Not much more to say really.. one is a baby, 3 are toddlers and the other 3 are 8yo+
Will reply when I find some time in my hectic life :)
[AMA] I Have 7 Children Ranging from 1 Month to 12 Years Old, 3 of Which Are Toddlers
MrKnowItAll on 28/06/2021 - 21:03
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If your income is "a lot higher" than OPs and you're struggling, then it's not because of your income and pretty much it's due to your expenses. A mortgage is also an expense
@inasero: We are no where near struggling.
But you are right, mortgage repayment is the main reason that we don't have the second one yet.
Do you use any government support to help raising the kids?
No. In the past we did when on low income, and using their resources to increase our own education, but not in recent years.
This.
This is absolute beauty my dear. Well done and really appreciate the honesty in answering the questions. You guys should be proud of yourselves.Thank you! There's definitely a level of pride for how far we've come from where we used to be :)
One question OP, how big is your place? Will you have a bed room each for each child?
Currently we have 5 bedrooms with a spare room available to covert to a bedroom when needed. We also have plans of extending the house to allow more personal space for everyone :)
So you own a house with 5 bedrooms? So you are paying a mortgage as well as 7 kids on $115k. Amazing !!
Marc clearly didn't figure out what was causing the issues in time.
Well good job, in this country the fertility rate is low and we need more children.
Those who say a waste of the planets resources aren't looking at it from a national perspective. Overall the avg woman in Australia was having 1.66 babies in 2019, I doubt the pandemic will increase it.
One for mum, one for dad and five for the country.
we need more children.
we need more nukes.*
$115k and 7 kids, either your a budgeting god or somethings missing here.
What's missing is most likely Centrelink.
115k is Marc's income. That doesn't include the money I earn from my small business. While I wouldn't call myself a god, my budgeting skills are pretty amazing. We put money into bills each fortnight so when the bill comes in, it's already paid. We set limits on spending so we don't overdo it, and tend to buy most things in bulk when on sale, which saves a small fortune. Plus, it doesn't cost much extra to make larger meals, and there isn't much difference in the cost of utilities with more children.
Whats the income earnt from your business? It must be sizable.Couples with a mortgage and no kids in Sydney/Melbourne struggle on $115k. I guess Perth is cheaper.
It varies a lot but can be anywhere from 500-1200 a fortnight. A little less this year due to covid.
We don't pay a mortgage but pay a small amount of rent to Marc's dad, and have full freedom to do whatever we want to the house.
Thankfully the cost of living in WA is far less than in Sydney and with Marc working from home, our expenses are pretty much just food and utilities.
@MrsKnowItAll: Right. So no need to pay $2000 rent for a 5 bedroom house or $3000 mortgage.Yes now it sounds more realistic. $115k + your income .
@MrsKnowItAll: I think it is not really the money problem for both of you….its more of the private time and rest.
Guess it's sort of a good age gap of your children, maybe you can train them to look after one another.
The pass on of clothes and books must be a plus.
I would have donated all my kids clothes, books and toys to you guys if you were at Sydney cause during covid nobody wants them as donation therefore I have to put at the kerb side for collection…..it was gone within the hour it was out.
Boxes of toys, books, and cloths. It will look like a landfill if all was poured out on the lawn.
@MrsKnowItAll: ok, so that tiny bit of info basically sums up what everyone in this thread is wondering. no rent/mortgage is the only reason you can afford 7 kids with your income. not trying to be rude btw, just trying to see how its possible. Its bascally an extra $20k - $30k in your pocket each year.
My biggest expense is food, i sometimes see people on ozbargain posting about how they only spend $80 a week on 2 people, $80 wouldnt even get me 3 days. But then again they dont really specify what their eating, im assuming a small can of home brand baked beans and some white rice.
Sorry that doesn't sound right, at least from my personal experience. I'm in Melbourne and most of my friends are married with no kids and all of them have a mortgage. Pretty much all of them are on a combined family income of less than 120k (before tax) and they are all comfortably saving money.
Do you really like the sound of screaming kids?
They don't often scream :)
How many of them were planned?
Do you think you could handle more?
Do you think you'd be happier with fewer children?
How many toilet rolls do you go through a week?
Are you a sex god?We've had 9 pregnancies in total and around half were planned. We've had two losses and each time we were actively trying shortly after. We've had a couple 'whatever happens, happens' pregnancies and also 2 where we were using 2 or more forms of contraception.
We can handle everything thrown our way, it's just a matter of adapting and learning how to manage everything.
