spend | Graphics and Innovation

The Heavy Cost Of Having Kids

When people consider to plan a family, finance budget include cost of having children. It comes after one has learned the fundamentals of personal finance, also called “the third stage of personal finance”.

Today, the cost of having kids hit the personal finance of many people, and the extra money depends by as expensive is the plan people choose.

If you don’t have children, you don’t have to spend for them now, or spend for them in the future. The money you spend on them you can spend on other things as making reservations for an cruise, or buy clothes and stuff.

You no need be paying a lot extra on the mortgage, because your mortgage will be paid off in less years. You reduce your retirement contributions, and still having a confortable amount of money to decide as spending.

Also, if you don’t have children you see your balancing saving for, medical needs, and life insurance premiums. In general, if you have kids:

You’ve need to build a larger cash cushion.
You’ve need to delay paying off your debts.
You’ve need to reduce your retirement contributions.

When people add these extra cost in their home finances it’s easy to understand why many of them not arrive to the third stage of personal finance.

In my view, is much harder reaching the third stage of personal finance once having kids. Today, each child costs us about $1000 per month.

That’s the total amount for health insurance, childcare, and the additional life insurance policies that we took out when they were born, without including what we spend each month for clothing, food, entertainment, toys, and so on.

Also, when people add the extra cost for future education, it’s easy to see why they don’t feel they’re even remotely close to the third stage of personal finance, despite how well they’re have done with the fundamentals.

How To Defeating Temptation To Buy

You’re in the mall with your friends and you don’t need to buy, but you’re waiting while your friend decides which cell phone to purchasing. To kill the time, you admire the Apple store.

There’s a new gadget for your Iphone! When you see it, you’re really excited. It’s really cheap and you think it will useful for your Iphone, so you pick it up, and purchase it. Now you’ve a new gadget to show your friend’s, but you feel guilty after you purchased it.

People more or less likely to buy compulsively. It hard for many people to enter a store without buying something. To diminish this impulse purchase you need to learn to control your mind by thinking first to make a purchase.
Usually, I use these tips with every “major” buy.

temptation to buy
Image Credit: Tony Shi, NY-NJ

1. Before to buy on impulse look around your home to see if you have collected too much stuff gathering dust in the closet. Then, before you buy something, ask yourself when you’ll actually use it.

2. If you already have a cell phone, why you need to purchase another one? what’s wrong with the old one? Usually, I have this question when I think to buy shoes. For instance, If you already have 4 pair of shoes, you might ask, why do you need another one? Why do you urge to update it? Do you really need to replace your shoes?

3. Before purchase something, I makes me wonder where will put it. Thus, if I can not find space in my home, is a way to decide not to buy it, prevent household clutter, and a lot of useless spending.

4. One of the best things you can make to reduce your spending is to buy things without have them in new conditions. You can get great deals for less by buying good quality used version. For example, automobiles, as electronics, games, clothing, and so on. My key rule is that to buy from site like Ebay.

5. Another things you can make to prevents you from buying something is to wait to buy it. Before I make any purchase, I change my mind, and tell myself that i can wait to buy at the end of the week or month, and I see if still really want it. Often I don’t buy it and save many of my money.