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"16 Kids and Counting" - how do they afford it?

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  • valk_scot
    valk_scot Posts: 5,290 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Stop child benefit after three kids? What happens if you go for your third baby and it turns out to be twins, then? That's what happened to a friend of mine, they were both working and had decided that with very careful budgeting they could afford a third and much wanted child. Four children however was going to push them over the line re childcare costs, bigger vehicle, possibly bigger house etc etc. My friend was absolutely distraught at the thought of how they were going to manage. So what would the critics advise in that case? Abortion? Give one baby up for adoption after the birth? Call them irresponsible for having decided to get pregnant again without considering the statistical possibility that it might be a twin birth? I think in this sort of case it would be just a bit OTT to start refusing them child benefit on that fourth child, methinks...

    Sixteen kids though...that is a BIG family.
    Val.
  • claire16c
    claire16c Posts: 7,074 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    edited 8 March 2013 at 3:37PM
    valk_scot wrote: »
    Stop child benefit after three kids? What happens if you go for your third baby and it turns out to be twins, then? That's what happened to a friend of mine, they were both working and had decided that with very careful budgeting they could afford a third and much wanted child. Four children however was going to push them over the line re childcare costs, bigger vehicle, possibly bigger house etc etc. My friend was absolutely distraught at the thought of how they were going to manage. So what would the critics advise in that case? Abortion? Give one baby up for adoption after the birth? Call them irresponsible for having decided to get pregnant again without considering the statistical possibility that it might be a twin birth? I think in this sort of case it would be just a bit OTT to start refusing them child benefit on that fourth child, methinks...

    Sixteen kids though...that is a BIG family.

    But child benefit isn't a huge payment though is it? So if you're relying on it in order to have a baby, and counting every penny then perhaps it would make you think before having another child, it shouldn't be relied on. It's a benefit! What if the government scrapped it entirely? Unlikely yes, but surely you should be only relying on your own earnings? And anything over that is a benefit.

    I have to say though I wouldn't disagree with an exception for multiples.
  • pigpen
    pigpen Posts: 41,152 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    MerlinMags wrote: »
    That is £8.60 per meal. To feed 2 adults, 5 teenagers, 5 kids and 5 toddlers...? I must be making some big mistakes. Or do I need to eat fishfingers and 'value' mince more often? I wish I could trim down my food bill....

    not at all, you need to buy in bulk from wholesalers/farm shops rather than supermarkets and local grocers. I is about shopping around and knowing where to look. We have a large Asian supermarket round the corner which is fabulous for some veg and an African supermarket which is wonderful for other stuff and a great way to add variety to a diet.. most of the shop workers are more than happy to introduce you to new foods and give you recipes.. I love living here!

    The only person in my house who eats value fish fingers is me.. because I prefer them to the more expensive ones. Value mince is very poor economy.. you buy more expensive mince and stretch with grated veg, lentils which are far better for you and cheaper.

    I have 2 adults, 1 who eats like 3 bears, goldilocks and the big bad wolf!, 3 teens, one with diabetes, 3 children and 2 toddlers.. quite often I have my oldest 2 and my grandson too and maybe an extra friend or 2 thrown in for insanity reasons. A few garlic baguettes, a bit of salad stretches a meal much further (and sends DS3's blood sugar soaring :p) it is quite easy when you are used to it..

    Cooking for myself, OH and 2 toddlers when the older ones are at their dads is impossible.. I cannot do it!
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  • thorsoak
    thorsoak Posts: 7,166 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    pigpen wrote: »
    not at all, you need to buy in bulk from wholesalers/farm shops rather than supermarkets and local grocers. I is about shopping around and knowing where to look. We have a large Asian supermarket round the corner which is fabulous for some veg and an African supermarket which is wonderful for other stuff and a great way to add variety to a diet.. most of the shop workers are more than happy to introduce you to new foods and give you recipes.. I love living here!

    The only person in my house who eats value fish fingers is me.. because I prefer them to the more expensive ones. Value mince is very poor economy.. you buy more expensive mince and stretch with grated veg, lentils which are far better for you and cheaper.

