• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Cult Of Money

Cult Of Money

Intersection Of Personal Finance And Cryptocurrency

  • About
  • Podcast
  • Contact
  • Cryptocurrency
      • How To Start

      • What Is Cryptocurrency And How To Invest?
      • What Is Bitcoin And How Can You Invest In 2025?
      • How To Invest In Ethereum (ETH)?
      • Most Common Crypto And NFT Scams (And How To Avoid Them)
      • Proof Of Work vs. Proof Of Stake vs. Proof Of History
      • How To Invest In Crypto In Your IRA Or 401k
      • Tools + Resources

      • Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges
      • Best Cryptocurrency Wallets
      • Best Crypto Savings Accounts
      • Best Tax Software For Crypto And NFT Traders
      • Reviews

      • Coinbase Review
      • Gemini Review
      • Binance Review
      • Ledger Wallet Review
  • DeFi
      • How To Start

      • What Is DeFi?
      • What Is Staking Your Crypto?
      • Centralized vs. Decentralized Exchange
      • Tools + Resources

      • Uniswap Review And How Do Decentralized Exchanges Work?
      • Reviews

  • NFT
      • How To Start

      • What Is An NFT?
      • Tools + Resources

      • Most Popular Play-To-Earn Crypto Games
      • Popular Projects

      • What Are VeeFriends And Are They Worth It?
      • Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Are Popular (And Expensive)
      • What Is The Sandbox And How Can You Play?
      • Why Visa Bought A CryptoPunk
  • Latest News
  • Personal Finance
      • Banking

      • Investing

      • Tax

      • Income Tax Prep Guide
      • Bookkeeping And Accounting For Crypto And NFTs
Strategies

How I Raise Two Happy, Healthy Kids on a $20,000 a Year Salary

By Alexa Mason • June 11, 2022

At The Cult of Money, we want to help you navigate your finances. To do this, many or all of the products featured here may be from our partners who compensate us. This doesn’t influence our evaluations or reviews. Our opinions are our own. Any investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. We do not offer investment advisor or brokerage services, nor does it recommend buying or selling particular stocks, securities, or other investments. Investing in cryptocurrency and crypto assets is high risk. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. Learn more here.Advertiser Disclosure

There are thousands of financial products and services out there, and we believe in helping you understand which is best for you, how it works, and will it actually help you achieve your financial goals. We're proud of our content and guidance, and the information we provide is objective, independent, and free.

But we do have to make money to pay our team and keep this website running! Our partners compensate us. CultOfMoney.com has an advertising relationship with some or all of the offers included on this page, which may impact how, where, and in what order products and services may appear. The Cult of Money does not include all companies or offers available in the marketplace. And our partners can never pay us to guarantee favorable reviews (or even pay for a review of their product to begin with).

For more information and a complete list of our advertising partners, please check out our full Advertising Disclosure. CultOfMoney.com strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. The information in our reviews could be different from what you find when visiting a financial institution, service provider or a specific product's website. All products and services are presented without warranty.

How To Raise Kids On $20,000 A Year

I’ve got to get something off my chest.

One thing that drives me insane is when someone says they aren’t having kids because “kids are too expensive.”

It seriously sets me off.

Unless a child has a serious medical condition, kids are only as expensive as you want them to be. They are also as inexpensive as you want them to be.

It doesn’t cost 20k a year to raise a kid, trust me. As a person who only makes about 20k a year I can attest to the fact that I am able to pay my bills, avoid debt, AND give my kids a pretty awesome life.

You want to know why?


Table of Contents
Kids Need Love & Security – Not Money
I Buy Used
I Don’t Sign Them Up for Everything

I Teach Them (For now)
I Work on My Financial Goals

Kids Need Love & Security – Not Money

The thing I am most proud of in my life is my kids and the way I parent them. Minus the normal temper tantrums you get from a three year old and the occasional back talking of a four year old, my two girls are very well behaved.

They are also extremely happy, healthy, and loveable.

While my girls may occasionally whine for a toy when we are at a store, toys don’t really make them happy. New toys get played with for 20 minutes on average. What really makes them happy is when mommy colors with them, or plays Candy Land, or reads them books, or lays in bed with them when they’re scared. Not toys, not new clothes, and definitely not anything money can buy.

Kids want love. They want to feel a sense of belonging. They want security. They want to know that mommy (or daddy) loves them forever, no matter what, even when they do occasionally misbehave.

Of course there are other basic expenses that come a long with a kid like clothing, food, and education. Here’s how I save on those.

I Buy Used

My oldest daughter is the epitome of a girlie girl. She loves pink, sparkles, and fluff. She’d wear a princess dress (with matching shoes and a matching headband) every day if she could. And, admittedly she has quite the wardrobe. That’s because I buy both of my girls clothes used.

Despite being 17 months apart both of my daughters wear the same size clothes and shoes. That means we can’t do hand me downs. (Well, not until the youngest outgrows the oldest, anyway.)

