How did your finances change after the twins?

Shelley-Bean

I was doing the math the other day, and between me going part time, and an increase in health insurance (from $70/month for single to $800/month for family), I realized this year I'm TAKING HOME about $25K less a year than last year, plus the extra expenses of twins on top of that.

Has anyone else in the same boat?

JosiePosy

A quarter of our income goes to daycare alone. Our insurance went up about $500 per month. Then there are the extra grocery costs (formula, food, diapers, etc.). We've done our best to save in that area, but it's still a higher bill than we used to have.

So yeah, these kids have been expensive. I got my IUD placed as soon as I could. LOL!

Lilystar82

JosiePosy:

A quarter of our income goes to daycare alone. Our insurance went up about $500 per month. Then there are the extra grocery costs (formula, food, diapers, etc.). We've done our best to save in that area, but it's still a higher bill than we used to have.

So yeah, these kids have been expensive. I got my IUD placed as soon as I could. LOL!

This almost exactly. Even the IUD LOL!! Between daycare, increased insurance costs and increased expenses (formula, diapers, food, clothing) I'm working sheerly to pay for them. All of DH's paycheck pays bills. It's tight, but we make it work. But a third baBy is just not in he cards for awhile, if ever. Hence the IUD  

JosiePosy

In all fairness, we had only budgeted for one baby when we started TTC. We were even considering being a "one and done" family. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have to plan for two babies at once. But we make it work. I certainly wouldn't want to give one of them back now.

UsedToBeGoldie

my base take home pay goes totally to daycare... my only income from my job is my company car + bonus + benefits. I work part time (job share) so i'm very fortunate to even have benefits and a company car - otherwise i wouldn't be working.

jcath

Yeah - I'm having a total meltdown about it.  Childcare is going to cost more than I thought, I thought I would breastfeed and had no idea how expensive formula is, my health insurance was supposed to go up $400 a month but the policy renewed and they increased the charges to $525 a month.  

My husband and I make really good incomes too - I just can't imagine how people do this.  We have lots of areas we can cut back on and we will but still it's going to be tight.  

PMBridetobe

We are in the same boat.  It is so hard even when you make good money, it is hard to juggle it all.  I almost fainted when I realized how much we would pay for childcare!  Trust me, we budget to make it all happen and sometimes it is very stressfull.

Rangergal9

Daycare consumes more than my paycheck right now so that's the worse....  plus diapers cost us a ton!!  

kelliwill

Luckily I have pretty good insurance.  I work for a county and insurance is free for me and for  family medical it's $100 a month.  Family dental is $86 a month.  My mom comes to our house to watch the twins when we work (I work 4 days per week) and work from home 1 day per week.  We pay her $1800 a month to watch them.  DH and I both make over $73,000 a year.  Things the first year weren't bad as we lived in a house DH had bought many years ago and our mortgage was very reasonable.  This also allowed me to stay home until they were 6 months old.  When they were 1 we bought a bigger house and our mortgage doubled.  This makes things tighter on us.  Once they stopped drinking formula that helped and can't wait until they are out of diapers.  One of our biggest expenses however is my student loans.  I have a doctorate degree and pay about $700 in those.  It's very stressful but you can do it.  We try to not eat out, no longer have a house cleaner, and I don't shop as much as I used to.  

OrangeSmoke

Given my DC bill is more than $25k a year......

It's a lot.  I don't even want to add it up. 

ninjabridemom

JosiePosy:

In all fairness, we had only budgeted for one baby when we started TTC. We were even considering being a "one and done" family. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have to plan for two babies at once. But we make it work. I certainly wouldn't want to give one of them back now.

 

We did this, too.  We were SET for one kid!!!  Not that we didn't expect things to be tight every now and then but we were pretty good.  Two is just.....totally overwhelming but we know we'll make it work.

kimarino13

OrangeSmoke:

Given my DC bill is more than $25k a year......

It's a lot.  I don't even want to add it up. 

Yup, except make that $30K+ here.

Ugh.

nikinikinine

I stopped working altogether when I was 32 weeks pregnant. So for more than a year we lost my (very good) salary. That definitely made a difference. But I don't think anything has been unmanageable. 

We are fortunate to have both had very good jobs for many years before we had kids. It allowed us to save a lot of money while we TTC. By the time the kids came we had our student loans and our cars paid off. Which makes the month to month expenses much easier.

I'm shocked at the little things that went up that I didn't expect. Like our water bill which went from $34 every 3 months to $89 every 3 months. Our utility bill which never drops below $200...stuff like that. The formula, groceries and diapers I expected!

 

cookiemonster03

I have a lot of student loans from grad school, so that effects us a lot (and I work in higher ed, so I'm not making big bucks though our benefits are amazing). Our insurance only went up $100/mo. So far they haven't been super expensive, but as soon as they go to day care, chaching. It's going to be well over $25k/yr.  In the past year my income has gone up about 40%, and that's a damn good thing, since we'll have enough now to pay for DC and more  or less maintain our current (nonextravagant) lifestyle, but savings is really out of the question given that we need a new car, new roof, etc. ugh. It won't be like this forever though.