Guys – thanks for your comments. All very practical and we’ll manage somehow!

And for any others that might be interested in the topic of how much it costs, I recently came across a report published by AMP on the cost of raising a family and I’d encourage you to download and read it.

Some of the key findings on the report (http://www.amp.com.au/display/file/0,2461,FI6171%5FSI3,00.pdf?filename=natsem_issue3.pdf) show:

– the total cost in today’s dollars is $448,000 to raise two children from birth to age 20. That’s around $322 a week, or 24 per cent of average gross household income of $1324 a week.
– in an average two-child family, total expenses hit $100,000 when the oldest child is eight. By the time the oldest child is 16, total expenses have hit a quarter of a million.
– parents on average spend around $50,000 on education and child care, although these costs will rise if the parents choose private schools.

So, if you were looking to put some numbers on it – I’d recommend that you download the report and see page 3 (which has a weekly estimate for all age groups).

Cheers …. TwoBob

… just my 2 cents worth!

Thanks for the advice, but I do know about Google searches. It’s the first thing I do.

As far as I could tell, the link you provided didn’t give more than a commentary and chart on recent results. I couldn’t find the underlying historical clearance rate data on their site. Could you show me where it is – and is there similar data for elsewhere in Australia on the site? (Sorry, I’m not from Victoria).

I have done various searches on the net, but haven’t been able to track down this data for free. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, but being relatively new to the game, perhaps I’ve been looking in the wrong places.

Again, I’d be grateful for any links to sites that have the underlying clearance rate data.

Much appreciated

Cheers

TwoBob

… just my 2 cents worth!