I don't think we'd be happier with less children. They all bring a lot of joy to our day (and some frustrations too haha). I'd be happier with less washing though lol
We go through around 5-7 toilet rolls in a week. More if the toddlers decide to play with them!
I'm not sure about the 'god' comment but there have been times where it's so good, There are uncontrollable happy tears :')
how often do you family eat at a restaurant or go on a holiday?
Holidays prior to covid were every 1-2 months, and 3 years for interstate. Restaurants were typically once a week or fortnight. We now eat at a restaurant once every few months but order restaurant deliveries once a fortnight. We do spontaneous day trips 300km away and return the same evening, once every few weeks, and overnight stays we will start to do when the lockdowns ease up a bit. We would love to do an overseas holiday at some point but who knows when that'll be possible!
how does it work when you go to those places where kids eat free?
I must say I admire the fact that you don't get any subsidy from the government. Many in your situation would, so kudos to you both - there are so many entitled people. That said I would feel happy for my taxes going to a family like yours. Keep up the good work. Despite your efforts Australia's birth rate is declining and we are living in one of the greatest countries on earth.Thank you!
We get one free kids meal per adult meal so we still have to pay for 3-4 kids meals (our oldest often orders from the adult menu). Our favourite place to dine doesn't offer kids eat free meals though so everyone's meals are paid for.
@MrsKnowItAll: So the figures are doing a bamboozle in my head.
So you’re saying no family tax benefits (A or B) and no government subsidies for anything like child care etc?
Your income seems to average $26k minus tax of $1.5k and marcs income is $84k net for a grand total of $110k clear.
A household of 9. What are we missing? You must be paying close to no rent.
7….kids that was like near my dream of 8 lol ( I always thought the more the merrier coming from a small family) before I had any kids.
But boy was I wrong after having 2, I changed my mind, raised the white flag and scrap that dream immediately.
It must take a lot of love, care, patience, planning and resources. Both of your reponsibilities are on the next level, do take good care especially of your wife because the wifey's well being is the the pillars of the family and vice versa.
Might be a bit of a busy body here, but I would recommend remote 24/7 survillence of the whole house if you have none just that with the tech, it helps to monitor/have a better visibility of your children's activities.
Wish you a happy family.
Do update us on the next progress 😁
Do you regret that you will have limited 1-on-1 time with your kids? Having 7 it must be easy for one or some to be left behind socially, academically, emotionally etc. and without the full attention of a parent you may not realise it is happening.
7 kids and 2 parents… would you say you are on cloud 9?
https://tv.yarn.co/yarn-clip/96d22abf-6378-46b7-b10b-9efa7ad…Do you ever just think… why didn't I stop earlier?
Have you double up on a kids name yet? Barry the 2nd, Barry the 3rd?
do you get much helps from the outlaws/inlaws?
Good on you, i got 1 and 1 on the way and im pretty happy with that the more the merrier i guess one question i have how long does it take you to get all 7 in the car packed and ready to leave the house?
You just reminded me of home alone suddenly lmao
It depends. Day trips down south take about 1.5 hours to get everyone dressed, bags packed (nappies, spare clothes, snacks, toys, drinks, phone chargers) or more if Marc sleeps in lol
If it's just a trip to the shops, usually everyone is ready within 30 minutes
But getting the older kids ready for school (one of which doesn't like going at all) can take up to 1.5 hours for them to have breakfast, get dressed and go. The earlier we have to get up, the longer getting ready usually takes.
Well done!
I’m currently pregnant with baby number 7 due in November!1st is 12 born in April
2nd is 10 born in December
3rd is 9 born in December
4th is 7 born in December
5th is 4 born in February
6th is 2 born in April!
My next will be born in November!
Will I have more after this one? Yes!
Do I care what people think? Hell NO
🥰😅Are you u in some sort of religion or belief or sect that opposed contraception?
If you're going to have kids, easier to have them all in one go, than wait years inbetween. It's harder to have kids when you're older, when you're younger it's much easier physically.
Catholicism?
Your magic happens "March to July" lol too much personal info.
Congrats on 7th mommy Amy.
😅 thanks!
Are you finish?
We'll see where life takes us but we're content at the moment :)
Get a life
I did :) 7 of them specifically
Are you u in some sort of religion or belief or sect that opposed contraception?
Catholicism?
Contraception isn't 100% effective! And no religion :)
Sure none of the contraceptive methods used in the western sexual health practice is not 100% effective, but it almost impossible for any of them fail 7 times.
