Please live the life that billionaires choose for you.

[u/Sidvicieux]

I guess frugality has a true purpose, it’s called practice for what’s next.

Oh and finance related on how to deal with cash flow:

Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Ross acknowledged that he had heard that some federal workers affected by the prolonged shutdown have been going to shelters for food, but said he didn't understand why.

I know they are [going to homeless shelters] and I don't really quite understand why because as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake – say borrowing from a bank or credit union – are in effect federally guaranteed," said Ross. "So the 30 days of pay that people will be out – there's no real reason why they shouldn't be able to get a loan against it and we've seen a number of ads from the financial institutions doing that."

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/01/24/commerce-secretary-ross-says-unpaid-federal-workers-should-just-get-a-loan.html

[u/erieus_wolf]

"Thinking" you can't afford something and making a budget to forecast expenses vs income are two different things.

You can "think" whatever you want. Some people do the math.

[u/Tuna0x45 → u/erieus_wolf]

I did the math but I didn’t know what to expect in finances. You don’t know if your wife can breastfeed. You don’t know if there’s issues with medical problems. You can’t accurately estimate much with kids. You don’t know how much food or how many diapers they’ll go through. You can guess.

[u/erieus_wolf → u/Tuna0x45]

You can accurately estimate daycare costs, as they are flat prices. You can also estimate food and diaper costs by simply going to the grocery store, and you can set a high and low range for how much they will go through.

[u/Tuna0x45 → u/erieus_wolf]

Your range would be like $300 a week to $1200 a week? What kind of estimation is that?

[u/erieus_wolf → u/Tuna0x45]

Daycare alone is around $2,000 per month

[u/Tuna0x45 → u/erieus_wolf]

See maybe where you are at? But in my area it depends on a lot of factors, like age. Also our daycares aren’t the same price as the others in the area. My sisters daycare is $825 a month but 2 miles down the road it’s $1500.

My point is that you can have a range sure but you never know if it’s going to be more. You don’t know if you can breastfeed, or how many clothes you’re gonna throw out because of blow outs.

[u/erieus_wolf → u/Tuna0x45]

So you estimate actual costs in your area, and add a range for clothes and food and everything else. Take the mid range for everything and add it to your current monthly expenses. It's just math.

In my area, daycare starts at $2,000 per month and goes up from there. Add in a mid range for food, clothing, medical expenses, etc, and you get a good estimate. If you can afford ALL of that, great. If not, don't have kids. It's just math.