What Was The Biggest Money Surprise When It Came To Having Kids, And Other Money Questions

Have you seen the money related conversation starter cards circulating in the social media lately?

It is the Financial Service Council NZ teaming up with Hatch investment platform who brings us these downloadable cards that each have a money related question to answer.

I thought I’d do a post series of personally answering a few of these questions in each post and inviting you to share your own answer to the same question in the comments! You can download your own set here.

What is one good thing your whanau (family) did financially that you want to emulate?

In the previous parts of my Money Talks series I have mentioned that I really didn’t learn much useful things about money from my family.

While there wasn’t much (at all) talk about money or financial education at home, what I did learn was how great op-shopping is (which is great for the budget and the environment).

I remember visiting op-shops many times and getting clothes, shoes and all sorts from those places.

My mum also got a lot of hand-me-downs for us kids to wear (even for me as the oldest child!) and I have followed the same path with my own children happily receiving a lot of used clothes for free.

We also use TradeMe and Facebook Marketplace first pretty much whenever we are looking at new purchases and often go with a second hand option over new.

It is also great from the perspective of having children who make a lot of mess! We don’t really worry over the condition of our possessions, since we didn’t pay much in the first place. (Of course this doesn’t mean that we don’t take care of things, we do.)

I do dream of new furniture, but that is still some time away!

What is one thing your whanau (family) did financially that you want to do differently?

I will talk about money with my kids!

I want to share my financial journey with them, teach them money management and investing and give them a head start in the form of financial knowledge.

When they are older I’d like it if they came to me and shared their financial troubles and wins, rather than me becoming a bank to them when something went wrong or they wanted something.

I really can’t wait to be able to share financial knowledge, hopefully in a fun way that will get them interested and encaged to learn.

What was the biggest money surprise when it came to having kids?

To be honest before having kids I never fully thought about the financial implications of it. I mean, I knew I’d have to take time off work and most likely not go back full time, but I don’t think I fully understood the financial side of it.

I think a big wake up call to us was when we trying to get a mortgage. Dropping down to one and a half (well, less than half) income AND having increased expenses of another family member meant that what we could borrow was significantly less.

So much less that we really struggled to buy our own home. (You can read about our home buying journey here.)

Also, having a baby and having the privilege of being able to breastfeed an extended period of time, I found that having a baby wasn’t really that expensive. We also bought most of our baby items second hand or got them for free.

But as they grow, they just keep getting more expensive! Especially if you need/want them to attend daycare.

They eat more, start doing activities and so on.

If I was to do it all over again, I would plan the financial side of it all with more intention.

You can find my answers to other money questions here.

I’d love to hear your answers to these questions in the comments below!