We Just Had a Beautiful Baby!!..Now How Do We Pay For It???

By: Zachary Pienkowski

So your planning on having a child soon or know someone who just had one. Once the initial joy of birth settles down, many couples are left with the daunting question of how do we support this child? While most people consider it an obvious fact that children are a financial burden, many couples overlook this and are left to figure out a way to survive. Housing, health care, and everyday expenses have risen consistently over the past 10 years, while family income has stopped growing or in many cases taken a step back. Dealing with a pay-cut is never easy, but when expenses stay the same most people find a way to get by. It may be by cutting back on excessive spending or going without in some cases. However, now imagine that you just took a pay cut, and are looking for a new house to accommodate the addition of new family members. According to Amilia Warren Tyagi, co-author of The Two Income Trap, housing costs rise by 78% for couples with children as opposed to couples with no children. A major reason for this hike in cost in not just size of the home to fit the children, but getting a home that is near the best school districts. Competition for real estate near the best district is fierce, and prices skyrocket in a matter of no time. Families are finding it much harder to make mortgage payments when they only have one income and are used to having two in order to make the payments. Years ago families were not relying on two incomes in order to cover expenses, but due to these rapid rising costs, they may no longer have a choice.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_affording-a-baby-whats-causing-the-money-crunch_1744452.bc

http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-real-cost-of-raising-a-baby_1744454.bc

http://www.babycenter.com/0_by-the-numbers-key-stats-from-our-moms-and-money-survey_1744466.bc