Both images are by the wonderful Swedish artist Carl Larsson from here.
We are very used to earning good money and are now confronted with dropping to only my husband's very good wage of around $100,000 p.a. So I've spent this evening working on our budget ... We anticipate that the mortgage repayments will drop somewhat as we renegotiate our loans in November I believe.
As it is, I felt we were doing well to only have one old reliable car with Jack riding to work each day... and not spend a lot on clothing or cosmetics... but on doing our budget tonight I'm realising that we've been living over my husband's wage for several years at least. We haven't really tracked what we spend, other than putting a cap on our individual 'sanity allowances'. I know I have spent a lot on organic food and alternative health. We waste food and hope to do more home cooking - I have been eating more intentionally while pregnant.
(They have a good emergency fund but the sanity allowance (pocket money) Jill writes is $200 a week.)
Generally, we aspire to tithe 10% (which we've done consistently) and invest 10% (we haven't done this in the past several years).
I like the idea of not being forced back to work by money but rather by interest or previous employers 'needing a hand'. We plan to have two kids which I guess might mean that I'll be at home for 5 years. I now have an ABN and can consult from home but don't know if this will pan out or if I'll want to distract myself from the kid(s).
Family have a lot of second hand gear for us and we'll get significant presents from older family eg. prams etc.
Key questions:
- How much should it cost us to live well? Particularly the food budget!
- How much do kids cost? In the first year of life and later?
- Should I be planning to go back to work, or can we easily live within Jack's salary still tithing and saving for our future?
Jill's email was much more comprehensive than the summary given above but it was much too long to include all of it. I don't want to give any advice on the cost of setting up for a baby other than to encourage Jill to accept all the secondhand and pre-loved clothes and equipment that she's offered.
I do want to address the change of mindset though, Jill. It's a change that will take you from being a young couple who have worked hard and had the good fortune to buy a home and many of the other things you want, to being parents with the responsibility of raising a family. When you think about it, up until now, you two have been the children, buying what you want, going out and enjoying life - as you should. Your baby will change that. Not only in monetary terms but also in the amount of spare time you'll have. There are many parents earning a lot less than you who have children, so it certainly can be done. I think it's best to consider the kind of parents you wish to be then work out from there. Work out what kind of life you want for your family - money is just the means to get the lifestyle you want. One thing I do know with certainty is that there will be change and sacrifices coming and there is no way around that. Some of them you'll love, some you won't love but they'll just be some of the changes that a baby will bring.
I hope you can address the matter of food wastage. You can do that by sticking to your budget and with menu planning and stockpiling. I believe fresh food is better for you than organic food that has travelled a long distance. Try to find a butcher and fruit and vegetable market and develop a relationship with the owners. There are a lot of growers who aren't certified organic and yet they grow their produce with no insecticides and herbicides, and if they're local, they'll be fresh. You need your food to be full of nutrients and fresh food is more likely to have them. There is a section in your budget for gardening, maybe you could enlarge on that, put in a vegetable garden and grow organically.
It would be great if you did track your money from now on, maybe for a month or two to see what you're both spending. I bet you'll be surprised. You have a lot of guessed items in your budget and you need to know the reality of it. For instance, you're spending $2000 a year on dental on top of your health insurance, and $15,600 a year on food for just the two of you. One of the sacrifices you both make may be that you halve your sanity allowance to $100 a week and put the other $100 towards your mortgage.
And now it's over to our dear readers. If you have any useful information for Jill and Jack, please take the time to comment. I am sure they're not the only parents to be or new parents reading here and there are many experienced parents here with a lot of knowledge. Good luck!
I hope you can address the matter of food wastage. You can do that by sticking to your budget and with menu planning and stockpiling. I believe fresh food is better for you than organic food that has travelled a long distance. Try to find a butcher and fruit and vegetable market and develop a relationship with the owners. There are a lot of growers who aren't certified organic and yet they grow their produce with no insecticides and herbicides, and if they're local, they'll be fresh. You need your food to be full of nutrients and fresh food is more likely to have them. There is a section in your budget for gardening, maybe you could enlarge on that, put in a vegetable garden and grow organically.
It would be great if you did track your money from now on, maybe for a month or two to see what you're both spending. I bet you'll be surprised. You have a lot of guessed items in your budget and you need to know the reality of it. For instance, you're spending $2000 a year on dental on top of your health insurance, and $15,600 a year on food for just the two of you. One of the sacrifices you both make may be that you halve your sanity allowance to $100 a week and put the other $100 towards your mortgage.
And now it's over to our dear readers. If you have any useful information for Jill and Jack, please take the time to comment. I am sure they're not the only parents to be or new parents reading here and there are many experienced parents here with a lot of knowledge. Good luck!
