Anonymous wrote:
i guess the moral of the story is that you can't under estimate how expensive kids really are.
When I was in my 20's I went to Europe a lot and stayed in low end hotels or hostels. Now a trip to Europe is a giant expense because airfare alone for 5 people is $5K. Instead of buying fish and chips for one, we're feeding 5.
It's remarkable how you can earn what by standard is a great income ($400K) and still be no where near being able to afford luxury goods (aside from an occasional anniversary-type splurge). Sure, i could buy the $3K handbag. I have the money in the bank.
but it will stress me out because I have 3 looming college tutions, and then there is grad school......

Kids just suck up an unbelievable amount of money. My oldest son is turning out to be a great soccer player who is crazy obsessed with the game (4th grade). He plays travel soccer. Our local program just cost us $3500 (all fees, tournaments, required winter training, required week of summer camp etc) for this year. And we didn't go
looking for the most expensive, high end program. He just tried out for the travel team of our rec league and suddenly we're paying $3500 over the course of the next 12 months. Our youngest loves the piano. So we're paying weekly lessons.
At $36/week plus recital that's another $2K/year. It just all adds up and so our baseline lifestyle remains unchanged from what it was 10 years ago.
We're making a very respectable income (which I and the government and just about everyone on the planet would actually say is a HIGH income) and splurges are few and very far between.

Anonymous wrote:We make over a million a year combined and truthfully we are not nearly as wealthy as many of our friends. We love to travel but don't fly first class or pay $1000 a night. Our friends have homes in Nantucket with Jeeps and Range Rovers in the driveways just to use in the summer. They donate hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to charities. I feel average most of the time. Sad I know. Flame away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:::shyly raises hand::

DH and I are both trust fund babies. On top of that, I'm the only grandchild on both sides of my family. On top of that, my parents are divorced. On top of that my father feels a lot of guilt for how he handled his relationship with me during the divorce so threw money at that problem - I got ridiculously high child support through college AND grad school (both of which were paid for by trusts). I used that money to invest in real estate and then sold some at a profit.

I flew coach once, to see what it was like. But yes, we travel a lot (it'll be less once our kids are in school), we will buy clothing at full price, we take the nanny on vacation, etc.

That being said, DH and I both work. Real jobs with benefits - not like, managing our portfolios or like that Katie woman on RH of Potomac. That said, we shop at Costco, we totally have a hand-me-down network going with some close friends who also have daughters, etc.

If I had money I would totally fly 1st class or business. But are the $1000/night resorts really worth it?

Not a trust fund baby but lover of high end resorts here. $1000 resorts are totally worth it. Rosewood Mayakoba was perfect. Four Seasons Orlando was Disney in luxury. I can't stand staying in a cheap room with poor beds and pillows. I love a luxurious bathroom and I usually do my resort searches based now how nice the spa is. Now that we have kids, kid amenities are higher on the list than how nice the spa is but I will not compromise and stay in an crappy hotel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:::shyly raises hand::

DH and I are both trust fund babies. On top of that, I'm the only grandchild on both sides of my family. On top of that, my parents are divorced. On top of that my father feels a lot of guilt for how he handled his relationship with me during the divorce so threw money at that problem - I got ridiculously high child support through college AND grad school (both of which were paid for by trusts). I used that money to invest in real estate and then sold some at a profit.

I flew coach once, to see what it was like. But yes, we travel a lot (it'll be less once our kids are in school), we will buy clothing at full price, we take the nanny on vacation, etc.

That being said, DH and I both work. Real jobs with benefits - not like, managing our portfolios or like that Katie woman on RH of Potomac. That said, we shop at Costco, we totally have a hand-me-down network going with some close friends who also have daughters, etc.

If I had money I would totally fly 1st class or business. But are the $1000/night resorts really worth it?

Anonymous wrote:We make over a million a year combined and truthfully we are not nearly as wealthy as many of our friends. We love to travel but don't fly first class or pay $1000 a night. Our friends have homes in Nantucket with Jeeps and Range Rovers in the driveways just to use in the summer. They donate hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to charities. I feel average most of the time. Sad I know. Flame away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We leave tomorrow for a high-end resort and will be on the Club floor. Hope it makes a dent in our daily burn rate!

I have a picky eater who turns his nose up at the food the rest of us enjoy at dinner. Then he's hungry at 10pm and I'm stuck with Doritos from the vending machine. A cheese & cracker tray would be preferable!

Really depends on the hotel. We stayed at a Marriott in Mexico in the Club level and there was very little my picky son would eat. Lots of "fancy sandwiches" and apps. More simple would have been better.

I think there is a healthy medium between a bag of doritos and finger sandwiches. you know?

Omg how ridiculous! Just have the kid go to bed hungry, duh. You are enabling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We leave tomorrow for a high-end resort and will be on the Club floor. Hope it makes a dent in our daily burn rate!

I have a picky eater who turns his nose up at the food the rest of us enjoy at dinner. Then he's hungry at 10pm and I'm stuck with Doritos from the vending machine. A cheese & cracker tray would be preferable!

Really depends on the hotel. We stayed at a Marriott in Mexico in the Club level and there was very little my picky son would eat. Lots of "fancy sandwiches" and apps. More simple would have been better.

I think there is a healthy medium between a bag of doritos and finger sandwiches. you know?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We leave tomorrow for a high-end resort and will be on the Club floor. Hope it makes a dent in our daily burn rate!

I have a picky eater who turns his nose up at the food the rest of us enjoy at dinner. Then he's hungry at 10pm and I'm stuck with Doritos from the vending machine. A cheese & cracker tray would be preferable!

Really depends on the hotel. We stayed at a Marriott in Mexico in the Club level and there was very little my picky son would eat. Lots of "fancy sandwiches" and apps. More simple would have been better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
i guess the moral of the story is that you can't under estimate how expensive kids really are.
When I was in my 20's I went to Europe a lot and stayed in low end hotels or hostels. Now a trip to Europe is a giant expense because airfare alone for 5 people is $5K. Instead of buying fish and chips for one, we're feeding 5.
It's remarkable how you can earn what by standard is a great income ($400K) and still be no where near being able to afford luxury goods (aside from an occasional anniversary-type splurge). Sure, i could buy the $3K handbag. I have the money in the bank.
but it will stress me out because I have 3 looming college tutions, and then there is grad school......

Kids just suck up an unbelievable amount of money. My oldest son is turning out to be a great soccer player who is crazy obsessed with the game (4th grade). He plays travel soccer. Our local program just cost us $3500 (all fees, tournaments, required winter training, required week of summer camp etc) for this year. And we didn't go
looking for the most expensive, high end program. He just tried out for the travel team of our rec league and suddenly we're paying $3500 over the course of the next 12 months. Our youngest loves the piano. So we're paying weekly lessons.
At $36/week plus recital that's another $2K/year. It just all adds up and so our baseline lifestyle remains unchanged from what it was 10 years ago.
We're making a very respectable income (which I and the government and just about everyone on the planet would actually say is a HIGH income) and splurges are few and very far between.

I hope when the college tuition bubble crashes so does this idea that parents have to fund every cent of their children's education. You would seriously pay for grad school on top of college? Sorry. Not happening in my house. At a certain point I'm done bleeding out because you want 3 degrees. Perhaps covering one makes sense but funding advanced education for Masters and PhD's as parents seems nuts.

+1
Why would you pay for grad school? It's paid for by being a Research assistant or teaching assistant. Mine was free. If your child gets a degree where this doesn't happen, I'd make him pay. I'm saving for my kids college but that's it.