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Home > How do couples in debt handle having children?!

How do couples in debt handle having children?!

July 19th, 2011 at 04:50 pm

I'll admit I'm being more spendy than usual. I need to stop it fast. Now that I'm back at work I'm justifying spending on things because I feel like I've "earned" it plus I'm EXHAUSTED and eating out is so much easier than a home cooked meal. Dangerous mindset, I know. I've got to get to the supermarket today and quit it with all this extraneous BS.

My mom needs to get $600 back to me (a convoluted story in regards to our rental and a loan) but ultimately, that money is for whatever we want. I plan to put it directly on my student loan, bringing the balance to right around 7k (would be exciting to see the 6 number though!)

Anyway, the point of this entry was to ask how the heck couples who aren't on top of their finances handle having children?! My husband and I had about 1k surplus a month before gianna and THANK GOD we did because now between daycare and diapers, food, and everything else we spend ~550 month. I know couples in debt up to their eyeballs before the kids and can't imagine what they're going to do when the little one arrives. All I can say is I'm thankful I got on the straight and narrow before our girly came. We don't have nearly as much at the end of the month as we used to, but it's enough to keep hammering away at the last of our debts and from there the sky's the limit! Woohoo!

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “How do couples in debt handle having children?!”

  1. ceejay74 Says:
    July 19th, 2011 at 05:20 pm 1311096007
    1311096007

    I related to every word of this! Once we knew we wanted kids, we worked like crazy to establish an EF, get out of as much debt as we could, and establish a surplus in our monthly budget to cover daycare and other expenses. If we hadn't, I can't imagine how badly we would have stumbled.

    Having a budget has also helped us find creative ways to avoid spending. It's SO easy to just go out and buy a solution for every situation that comes up, so if you're just blindly charging everything to credit cards, I imagine having a kid would wreak havoc on your finances.

  2. Petunia 100 Says:
    July 19th, 2011 at 05:42 pm 1311097326
    1311097326

    My oldest child was born before ex-h and I were financially ready. It was soooo hard, but you do what you have to. Definately not something I would recommend anyone do on purpose.

    Gianna is a beautiful name!

  3. North Georgia Gal Says:
    July 19th, 2011 at 05:42 pm 1311097343
    1311097343

    Speaking from experience...I live week to week paycheck to paycheck. Only recently has it gotten any better. I don't get to take the kids on vacations and I have to rely on my family to help pay for any activities the kids want to do. And heaven forbid something comes up at the last minute...like school lunches or some other necessity that I have failed to plan for. Fortunately my mom watched DD so we didn't have day care expenses for her and my dad paid for DS's school lunches. It wasn't any better when I was married because we didn't care about debt. My ex liked to spend money and didn't care about ef's and other stuff. It doesn't get any better as the kids get older, just more expensive stuff.

  4. My English Castle Says:
    July 19th, 2011 at 09:32 pm 1311111169
    1311111169

    I have a colleague whose electricity was cut off last week and is two months behind on the mortgage. She is also pregnant with IV twins. Just thinking about that makes me want to throw up

  5. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    July 20th, 2011 at 04:09 am 1311134947
    1311134947

    Scary question.

    Wellllll...I used to work at a homeless shelter. Yes, it gets that bad for some families who get so far behind. Frown Truly it happens, and not everyone has family to help. Or friends. Or worship group. Or anyone. Some even put their children into foster care until they could get their lives back together. Frown =:O Frown

  6. Jerry Says:
    July 29th, 2011 at 09:42 pm 1311975755
    1311975755

    People often don't think about anything like finances when having kids, which is a scary thing indeed. At the hospital I see some people having babies who have almost nothing at home for the child, haven't even really thought about it, and it just leads me to want to take their baby home with me. The kid has no insurance of a life with love or stability in those cases. Not everyone in dire financial straits is like that, of course, but some are. It's bloody depressing.
    Jerry

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