Families with multiple children

Stephanie2167 · January 2016

Hi ladies. We're a family of five and I feel like recently we're struggling the first two weeks of the month. We both work full time. We have two 2 year olds in daycare (twins) and a 5 year old in Kindergarten who we also pay for before and after school care. I've had issues with shopping but have significantly cut back (buying for three little girls got the best of me). But I still feel like the 1st through the 15th kill us. With rent due on the first and then two weeks of daycare, we're not left with much else. I joke that we live paycheck to 5 days after paycheck. The 2nd half of the month we're fine and pay a significant amount towards debt and such. We're paying down our CC debt which we racked up over the holidays when we drove home from Texas to California to be with family (we're military). And we have a car payment ($190 a month). Between daycare and rent we spend $3200 a month. Barf. We pay daycare weekly but I'm wondering if it would make things easier to pay daycare monthly (starting on the 15th when we have a bit more money to spare). Just looking for advice on the best way to budget so that we aren't eating hotdogs the 1st-15th and filet mignon the 16th-30th.

hoffse · January 2016

I don't have kids, but my best advice is to slowly build up a couple week's buffer during the last 2-3 weeks of the month. Instead of thinking of rent due on the first of the month, think of it as being due at the end of the month.

For example, our January budget includes our February mortgage payment, because that is deducted from our bank account on the first. While it's technically paid in February, I set aside money for it from our January paychecks.

I get paid bi-weekly and H is paid on the 15th and last day of the month, so if we didn't do that, we could be screwed.

This sounds like a cash flow problem because your bills are front-loaded. During your less lean weeks, try to save enough so that you can get 1 month ahead for your rent and day care payments.

Stephanie2167 · January 2016

So you budget for two months of mortgage payments in one month? Trying to understand how you do that? But yes, my husband gets paid on the 1st and 15th and I get paid bi-weekly. We pay rent and two weeks of daycare off the first paychecks and our CC bills/car payments/phone bills/cable/two more weeks of daycare/etc off the second checks.

Nevermind: I see what you are saying now.

cbee817 · January 2016

We have 2 girls- one in kindergarten with after school (I'm able to go into work later so I get to put her on the bus- which is great and helps $ wise) and one in full time day care. DH and I both work- our mortgage is due on the 1st and our day care is due on the 15th with a penalty on the 22nd if they don't get the check by then. We charge after school on a credit card so it's automatically billed on the 1st, but we don't pay it until the balance is due. It's a card that DH doesn't use, so it keeps it active and is used for after school only at this point.

There were some months (especially when they were both in day care) that we were shelling out over $3,500 for our mortgage and day care. It was overwhelming for sure. I think if you can change your day care payment to later on in the month, it might help you balance out the month and even save a bit to build up your checking account. Get a buffer in there so that all of that money out the door doesn't feel so overwhelming. GL- keep us updated with how you're doing!

hoffse · January 2016

Here's a thought - do you guys expect to get a tax refund this year? Using it to pad your cash flow could be a really good use.

Stephanie2167 · January 2016

Yes. We should be getting a tax refund.

julieanne912 · January 2016

How about ignoring due dates and budgeting things out per paycheck instead of by the month? Meaning, even if something isn't due til say, the 10th, still pay it out of your check the 2nd half of the month before. Nothing wrong with paying things early (unless for some reason it doesn't let you).

Another option is to put some money into a separate account to pay some of those first half of the month bills, that way it's not sitting in your "operating" account, which makes you less likely to spend it on whatever and finding yourself short after the 1st. So, say you have a bill for $100 that's always due around the 5th of the month, but you get the bill on the 20th the month before, so you know the amount. Put that $100 that's due on the 5th into a separate account right after you get the bill, so you have it ready to go when it's due.

julieanne912 · January 2016

Also if you're paid bi-weekly, that means you receive 2 extra paychecks in a year. So, you can set those "extra" checks aside to help build your buffer for the leaner months. I'm paid bi-weekly too and I have an extra check coming up, and I'm using a portion of it to build up my savings to help pay for stuff later on this year, like my car registration.

Stephanie2167 · January 2016

julieanne912 said:

Also if you're paid bi-weekly, that means you receive 2 extra paychecks in a year. So, you can set those "extra" checks aside to help build your buffer for the leaner months. I'm paid bi-weekly too and I have an extra check coming up, and I'm using a portion of it to build up my savings to help pay for stuff later on this year, like my car registration.