Unless you are practicing some alternative contraceptive "methods" using scented candles, essential oils, and Mars Venus aspects in your astrological natal charts.
Some were planned, some were failed contraception, and some were laziness with contraception or knowingly taking the risk :)
Do not mean to be rude, but how do you guys manage financially? Are you both in hi fi jobs?
Look no further Padawan, the answers lies out there…like page 1-2.
Their combined income is like as much as 150k (115k + 1200 fortnight).
5 bedroom house. No mortgage, cheaply renting (OP's father owns it).
OP works 12 hour WFH job while wife has a side business but otherwise a house wife.
There you go.
You their spokesperson?
I am the spokesperson to repeated questions
Pretty amazing how you manage with just 115K, even if your rent was zero p/m
Do you have any extra expenses, sports lessons, music lessons, speech therapy, holidays?
We know what it costs us and the age of our children, and there is not really a concept of economies of scale (after the 3 or 4th its pretty linear) , clothes get worn down generally before they can be passed down (boys), and shoes need to be new. Told my wife and she was like, WHAT! 9 souls on 115K. Food, nappies, utilities, car expenses; cut lessons and any extra help children need, doesn't leave you with much change.
Very curious to see how you spend your income (I mean what % ends up on, rent, food, bills, clothes, lessons, e.g.)
P.S: Doesn't the concept of a van frighten you….its almost a coffin on wheel….also, how many anchor points? But I guess its better then two cars.
As per my username, I'm quite the savvy shopper! Most of the kids shoes were $2 and $50 for ascics. Clothes are always bought off season or on sales. I just picked up current season clothes for the younger kids for 50% off so I stocked up on larger sizes as well.
We spend around 25% of our fortnightly income on bills, 15-20% on food, 25% on afterpay/zippay/credit card repayments, 5% on health appointments and the rest is split between luxuries, savings and 'unallocated' money that we set aside just incase we need it for something.
We own our van outright so we only have rego and maintenance to cover, we do all maintenance and repairs ourselves and put money into an account each fortnight for recurring payments like rego, insurance, Netflix, YouTube premium etc. It's factored into our 'bill' money.
We shuffle the budget around if we need extra health appointments (pediatrician, doctor appointments, medications, mental health appointments etc)
We save a lot of money with DIY. Home renovation, car repairs, building things. I also buy almost everything on sale and stock up. Nappies cost me around $3-5 per packet after cashback and baby wipes were $6 on clearance so we have 10 boxes still available. We've never had to panic buy anything because we've always got a stockpile of our most used items!
The kids have music lessons, which cost nothing other than the outright cost of their instruments. They were awarded scholarships. Tumble tots (starting next term) is only $50 per child for the term.
Holidays are funded from our luxury or saving money :)
As for the van, we went for the 2017 model as it has more safety features than earlier/cheaper models. Our younger children are all in child seats which offer a great level of protection in a collision. I do worry about a head on collision though because my feet are about 30cm from the front of the vehicle!! In all our years of driving though, we've been in one minor collision each. I'm hoping we're never involved in anything more serious.
I am surprised by the number of comments who seriously believe that having a few children will be the end of the world… just the sign of the times I guess.
If I had the money, I would also plan to have 5 children, because that is how much you can fit in a bigger car (+ wife) without needing a van. I would imagine having a small army of "me"s feels very rewarding!
Just one question - do you think, or are you expecting your children will follow in your footsteps and have a lot of babies too? They ever talk about it?
I would imagine a family reunion with an army of granchildren would be out of this world lmaoWe expect our kids to make their own choices and follow their own path. They change their minds frequently about whether they want children or not and how many. The oldest has expressed that he would love to have 3 kids, our 8 year old goes between wanting to be childless and having 20 children, and our 10 year old wants a baby without having to go through pregnancy, or sometimes she wants no kids at all and wants 40 cats instead. It's interesting to see how their ideas of their future changes! I'm excited to see the choices they make in their future :)
Do you go on holidays with the kids? If not at what stage did it become too much / too many kids to go away?
We do a day trip down south every few weeks. We're in the process of planning where to go for our next weekend/week away but will be going some time before September :)
Happy days 🤣😷
are you willing to adopt? happy to contribute my little one :p
Id love to but not yet in a position to have one.
My wife and I talk about having 11 kids to make a soccer team when we were just starting out but now we do not even have one yet 😁
Are you each other's first partner? High school sweethearts?
How are the kids relationships with each other? Do they support each other or are they competitive?
How many look like mum vs. Dad?