    I have 2 adults, 1 who eats like 3 bears, goldilocks and the big bad wolf!, 3 teens, one with diabetes, 3 children and 2 toddlers.. quite often I have my oldest 2 and my grandson too and maybe an extra friend or 2 thrown in for insanity reasons. A few garlic baguettes, a bit of salad stretches a meal much further (and sends DS3's blood sugar soaring :p) it is quite easy when you are used to it..

    Cooking for myself, OH and 2 toddlers when the older ones are at their dads is impossible.. I cannot do it!

    Oh how I identify with this statement ....it wasn't a problem adding to the meals as the children arrived and grew up - but when it came down to just the 2 of us, I found it hard - in the end, I had to resort to putting the uncooked food on each plate so that I knew just how much I had to downsize food!!
  • thriftylass
    thriftylass Posts: 4,033 Forumite
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    Yes as previous posts have said at least the dad worked and their seemed to be routine and order in the family. I really liked them. Ok they don't seem to be buying value range (all had walkers crisps and stuff like that for their lunches) and loads of other food was branded, so no idea how they make it, but they manage.

    The other family just seemed to be chaos and untidiness. Fair enough he's applying for jobs (not that his applications looked very good with that hand written scribble over the top) but he's been in the news/programs for years. With that educations he can't be trying very hard.
    DEBT 02/25: total £6100 Debt free date 12/25
  • sassyblue
    sassyblue Posts: 3,793 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    thorsoak wrote: »
    Oh how I identify with this statement ....it wasn't a problem adding to the meals as the children arrived and grew up - but when it came down to just the 2 of us, I found it hard - in the end, I had to resort to putting the uncooked food on each plate so that I knew just how much I had to downsize food!!

    Me too. When l lived at home there were 6 of us and it was my job to prepare the veg and put the meat in. When l left home l couldn't get used to it, even now there's 3 of us I still cook too much.


    Happy moneysaving all.
  • Treevo
    Treevo Posts: 1,937 Forumite
    Callie22 wrote: »
    Absolutely. I didn't see the programme but speaking as the daughter of a baker there is absolutely no way you'd make enough money to support a family of eighteen if you were working on your own in a small retail bakery - not to mention that the hours you'd be working would negate you having any kind of life outside of work. You'd struggle to make enough if you had a large, wholesale place, and even if the son is helping him I still can't believe that they're making any kind of real profit.

    I don't know what kind of bakery you have knowledge of but my mother's family have had bakeries for generations and it would be easy for a seemingly small shop to make £30,000 I'm profit.

    Most seemingly-small bakeries no longer just sell bread and cakes for sale in the shop. To give you an example - my uncle runs one of the bakeries in our family which you would probably decide was small and profit-less. It has eleven staff. What you don't see is the trade orders that it fulfills six days a week for nearly every sandwich shop in a large area, as well as providing sandwiches, pastry goods, cakes etc for many companies in the area for their staff and local events. Before you've even looked at the products sold in store, the business has already covered all it's costs and made a very decent profit.
  • southcoastrgi
    southcoastrgi Posts: 6,298 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    so lets get this straight & some very rough figures, £30k a year, self employed 20% tax = £6k tax bill, take off expensises etc his tax bill is prob £0
    upwards of £20k a year c/b plus any other credits they get
    So who is supporting this family ?
    I'm only here while I wait for Corrie to start.

    You get no BS from me & if I think you are wrong I WILL tell you.
  • patchwork_cat
    patchwork_cat Posts: 5,874 Forumite
    edited 8 March 2013 at 5:50PM
    The other family shown neither of them work do they? The man has multiple degrees apparently (though not sure how much practical use a doctorate in philosophy is?).
    Guess the tax payers are footing the bill.

    A doctorate in philosophy is not a doctorate in Philosophy , the subject, it is a PhD, it could be in anything. It could be in Maths or anything else. If you ask me he isn't even trying to get a job.
  • MerlinMags
    MerlinMags Posts: 93 Forumite
    pigpen wrote: »
    not at all, you need to buy in bulk from wholesalers/farm shops rather than supermarkets and local grocers.
    ...
    Value mince is very poor economy.. you buy more expensive mince and stretch with grated veg, lentils which are far better for you and cheaper.
    ...
    A few garlic baguettes, a bit of salad stretches a meal much further

    Good tips - thank you.
    Although I will need to consider the extra petrol needed to get to these farm shops in addition to Tesco. Don't tell me I ought to go to a butchers as well?
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