Chapter 3: Family finances

Every parent knows that as your family expands and as children grow, so do the family expenses. There are certain times during the year when I feel we’re haemorrhaging cash. The beginning of school terms in particular can be difficult, with payments for after-school activities due, new clothes needed for the change of season and many utility bills also due around this time.

The family budget

Setting up a family budget was the best thing we did to stay on top of our finances. We’ve been running a family budget since we dropped to one income about eight years ago.

Budgeting is an ongoing activity for us that requires regular review to accommodate expansion and growth. It isn’t a task we complete once and forget. ...

Get Planning with Kids: A Guide to Organising the Chaos to Make More Time for Parenting now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.