into free PreK3 thereafter. Her school provided free aftercare. I took home $3000 when she was born. Mortgage and condo fees plus utilities were $1400. I breastfed exclusively and opted to use cloth diapers (until we switched to a cheaper center that only used disposable). I saved 10-15% for retirement the entire time.

We still ate out, travelled, and I went out with friends and dates. I am not as extreme as OP, but I agree that living on well under 100k can be done. I am probably not much older than OP.[/quote]

I think the big kicker for a lot of people is the cost of childcare.  I am so glad to hear people have found affordable, safe and reliable childcare options, but I think most people can agree thwt is not the norm, they are very hard to find and if you do find one it must have a space available and work for your work hours.  I searched from the day I found out I was pregnant, at 6 weeks, and couldn't find an in home daycare that seemed remotely safe to me, or a center that even had a space available when I calculated I would go back to work.  It was insane.  I mean I searched near where I lived, near my job, in between, and beyond.  No churches in my area had daycare, they had MMO programs but that's not Fulltime care.  I had to go with a center, it was $1200 a month for my baby in 2008.

Now that baby is in 1st grade, so he needs aftercare at school, and camps during break.  Sure it's cheaper thnan 52 weeks of Fulltime daycare, but it isn't nothing either.  And don't get me started on the emergencies, like all the snow days from last year, many of them for hardly any snow. Having to juggle snow days, sick days, random days off from school.  Having a kid is expensive, and then there are the random emergencies thwt put you in jeopardy of losing your job or getting passed over for that promotion.  Once you have a kid, you can't be working super late, or over the weekends, etc.  it's life, and it's a juggle with money, time and sanity.[/quote]

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