Good point. Ours isn't until June and November this year.

brij2006 · January 2016

Our beginning of the month is bill heavy as well. What works for us, is I pay for many of our bills that are due at the beginning of the month, at the end of the prior month instead.

So our mortgage was always due on the 1st. I would pay it on the 25th. Our cell phones are due on the 15th, but I pay those on the 25th as well.

It will take a month or 2 for you to get the budget balanced out for having 2 of those same bills in 1 month, but once you do it initially, then it won't feel like you're cash poor at the beginning of the month.

dragonstarjk · January 2016

julieanne912 said:

How about ignoring due dates and budgeting things out per paycheck instead of by the month? Meaning, even if something isn't due til say, the 10th, still pay it out of your check the 2nd half of the month before. Nothing wrong with paying things early (unless for some reason it doesn't let you).

Another option is to put some money into a separate account to pay some of those first half of the month bills, that way it's not sitting in your "operating" account, which makes you less likely to spend it on whatever and finding yourself short after the 1st. So, say you have a bill for $100 that's always due around the 5th of the month, but you get the bill on the 20th the month before, so you know the amount. Put that $100 that's due on the 5th into a separate account right after you get the bill, so you have it ready to go when it's due.

Yeah, this is what we do. I write out my budget bi-weekly because we both get paid the same day every other week, but I balance the bills out between the two paydays so one isn't putting more strain than the other. Then I just pay those bills out of that 2-week period no matter when they are due. Make sure to put them AHEAD of their due dates, not behind. Example--my car payment is due the 15th. I include my car payment in the first 2-week period of every month no matter when the payday actually falls, so I always have it paid before the 15th. House payment is due the 1st, I put that in the 2nd-half of the month budget, so we may have the funds to pay it as early as the 16th/17th (however the dates fall).

maple2 · January 2016

We are fortunate to be at the point where we have about a month's worth of "slush" money, so we can always pay our bills when they are due out of that money if bills don't align well with paydays. We can replenish the slush money when paychecks arrive. I know lots of people here like to keep very little extra in their checking accounts, but we always have enough to cover our monthly fixed expenses just in case something comes up. Like pps have said, I would just save more during your flush time of the month to help out during lean times in the future. Whether that's budgeting a specific expense, like a mortgage, to come out of the month before or just having a bigger cushion in your checking account to carry you through and be replenished.

lbonga1 · January 2016

You could try YNAB for budgeting. One of the main points, as others have discussed, is to be ahead of your payments in a way. So basically, you're paying for this month's bills with last month's paychecks. A coworker who recommended it to me used one of his "extra" paychecks for the year to help do that. I know a lot of other people who use it too and have been very happy with it.

AprilZ81 · January 2016

While you are working on building up a slush fund/cushion in your checking account would it help to divide your daycare and mortgage and put money aside with each paycheck to spread it out throughout the month?

Another thing... Are you actually tracking how much you spend compared to your budget? If you aren't tracking it carefully you might be overspending in one area and maybe overbudgeting in another.

vlagrl29 · January 2016

the first of the month is bill heavy for us as well. Between utilities, auto transfer to savings, and preschool its tight for us as well. What I do for DD's dance and preschool because they are due monthly is divide it by 4 weeks and transfer that money out of our checking into savings so we don't spend it and when the monthly bill is due - write out the check and transfer the total sum back into our checking. We only have 1 kid and no daycare but thought I would just add what works for us.

abrewer5 · January 2016

Another idea is to take all your monthly bills and add them up and then divide by two (ETA: If you get paid bi-weekly) and put that money in a separate account to pay bills out of of.

For example my portion of the monthly bills is roughly $1150 per month so I put $615 per paycheck in our joint checking to give us a little cushion but also cover all the bills. Then the bills just come out as auto payments. I monitor the account closely to make sure everything is coming out on time and all that but, this helped me a lot to spread out the funds so I didn't feel short some weeks.

PurpleBookmark · January 2016

We are a family of 5 as well and we also have most of our large bills due at the beginning of the month. I treat our checking account as if the bills are actually due at the end of the month. I know how much I need and make sure to have it in place by the last week of the month. We do have a buffer in checking as well just in case.

Stephanie2167 · January 2016

This is all great you guys. Thank you so much. I track our budget and spending with Mint and now that my shopping is under control, our biggest expense besides daycare is groceries. The first month I tracked that in mint I almost lost it. Holy cow. This week is actually the first week that I meal planned the entire week and did the grocery shopping on Saturday (I spent $168 on the weeks groceries at Walmart). It has been so nice to know what I'm making for dinner each night and having everything I need. No last minute runs to the grocery store.

