steve99

Personally id of gone with the "...roughly 50/50 split" but no dramas with what you've done.

steve99

I hope you do to, sounds like you've done more than your share already

rabsody

Must admit, we have a cleaner in too and I don't work (I did when we hired her, but now at uni which kind of counts!!). I justified keeping her on because she does a great job, needs the dough and I'm a lazy cow!

BadgeIsBack

Looks like despite the cost of living that many people still nonetheless get away with a single income household!

If Chief went back to work we'd actually start to accrue large surpluses - guaranteed yearly flights overseas - choice of luxuries or a brand new car - that sort of thing.

BadgeIsBack

We don't have a cleaner, but we do have an old pensioner gardener(!) My wife has 2 babies so he does come in handy. He's done some DIY work outside which might not otherwise have got done in a timely fashion so has been useful. He charges 20 bucks an hour.

ozzieeagle

Hmmm I dont know how they do it, I owe less than 400 bucks per month now, We are clearing net between 6,500 and 8,000 a month depending on Otime available. We've had horrendous out of pocket medical expenses since we came back from our UK holiday 30 months ago( kids dental) . The Medical expenses are still going because the wife is going to get contact lenses implanted at circa 4,000 Aud. (not sure what the rebate will be) I'm in line to get mine done as well, but it will mean no more glasses at 800 bucks per pop. Oh and the wife needs to have extensive work done on her teeth as well.

Only luxury we have, errm besides foxtel, is a Gardener, who is slowly turning our gaffe into an oasis at circa 100 bucks per week on average (comes and does a major project every few weeks)

Maybe our spending on kids extra actvities is out of control.

I'd guesstimate, with schooling included, the kids are costing circa 10,000 a year out of pocket, about 4,000 maybe 6,000 for school with the uniforms, the rest on Violin, singing lessons, Drumming lessons, Netball, excursions, football. I had to pay 100 bucks for an accompanist for a Violin exam my daughter had this month, one 50 bucks for practice and one for the exam itself.... Stuff like that is eating my expenditure alive... Turns out the Wife has the Royal college of art in mind for our 13 YO. Oh the wife and Daughter have gym membership as well.


There is also a financial hole with government rebate for people with families between say 66,000 Aud and around 102,000 now, where the tax rate really burns one, in lost rebates for the children.

allthejs

One income, five kids, no cleaner and no gardner.

And hubby wonders what I do all day

Jacky xx

steve99

Some interesting stats coming out of this, I thought the no kids one income would be high but didnt think it would be to that level.
Its a shame you cant do sub polls, to drill down a bit deeper...

Interesting that with the general consensus being that Australia is not a cheap place to live, that cost of living is high and seems set to continue that way that there are so many households surviving with one income.

Id imagine on here we're talking about kids anything from say 0-16yrs, I wonder if we looked at households where kids were born in the last couple of years through to 9months time if we'd see more instances of dual household income...

on a mission

I think any modern day couple now needs a dual income, through house prices, the goldenage, has disappeared for anyon under 35, we are the working generation keeping the golden ages pensions nice and rosie.

Also we are the generation who have contributed the most to the econmoy by buying overpriced houses, giving the cash to stamp duty/council taxes and our dear friends the banks....with super high interest rates.

TrickyTree

You know how to scare the shit out of us who maybe planning on a family (maybe next year). The missus will have to pop it out and be back at the desk the next day!

on a mission

wow, bet his kids are like a one man band singing in the high street!!!!!!1with all them classes, do they have time to sleep

steve99

Absolutely! Grandparents could come in very handy
At least employers do seem to be more accomodating these days with doing part time, or 4 day weeks etc.
If your pre kids with 2 fairly good incomes your likely to of built a lifestyle around you that probably cant be supported by just one of the incomes if you decide to pop one out. So the only alternatives are to try and downsize in some way to free up equity and reduce mortgage costs or have as small a time of work as possible before going back in some capacity.

comet555

Perhaps you could start a separate thread. Maybe to see what incomes there are from the married with kids and only one income category, anonymous of course.

But it would be interesting to see if this group is managing because they have a high salary, lower expenses or just simply doing without all the extras and toys.

crystal23

I voted one income with kids (1 child). Hubby earns what is considered a good salary for Perth as a subbie. However it isn't enough to support us totally even doing without extras and we certainly have no 'toys'. We are using our equity from our house sale in the UK to top up at the moment.

Rent is slightly higher than we would have liked but there was nothing else available at the time. Had a letter this morning saying the rent is going up by $80 pw from January

Part time jobs are thin on the ground for people who want school hours and the agencies have told me the market is saturated by mums wanting this type of work.

The rise in the cost of food in the last 6 months was something we did not expect but admittedly that has caught alot of people out not just us.

ozzieeagle

The 13 Yo is in a High Achievers class, means she is doing 11 subjects over a year rather than 6. She is a real powerhouse when it comes to Music, a Natural. My son is rather laid back about the whole thing. We've learned from our older two, to spend money on their strengths.