I want to give my kids the same experiences I had as a kid, camping trips, holidays to different places, fishing and island hopping, fine dining every now and then. My parents had 5 kids and did it all on one income - they aren’t the best with money but they managed. We only have 3 kids and always stick to our budget but there just never seems to be enough leftover after bills to do anything lavish. I see other single income families planning overseas trips with the kids, and I know I shouldn’t compare but I just want to know if there are any tips and tricks we may be missing? We are in our late 20s and saving for a house, so we are ok not having nice stuff until we have our own home, but my parents gave us the most amazing memories all while paying off a mortgage and I just wondering if it’s harder nowadays or whether we just suck at finances.
My hubby has a decent wage and we literally only spend his wage on bills, groceries, maintaining the cars (petrol, rego, insurance), one date night per pay (usually spend $60) and the odd protein & supplement order which is usually around $200 every 8-12 weeks. We save 10%.
I am on maternity leave but was hoping to stay home with bub for another year. I just hate to see my kids miss out though.
Is that normal? I thought I was quite tight with money but now we are down to one wage I’m not so sure.
Sorry it’s a bit of a ramble, congrats if you made it to the end. 😂
7 Replies
It depends on your income and expenses of course. Cost of living is much higher now, and you might be spending more on groceries insurance rent and supplements and youre also saving some.
I have holidays but I dont have insurance or savings. As someone who also likes to give my kids the childhood you described though - camping weekends are cheap as chips. Cheaper than staying home I think!! Kids are happy with cereal and noodles and hot dogs. Spend all day swimming and playing. If you dont have the $$ for that thenI would advise you to forfeit your savings for a camping weekend or dinner out once every 4 or 6 weeks. Make it a new tradition.
We are a 1 income family and just had our third baby. We've been following the basic advise of the barefoot investor for nearly 2 years now. Doing that we manage to have a holiday fund to go interstate once a year to see my husbands family
Don’t even try and compare your parents situation to yours!
Your parents mortgage would have been very low compared to yours. My parents first house cost them $50,000 (current value $350,000). There second house cost $75,000 (current value $450,000). The third cost $125,000 (recently sold for 900,000).
As for your friend, you don’t really know how much credit card debt they are in, wether they got a financial leg up from family, or they earn a shit load of money on a single income. You don’t know if they live off of cheap sausages and cheap pasta in order to pay for there holidays.
They also had 20% interest and ours is under 4%.
I agree, times were so different back then. And, I have a friend who is always taking the kids away, they’re off to the Maldives at the end of the year - she has 4 kids and I’m like how TF is she doing this. We went out for lunch the other day and 2 of her credit cards were declined - for a $40 lunch! No doubt the holidays and keeping up with the joneses lifestyle is all financed by the bank at 20% interest so never compare yourself to anyone else situation.
I was a single mum for nearly 5 years and have 3 kids so what I did was draw a big picture of an airplane and whenever I deposited money into my holiday saving account I would get the kids to colour in one of the windows of the plane and when we got to the end it was the $6000 I needed to take us on the holiday. Being accountable to your kids is a great motivator
It is possible. We are a 1 income family (base $51k + bonus) with one child (14) who attends a private independent school. I study full time. We rent (cheaper than having a mortgage), have no debt (no loans or credit cards), run 2 cars plus all the other household expenses, and always manage at least one holiday a year. Last year we went to Disneyland and this year are heading to Hamilton Island. We live on the coast (Qld) so there is plenty to do without spending money.
I think it’s a lot harder these days! You used to be able to work ‘cashies’
My mum sewed, cooked, grew veggies, had chooks, she worked as a casual waitress and kitchen hand. We caravanned in the same location every Xmas holidays for 2/3 weeks. She was a widow. Four kids. Owed nothing. Who could do that shit now?