It's very expensive to have kids - up until after the 3rd kid and the price then goes WAY down. Since my wife is pregnant, and I already have one infant - we get Medicaid. I made about 17k last year and my wife pulled in a few thousand herself. It's not much money, but besides rent, electric, car insurance, and our phone bill, we have no other expenses. (I'm on pace to maybe pull in 20k this year.) We also just got WIC. (Where we live in Missouri, its a bit harder to get FoodStamps, but we are going to try that as well. Kudos to Clarey on Enjoying the Decline and making use of government programs in the mean time.)
This makes it far more affordable - and a bit less stressful budget wise - to make ends meet. Luckily, my parents have done things like buying us diapers on occasion as well as some clothes and formula. Babies go through ALOT of food.
Essentially, you need some support - from friends and/or family. My wife's parents who live near us sometimes babysit, which is huge as well. Childcare expenses are insane - which either means your wife has to stay home, or you have to find a cheap daycare. (Usually per child, per week, its about 100$ near me.)
All things to think about. If you make too much, like around 30k or so a year, you probably wont qualify for Medicaid, and your bills for just the health insurance alone will be pretty steep with kids. If you are very poor - you can qualify for ALOT of programs. While you may not be able to ever go out much, have any spending money, you still can live with a huge family.)
You have to be poor though.
It creates an imbalance we are already seeing.
This makes it far more affordable - and a bit less stressful budget wise - to make ends meet. Luckily, my parents have done things like buying us diapers on occasion as well as some clothes and formula. Babies go through ALOT of food.
Essentially, you need some support - from friends and/or family. My wife's parents who live near us sometimes babysit, which is huge as well. Childcare expenses are insane - which either means your wife has to stay home, or you have to find a cheap daycare. (Usually per child, per week, its about 100$ near me.)
All things to think about. If you make too much, like around 30k or so a year, you probably wont qualify for Medicaid, and your bills for just the health insurance alone will be pretty steep with kids. If you are very poor - you can qualify for ALOT of programs. While you may not be able to ever go out much, have any spending money, you still can live with a huge family.)
You have to be poor though.
It creates an imbalance we are already seeing.