as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.
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switch from dink to siwk: how do people afford kids?
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as this is anonymous, can you give us actual numbers? i can make guesses based on your percentages, but it would help. lets assume you both make $35k (since you said child care would take up the bulk of your wife's income, it must be fairly low incomes) the answer usually isn't a simple "do this", but small adjustments in your lifestyle which add up. church offering is 17%, the standard tithe is 10%. lower it? it's the most obvious large non-required expense. transportation is almost 10% of your income. if my numbers are right, that is somewhere around $500 per month? what kind of car/cars do you have? there are very cheap used cars which cost very little in upkeep / fuel. is it possible your cars are more expensive than needed? my wife and i bought a used car for around $8k in cash a few years ago. still running strong, only have done oil changes since then. food is 12%, which would be perhaps $600 or $700 per month. that seems awfully high. maybe i'm wrong about your salaries :) you said you were cheap, but now the numbers don't add up. mortgage of 35% ($2k with escrow if i'm guessing on salaries right) seems reasonable. i'm assuming you don't want to downsize, particularly if you're going to have kids. do you have a great mortgage rate? i assume you're on a 30 year fixed already?
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