![Have children early and often [620x410 - 30KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/MsCb2X.jpg){kind=link}
Do you know how expensive it is to have many children? Are you a millionaire, or are you living in an RV like gypsies?
If you can take the first step of having your wife stay home and getting by on a single income, having more children scales reasonably well. With a homemaker doing her job you eliminate childcare costs, which are often the equivalent of a second mortgage for just one child. And if your wife is doing her homemaking correctly you'll be able to feed and clothe your family for much less than if both parents are working.
My wife and I had to make some (((lifestyle))) sacrifices to make ends meet at first but it's worth it if you can pull it off. We don't have fancy things or as many toys or vacations as some of our friends, but our kids are healthier and learning at a greatly accelerated rate compared to their peers, and having another 2 or 3 won't really change our budgeting that much.
What about school tuition and hobbies?
Homeschooling is far easier and cheaper than the mainstream would have you believe. That's part of homemaking as far as I'm concerned. Having enough money for extra hobbies and whatnot can be tough at times.
I'm teaching my kids to play the piano and the basics of shooting/hunting, car repair and home maintenance. I have a friend who is teaching all of us to weld. My wife is teaching them how to cook and about food production and animal husbandry in general.
I guess it depends on what you consider to be valuable uses of time. In my experience, if you start to pursue that kind of traditional family arrangement in earnest, you'll end up in contact with other like minded folks and hobbies get replaced with helping others with their work and bringing kids along to watch and learn.
Something around $5,000 would be a typical cost of childbirth, with some of that covered by insurance. After that you need to feed & clothe them but from my experience that doesn't cost much. You're already paying for shelter. Childcare is usually the largest cost, it can be negated by having the mother stay home. And cultivate a close-knit family unit with grandparents will support that effort.
You forgot school tuition and relative private lessons for hobbies.
Homeschool
True, I'm not there yet in life so I don't have a baseline. Right now it seems like a small concern though, there are always cheap hobbies and home school if it comes to that.
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