Yes, we are each other's first relationship! Our friends introduced us on MSN and we met up in person and went from there!
The younger kids all love playing together and like to get into mischief together too. They're very caring and will comfort each other or others if they get hurt. The older kids usually get along quite well but definitely have their fair share of arguments! They can get competitive at times, and other times they'll work together to achieve something. Sometimes they prefer to keep to themselves. It depends on the day really
Every single one of them look like Marc. Our youngest daughter shows some resemblance to my baby photos but overall, looks just like Dad! They also look like each other. Child 1, child 4 and child 7 are basically copy paste. They're identical! Child 2, child 3 and child 5 are identical, And child 6 is a mix of all of them!
What are their personalities like?
Do you have favourites?
No favourites, but there are things we like about each of them!
Our oldest (12) is kind, helpful, calm, responsible and enjoys using technology and Understanding how it works - like building PCs, coding games and creating his own modifications to games.
Our second (10) is quite headstrong. She is very independent and is very capable. She likes to draw, enjoys cooking and experimenting with food and overall, is frustrating at times but her confidence and stubbornness make her an incredible leader!
Our third (8) is a high energy, curious child who is very hands on and always wanting to do something. He likes building things, he likes undoing things and Understanding how they work. He always wants to learn more!
Our fourth (3) is highly independent, very quite, very compliant/helpful. He can often be quite shy, and doesnt talk much unless he's in a super good mood. He likes to make sure everyone else is following the rules and staying safe, and we often find him telling his younger siblings to be careful or trying to direct them to somewhere safe! He's so sweet
Our fifth (2) is a wild child. He's never still and always finds new ways to do/get what he wants. If he can't reach something, he'll find a way to climb up or knock it down. He gets very excited about absolutely everything and also loves to get into mischief!
Our sixth (16 months) is a girly girl at the moment. She loves putting on dresses and bows and often tries to wear multiple outfits at a time. She's very kind and shows a lot of empathy. She is a little mischievous but also happily plays calmly outside in the sand or on the trampoline. Shes a very determined child who won't give up on anything until she achieves what she set out to do.
Our littlest (1 month) is a little young to determine personality but he's a pretty good baby who enjoys the company of others and eats all day long. He's a fairly content baby but enjoys lots of cuddles from anyone and everyone!
It sounds like you have named them chronologically based on their departure from your womb. Smart move. I assume this is easier than remembering names.
We often just say "you, whichever one you are". It's universal!
please stop breeding, we dont need more humans ruining our planet
Let's start by killing you FIRST!
typical human behavior. Violence and hatred
The advice to stop breeding is sound.
Look at the thousands of species we have wiped out due to our greedy nature. Please do your research
His grandkids will pay the price
Unfortunately so will ours.
How do you handle discipline? Is there any one kid that's more of a rat bag than the others, how do you handle them, or are they all pretty good kids?
Would you have had that many if FTB didn't exist?
It's been answered before that they don't claim any ftb/centrelink benefits
I call bs
Bet they claim kids on the tax return, so they would get it and for 7 kids would be a motsa
@Stevek1960: You can claim children on your tax return? the only place I've found it asks for depenents is in the Medicare section and it makes hardly a difference
Kudos to you, I can't just handle my only one. You deserve an award
does your children shower or bath together to save water?
The younger ones do. The older kids have a time limit otherwise they'd spend hours in there!
Would you ever go to theme parks with the fam? Tickets for everyone is so expensive
We do :) we often go to adventure World. Season passes are worthwhile! We didn't buy them this year though. We haven't gone out as much as we usually would
How much and how many kids
$700 for everyone. Kids under 4 are free
How did you afford your house?
Not OP. They don't own it. A relative does. It's a 5 bedroom house too
Choice between house or kids is made easier when you're given a house.
We weren't really 'given' it per se, we do pay rent which is less than you get in a rental agreement, but we do pick up the land rates (1,700/year) and water rates (1,600/year) which puts it quite close to the price of a rental. The biggest advantage is being able to make changes as we see fit, like replacing a dying ac with a more efficient split system, adding solar, etc.
How do you cope with the never ending round of colds/runny noses etc?
Arguably one of the most frustrating things about a large family. Everyone gets sick at different times and it spreads! But we are all usually pretty good with hygeine, and don't get sick all that often. The past few weeks have been full of colds though. It took 2 weeks before everyone felt better! We have vitamin C on hand and nasal sprays and Vicks so we're prepared :)
Expenses (excluding mortgage) is not that bad actually.