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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread is enlightening.

This is exactly why you rich people complain that you can't make it on $300k a year.

We have a wonderful family life and feel very lucky with where we're at financially and what we can do, but I have absolutely ZERO inclination to spend money on things that the rich idiots on this thread claim are essential for their children.

[b][u]Our children are still young - 7 and 4 [/u][/b]- but have cost us relatively little.  We live in the same house we lived in pre kids and drive the same car, kids get a lot of their clothes from thrift stores, go to public charter schools, we've never paid a dime for child care (work out our schedules around the kids, trade babysitting with neighbors and friends).  They eat what we eat and always have done - not much added to our grocery bill.  When they were younger we used cloth diapers and breastfed, no interest in spending money for formula when it's free, warm and convenient straight from the breast. Also potty trained both and completely rid of diapers including overnight before age 2. We have an HMO which covers all our medical needs and costs less per month than our pre-kid insurance.

We go out much less now that we have kids.  We drink less with kids than we used to.  No more theater tickets or comedy tickets, or nights out to see live music.  Or at least not very often.  Ditto the movies.  We socialize in different ways now but overall, likely save money.

My kids don't go to expensive camps, they are not signed up for expensive sports or activities.  We do activities together as a family every weekend, go to the library often, have playdates.  Take advantage of neighborhood activities (free) or those offered by parks and rec, including their summer camp.

Our biggest additional expense from kids is travel.  While we now take them camping for a weekend a few times a summer when pre kids we might have stayed in a B and B, we also fly a couple of times a year which is now twice as expensive with four tickets.  We also travel overseas every year or two years and have to rent a larger car than we'd done previously.  And if not camping or staying with family we have to rent a larger apartment or vacation rental for the four of us.

So really, OP, don't let the freaking nutty people on this thread persuade you that it's normal to drop thousands on summer camp and sports and pool membership and on buying McMansions in the burbs in a good school district with all the other Stepford wives.  This is a very skewed audience.  Normal people work out how they can feed their kids and keep them in clothes and shoes, rather than justifying just how talented their kid is so that they feel better about dropping $300 a month on violin lessons.

Signed - parent of two kids, very comfortable with an HHI of about $95k[/quote]

Nothing you say after this line has any meaning.[/quote]

Oh, yes?  And who gave you the right to dictate that?

The question isn't about teens, it's about KIDS.  I have plenty of experience with kids and even when they are teens I can tell you hands down that we will not be paying for clubs and classes and tuition and pool memberships or hundreds of dollars for a birthday party.  Just not happening.  It's not part of my approach to life.  And, yes, I do think I'm superior to you because I have a much more minimalist, thrifty and reasonable approach to child raising and to my budget.[/quote]

You haven't paid a dime for childcare. Ok, so you stay at home or work very part-time (?), which means you save $20k or whatever per year in childcare. But that also means your kids are costing you whatever salary you could be earning times however many years you stay home with them.  that's hundreds of thousands of dollars. But go ahead, cut coupons, camp out, and feel thrifty. [/quote]

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