Thanks TG, and the others, I appreciate all the advice and take it constructively. I perhaps not “saved”/invested wisely. I will consider cutting the college funds to nothing at least until the kids are in first grade. And I will also look at insurance. Still, even if I cut them off to minimum, it saves just about $1000 a month… 12K a year…how long it takes to save oh, 400K?
[quote=temeculaguy]Just an addendum, the 2k daycare is bugging me. Is there a grandparent or relative that isn’t doing anything?[/quote]
Unfortunately, no, my in-laws are half continent away, and mine in Europe have their own parents to take care of. I know many of our friends ‘used’ granparents as free day care. But my kids are quite a handful and ‘challenging’, spirited and I don’t know if grandparents could have handled them, at their age, even they’d have offered.
Anyhow the point is moot as we barely have enough rooms for ourselves. Not sure I’d have liked to live in the same small house with my parents or in-laws. next door would have been perfect. I would have also loved for my kids to have a much closer relationship to their grandparents. You ARE blessed, TG.
From what I’ve seen, though I haven’t looked a lot, nannies cost close to 2000/mo and don’t do cleaning & cooking. And certainly won’t provide the education that a good daycare/preschool will give. I don’t think I’d trust one.
Regarding food – Not everybody eats the same; some people have dietary, allergy, weight or some other health issues. We are guilty of eating out dinner as a family at a slightly nicer place (e.g. TGIF, CPK, Sammy’s) twice a week (i.e. $50-60 at least that nite), no energy and time left to cook. Which I don’t think it’s unreasonable, given how busy we are, but we try to cut it down, since it’s not very healthy. Fortunately we don’t patronize McDonalds or Starbucks. Kids favorite burger place is Islands. I try to buy on sale and generic or bulk (Costco) where is doesn’t matter, and use coupons whenever I can – e.g. canned goods, household cleaning, bathroom stuff; and organic where I think it matters for kids(staples like chicken (from Costco), eggs, milk, root vegetables). Lots of fresh produce & wild fish, those add up.
Insurance – we have term for the adults for half milion each (some medical issues made one of them more expensive) and universal variable (the one that builds cash value) for the kids. But perhaps we should reconsider those for kids, those are expensive.
