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[quote=Anonymous]HHI of $275 here, so we are by no means impoverished, but we still have to make sacrifices to fund the kiddos.  I have two in daycare (ouch!) and the bill is about the same as my mortgage - daycare for two is $2500 and mortgage (and taxes/insurance/etc.) is $2900.  You would think we would be swimming in $ but my DH has major student loan debt to the tune of $1100/month.  I think our mortgage is not outrageous for this area and it covers around $400k on a modest place that is around 1500 square feet.  If you live in DC, you can get free pre-k started at age 3, so that would really help with budgeting (alas, we don't live in DC but our daughter lost 1/2 of our preschool class this year to the public school system).

We have clamped down on spending in various ways, including:  switching to the cheapest cable company, ditching our land line, buying clothes ONLY on clearance (and for the kids, I often buy for the next year so I buy summer clothes in September that will fit the kids the next year - you can save mucho $ doing that), only vacations are to visit family and we use a rewards card to get points for airfare, rarely eat out and if we do it's a cheap family joint for pizza or something like that.  I also bought a hybrid car before the kids and that means I only buy gas once a month or so (we live pretty close in).  Some things I was doing before kids are not really happening now so that's an added savings - this includes no more regular facials or weekly dinners out at nice restaurants.  One thing we're working on is contemplating joining a babysitting exchange in our neighborhood so that we trade off looking after neighborhood kids a couple of times a year so we can have a date night without adding $80 to the cost by hiring a babysitter.

Kids are expensive, and there are things you won't even think about.  For example, my daughter needs special medicine for a minor but super annoying condition for her that costs $100/month even with insurance and the little discount card.  But, you can make it work.  If need be, we would move farther out or just completely away from this expensive city.  It's something I consider all of the time.  Not just for $ but for quality of life.  I would love to live in a smallish town where my commute is 15 minutes so I spend more time with the kids and my kids won't be exposed to all the crazy competition around here.[/quote]

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