willyfones
Registered User
- Messages
- 39
How can I financially plan for something like this to see if it is viable?
Running two cars is costly. Insurance\tax\servicing\NCT\baby seats\break downs\fuel\tyres. Its a big difference from running your own car
The dilemma is what value to put on that.But I wouldn't change it for the world, and my wife giving up her job to mind the kids is the absolute best thing we ever did. They really benefit as do I.
My wife gave up work a few years back to be a full time mother (is that the phrase?!) to our two kids and some things I learned over the years:
- Running two cars is costly. Insurance\tax\servicing\NCT\baby seats\break downs\fuel\tyres. Its a big difference from running your own car
- There is more electricity and heating bills as the house is occupied more or less all day every day
- Bit more wear and tear about the house with kids running riot from time to time
- Kids need to be entertained from time to time so there will be more expenditure on play centres, pet farms and eating out
- While its mothers best intentions to save on groceries I find its hard to say no kids all the time when they are also in the shops looking for toys, books, magazines (dont get me started on Match Attax soccer cards!)
- To give you an idea my wife spends €1500-€2000 every month which excludes the mortgage and bills. And I know the spends, its all normal and fairly necessary. There is the odd really bad month where it was €3200 (we replaced blinds in the house, the gas boiler broke down, the oven broke too, her car was due a service and NCT, the school fees were due, the kids needed clothes, there were 3 birthdays to go to etc etc etc).
- Grocery bills are a big spend, no matter how you try to go to Lidl\Aldi etc we end up sometimes in Tesco and Supervalue as I think the quality of some things are much better there.
But I wouldn't change it for the world, and my wife giving up her job to mind the kids is the absolute best thing we ever did. They really benefit as do I. Just be prepared, its a big hit financially.
In think families with two people working have a better life work balance.
Simple, she doesn't give up her job. Nobody is forced to do anything here, why do you think they are? The OP is simply trying to calculate the financial side of such a decision.What happens if your wife hates being a full time mother. What if she resents never having any time off. What if you resent her spending your money. Or she feels guilty spending it.
This is oversimplifying things Leper. The amount of the income plays a major role in the decision.Keep the two jobs no matter what the price of childcare etc. Two incomes beats one everytime. Anybody who tells you different ain't doin' you a favour.
Interested in this, how do families with two working have a better life\work balance?
I would have thought that its better with one working given you have one person spending less time working\commuting therefore they can fully focus on the life part?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?