AprilZ81 · January 2016

Stephanie2167 said:

This is all great you guys. Thank you so much. I track our budget and spending with Mint and now that my shopping is under control, our biggest expense besides daycare is groceries. The first month I tracked that in mint I almost lost it. Holy cow. This week is actually the first week that I meal planned the entire week and did the grocery shopping on Saturday (I spent $168 on the weeks groceries at Walmart). It has been so nice to know what I'm making for dinner each night and having everything I need. No last minute runs to the grocery store.

Meal planning is a huge help for us and it is just the two of us. Now that I have a deep freezer I try to meal plan for two weeks and make an afternoon trip to the stores (usually Aldi, Meijer and Costco depending on what is on the list) and get it all done. I have a list of what I need for our meals, staple items that we are out of and I usually end up with a few impulse purchases that are good for those days where even though I have a meal planned I just don't want to mess with it.

If nothing else meal planning avoids the expensive trip to the store and then coming home with a bunch of random ingredients and still have nothing to eat. lol

brij2006 · January 2016

Meal planning can help immensely! So can cooking from scratch. Even if it's just simple things like tacos, spaghetti, homemade pizza, etc. It can save a ton of money vs buying pre-packaged or frozen foods.

What helps me is I grab a cookbook and sit down with sticky notes and put tabs on the recipes I want to try. I prefer the church cookbooks rather than Betty Crocker or something fancy, because I just don't have the time to prep that much nor keep that many ingredients available. Then a couple days before grocery shopping, I look through the cookbook and write down which recipes we're going to try this week. 1 cookbook usually lasts us 3-4 months of new recipes. Then I look through the kitchen and see what I already have and what I need, then make my grocery list.

We fill the list in with what we need for lunches, like chips and lunch meat for H, or salad stuff for me. But this way I have some guidance.

I usually try 2 new recipes each week. This week was slow cooker Mexican pulled pork that we used for tacos last night and we'll use for nachos tonight. Tomorrow night is smoky slow cooker ribs that I have a package of instant mashed potatoes and some frozen veggies to put with. Sunday was goulash and Monday we ate the leftover goulash.

Another tip, I use Pinterest a lot for ideas too. So if I have something in the pantry or freezer that has been in there for a while, I'll type in "quinoa recipes" to Pinterest and plan a meal or 2 around using that up.

If it's a recipe we like and want to make again, I move the sticky note to the bottom of the cookbook and write "Like," "Okay," or "LOVED" on it. If it was a recipe we didn't like, then I pull the sticky note from it. Same with Pinterest. I have a board for Recipes we want to try, one for things we've made, and I delete the recipes we didn't like.

julieanne912 · January 2016

I love meal planning. Also helps to keep meals healthier too! A lot of my ideas for quick, non-planned meals with pantry ingredients are not on the healthy side (ie stuff like pizza, grilled cheese and soup, etc).

I use Pinterest for my meal planning, I have a board for "this week's meals". Now, I can't put everything on there, since I also use my cookbooks, but I do a lot of my weekday planning at work, so most of the time I save the cookbook stuff for weekends. But anyway, when I decide on the recipe I want to make, I move that pin to the "this week's meal" board. That way when I'm ready to sit down and do my grocery list, they're all right there. Saves a ton of time when it comes time to do the list.

jtmh2012 · January 2016

Stephanie2167 said:

Hi ladies. We're a family of five and I feel like recently we're struggling the first two weeks of the month. We both work full time. We have two 2 year olds in daycare (twins) and a 5 year old in Kindergarten who we also pay for before and after school care. I've had issues with shopping but have significantly cut back (buying for three little girls got the best of me). But I still feel like the 1st through the 15th kill us. With rent due on the first and then two weeks of daycare, we're not left with much else. I joke that we live paycheck to 5 days after paycheck. The 2nd half of the month we're fine and pay a significant amount towards debt and such.

It sounds like to me you just need to shift your budgeting since you say you're fine the second half of the month. We get paid on the 14th and the 29th. Trying to budget on a monthly basis (1st to the end of the month) would be a bit of a pain. So we budget from the 15th to the 15th (give or take a day).

