Anyone here REGRET having kids (for financial reasons)? (houses, invest, raise)
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Well, maybe you need to stop butting into my discussions if you can't keep up? My attention turned to Ohky0815, the chick whose husband only brings in $2k a month after taxes and has to feed a family of 5 along with 6 animals. That's poverty.
She posted her budget and monthly expense breakdown. Major things like health insurance were missing, she didn't really state how much she has saved for emergency repairs, didn't list out if they have life insurance, didn't elaborate on the low transportation costs or the seemingly low car insurance costs, and in addition, what kind of damn life are her kids having?
- She listed nothing about recreational outings to Chucke Cheese, the movies, eating out at restaurants, going to amusement parks, karate, swimming, sports, etc.
- She listed nothing about saving for their college fund
- She listed nothing about what the kids get for their birthday, for Christmas, etc. Do they even HAVE a damn Christmas or birthday party?
She's living in poverty, which is why she qualified for food stamps. But she's up here talking about "budgeting" like she's Suze Orman for goodness damn sakes. I can't imagine they have any type of significant savings or CUSHION, if her husband loses his $24,000 a year after taxes job, they are most likely immediately SCREWED.
Then she wants to talk about "responsibilities", let me tell you something SISTER....I would NEVER have 3 kids with a stay at home wife, and only make $24,000 a year AFTER TAXES. That's what you call stupid.
If I'm going to have a stay at home wife with 3 kids, I'm going to at least bring in $150k a year within a low or decent cost of living area to the table, so my kids can have a good/decent childhood, college savings, etc. I'm not going to try to do all of this with only $24,000 a year after taxes living on the poverty line!
You turned your attention to the person I called out for being on assistance. Try reading again. And you clearly questioned multiple,people so did you somehow come to terms a family could survive without assistance on 40-60k a year and just failed to acknowledge it in this thread where you questioned it so much?
How did I manage to forget that we did Disneyland and Knots berry farm also on 35k a year? I remembered the gross Santa Monica Hotel and forgot about those?
if you plan right, its very possible to do Disney and even save a ton of money! They have so many discounts and packages for Disney. Our kids are at a good age to consider it. not quite babies/toddlers but not teens where they sit there and say " oh my gosh mom/dad, why are we here?". lol
You turned your attention to the person I called out for being on assistance. Try reading again. And you clearly questioned multiple,people so did you somehow come to terms a family could survive without assistance on 40-60k a year and just failed to acknowledge it in this thread where you questioned it so much?
I was on assistance. I am not now. I wasnt aware this whole thread was about me or that i had to annouce to CD i am no longer getting help???
if you plan right, its very possible to do Disney and even save a ton of money! They have so many discounts and packages for Disney. Our kids are at a good age to consider it. not quite babies/toddlers but not teens where they sit there and say " oh my gosh mom/dad, why are we here?". lol
I'm going to Disney and Universal in 2 weeks.. where can I get these deals?!?
I think this is something that should be decided by the parents according the families needs. I was a stay at home mother when my kids were little. Our second child was born with special needs and that kept me home longer. I don't think I owe anyone an explanation for how we decided to raise our kids. As far as the whole loss of income argument, if it doesn't matter to us to have the second income at that time and we're fine, why is it something to criticize? And has no one considered that if you have more than one child that cost of someone else caring for them may not be worth having the few dollars left over at the end of the day and they get much better care with me anyhow?
No disagreements from me. I don't have kids, so it's easy for me to say....but I don't personally get why anyone would want to have a couple of kids and then have 2 parents work full time and put them in day care for someone else to raise. It seems like a pointless rat race to me...but whatever makes people happy.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 06-05-2016 at 01:56 AM..
There is that stereotype but there is quite a bit of data to refute it.
Among other things, the African American birth rate is now below replacement rate.
The Welfare Reform Act of 2004 that Bill Clinton signed into law prevents women already receiving public assistance from getting more AFDC (now called TANF) money for additional children. The whole "welfare queen" popping out additional kids for more money is a 1990 stereotype, not the 2016 reality.
Immigrants tend to have a higher birthrate than US-born citizens but the subsequent generations don't have that high birthrate.
What we have today is a single mother poverty problem, not a high birthrate problem. It's now pretty unusual for those single mothers to have a gaggle of kids.
Agreed. The bolded is something I've been saying countless times on CD and thinking it long before CD ever existed. You can't have a strong middle class when 40% of children are born outside of marriage. It. Just. Can't. Happen.
CRY me a river Sister. Going back to the black community, 70% - 75% are born to single mother households. You know what that means Sister? It means that most black women have to do EVERYTHING you listed (minus the "packing a lunch/fixing dinner for husband part" because there is no husband), on top of going to work, going to school, taking the kids out for recreation, looking after other family members, and probably getting a second job on the side. Many of these women have NO help from the Father whatsoever financially, emotionally, time-wise, etc.
You are spoiled and privileged. Please don't get up here talking about how "hard" you work, you haven't SEEN hard work. Go out there to the inner city and live the life of a single mother for one week, you will SEE hard work. !
As usual, you just had to put your negative spin on what was said. All she was saying is she doesn't have much time for TV and she supported that with facts about her daily routine.
You admitted yourself that most of your family (and America) makes stupid family and financial decisions. I would definitely put starting out as a single parent in that category (and I suspect you would, too). And as I suspect you would agree...single parenting often creates an endless vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty and poor decision making. Because one person typically can't do it all, no matter how hard they try. There just isn't enough time in the day to work and raise kids at the same time and do a good job at both.
You can call someone who's a stay at home spouse spoiled and privileged. I call it favoring quality over quantity. Interestingly enough, people who manage their money well can often afford to have a stay at home spouse on fairly modest incomes (assuming they don't live in expensive coastal metro areas of the NE or West Coasts). You deride your own family and America at large for making stupid decisions in these areas.... yet you also deride people making apparently smarter decisions as "spoiled and privileged". Um maybe these people have the privilege of staying home with kids precisely because they did marriage, then kids (in that order) and managed their money carefully.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 06-05-2016 at 01:57 AM..
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