Stephanie2167 · January 2016

julieanne912 said:

I love meal planning. Also helps to keep meals healthier too! A lot of my ideas for quick, non-planned meals with pantry ingredients are not on the healthy side (ie stuff like pizza, grilled cheese and soup, etc).

I use Pinterest for my meal planning, I have a board for "this week's meals". Now, I can't put everything on there, since I also use my cookbooks, but I do a lot of my weekday planning at work, so most of the time I save the cookbook stuff for weekends. But anyway, when I decide on the recipe I want to make, I move that pin to the "this week's meal" board. That way when I'm ready to sit down and do my grocery list, they're all right there. Saves a ton of time when it comes time to do the list.

Yep. I use Pinterest because most of the recipes are simple. This week I did: Homemade Pizzas, Takeout (Monday is ballet night so we get home late), Spaghetti, Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki (made rice and steamed veggies when I got home), Breakfast for dinner (kids favorite - eggs, bacon/sausage and waffles), Martha Stewarts One Pot Pasta (pinterest) and meatloaf cupcakes.

My favorite website is www.skinnytaste.com so I can find all my favorite recipes and pin them on pinterest.

It has been a real lifesaver this week because my husband is gone for work for two weeks and I'm not scrambling and having to take 3 kids to the grocery store.

short+sassy · January 2016

Stephanie2167 said:

julieanne912 said:

I love meal planning. Also helps to keep meals healthier too! A lot of my ideas for quick, non-planned meals with pantry ingredients are not on the healthy side (ie stuff like pizza, grilled cheese and soup, etc).

I use Pinterest for my meal planning, I have a board for "this week's meals". Now, I can't put everything on there, since I also use my cookbooks, but I do a lot of my weekday planning at work, so most of the time I save the cookbook stuff for weekends. But anyway, when I decide on the recipe I want to make, I move that pin to the "this week's meal" board. That way when I'm ready to sit down and do my grocery list, they're all right there. Saves a ton of time when it comes time to do the list.

Yep. I use Pinterest because most of the recipes are simple. This week I did: Homemade Pizzas, Takeout (Monday is ballet night so we get home late), Spaghetti, Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki (made rice and steamed veggies when I got home), Breakfast for dinner (kids favorite - eggs, bacon/sausage and waffles), Martha Stewarts One Pot Pasta (pinterest) and meatloaf cupcakes.
My favorite website is www.skinnytaste.com so I can find all my favorite recipes and pin them on pinterest.
It has been a real lifesaver this week because my husband is gone for work for two weeks and I'm not scrambling and having to take 3 kids to the grocery store.

Is it okay that I'm a fully grown adult and also LOVE breakfast for dinner, lol?

Stephanie2167 · January 2016

short+sassy said:

Stephanie2167 said:

julieanne912 said:

I love meal planning. Also helps to keep meals healthier too! A lot of my ideas for quick, non-planned meals with pantry ingredients are not on the healthy side (ie stuff like pizza, grilled cheese and soup, etc).

I use Pinterest for my meal planning, I have a board for "this week's meals". Now, I can't put everything on there, since I also use my cookbooks, but I do a lot of my weekday planning at work, so most of the time I save the cookbook stuff for weekends. But anyway, when I decide on the recipe I want to make, I move that pin to the "this week's meal" board. That way when I'm ready to sit down and do my grocery list, they're all right there. Saves a ton of time when it comes time to do the list.

Yep. I use Pinterest because most of the recipes are simple. This week I did: Homemade Pizzas, Takeout (Monday is ballet night so we get home late), Spaghetti, Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki (made rice and steamed veggies when I got home), Breakfast for dinner (kids favorite - eggs, bacon/sausage and waffles), Martha Stewarts One Pot Pasta (pinterest) and meatloaf cupcakes.
My favorite website is www.skinnytaste.com so I can find all my favorite recipes and pin them on pinterest.
It has been a real lifesaver this week because my husband is gone for work for two weeks and I'm not scrambling and having to take 3 kids to the grocery store.

Is it okay that I'm a fully grown adult and also LOVE breakfast for dinner, lol?

I love it because it's easy as crap to make. ;-)

beetee123 · January 2016

I usually roll about $1,000 of our 2nd pay checks to keep for the first half of the next month. That gives us a buffer for any extra expenses since all but two of our bills are due in the first two weeks of the month.

MommyLiberty5013 · January 2016

Credit cards are revolving debts. If you figure out a cycle you want the cc company can reset your statement cycle and therefore your payment due date. They can typically adjust it within a two week period.

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