I shop at yard sales, thrift shops, and clearance sections. Once a year my aunt and I head out to the largest nearby cities and shop the “rich section” yard sales. I pick up a couple trash bags of name brand clothes and shoes (some with the tags still on them) for less than $50. This one shopping trip can usually provide them clothes for the year.

We also check the sales at Kmart quite a bit and I’ll occasionally let each girl pick out a $10 outfit and a matching pair of shoes.

I also bought used when my kids were babies. We had used, but high quality bassinets, play pens, and baby toys.

I Don’t Sign Them Up for Everything

The only big expense I have for my girls is their weekly gymnastics class which equates to around $86 per month for the both of them. This is an activity I could easily cut out if needed but since my youngest daughter is more on the shy side I prefer her to get the social exposure and get used to the direction of a teacher.

This is their extracurricular activity. My oldest daughter also wanted to sign up for dance class but I made her choose one class only and gymnastics made the cut.

Signing kids up for many too many activities is not only stressful on the wallet it also takes the focus away from their main activities and makes schedules hectic.

I Teach Them (For now)

I could pay big bucks for an Ivy League Preschool, but why? I can give my girls more specialized attention than a teacher with 20 other students ever could.

I have bought several preschool and kindergarten workbooks for my daughters and I give them homework each and every day. They are at the age where they love to learn and I am always amazed at how quickly they pick up on new things.

We read books, learn letters, numbers, and words on a regular basis. I am actually pretty confident that my oldest daughter will be way ahead of her classmates when she starts Kindergarten at the public school next year. 

I Work on My Financial Goals

I may not make a lot of money but I have quite a few financial goals. My money goes toward paying my bills and anything left over goes toward savings goals. I think my self-control in regards to money sets a wonderful example for my kids even at such a young age.

Kids are wonderful and it really is easy to want to spend all of your money on them, but it’s also not necessary. Kids prefer love and attention over a new toy any day.

What do you think about when you hear the phrase "kids are too expensive"?

I don’t spend thousands of dollars on my children each year and you’d be surprised to learn that they’re two of the happiest and most well behaved preschool aged kids you’d ever meet!

Alexa Mason
Alexa Mason

Alexa Mason is a freelance writer and wanna be internet entrepreneur. She is also a newly single mom to two beautiful little girls. She chronicles her journey as a single mom trying to make it big at www.singlemomsincome.com.

2 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, or other advertiser and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

Comment Policy: We invite readers to respond with questions or comments. Comments may be held for moderation and are subject to approval. Comments are solely the opinions of their authors’. The responses in the comments below are not provided or commissioned by any advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any company. It is not anyone’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Subscribe
Login
Notify of

10 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Martin
11 years ago

Wow, what a great piece, especially your opening assertions about what kids truly value as opposed to what we buy them. Would love to gain re-print rights to this article for my own site, but lacking that, will certainly be linking to this in our social media.
Cheers.

1
Reply
Alexa
11 years ago
Reply to  Martin

Thank you, Martin!

0
Reply
Anne @ Unique Gifter
11 years ago

Kids can be expensive, it all depends on what you choose to do, like you said. For me, kids would be expensive, due to things like childcare being rather pricey where I live, my need for downtime, how far it is to travel to see our extended families, etc. Those things are all choices, yes, but for me, kids would be expensive.

0
Reply
Alexa
11 years ago
Reply to  Anne @ Unique Gifter

Yes, one thing I did leave out is childcare which can be expensive but I don’t feel like is a reason why a person shouldn’t have a child. I do pay a babysitter $150 a week, split with my ex-husband for childcare. I also realize I live in an inexpensive town so I’m sure that this cost would be higher in a larger city.

0
Reply
Janine
9 years ago
Reply to  Alexa

I would LOVE to pay $150/week. And again, this is a follow-up to my reply at the bottom. My husband and I pay over $1,000 a month in childcare. It is very expensive and it does factor into our decisions about having more children.

0
Reply
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life
11 years ago

Even with all these cost cutting techniques I don’t think I could afford children- at least not now. I’m also hesitant to homeschool. I feel that learning how to interact with groups- sharing, cooperation, etc is such an important part of those early school years.

0
Reply
Jenny
9 years ago
Reply to  Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life

It doesn’t cost money to send your kids to school, and she wasn’t homeschooling. She was choosing to not pay for preschool when she could do the educating herself. No one should ever have to pay for school prior to college.

0
Reply
Kim@Eyesonthedollar
11 years ago

I love this. You are so right that toys do not make a happy child. One of my daughter’s favorite things to do is go on a walk and pick up rocks. I’ll be curious to hear your take when your oldest starts school. I am failing big time as a PTA member because I cannot make myself buy or sell all the stupid stuff they have for fundraisers, but I see people just bleeding money for crap all the time because they think it’s a necessity. Monogrammed water bottles are not necessities!

1
Reply
Perris
10 years ago

You rock. It’s always nice to stumble upon someone who has the same set of ideas and is putting them into action. Thanks for the inspiration and validation!

0
Reply
Janine
9 years ago

I think you are neglecting to factor in the astronomical childcare costs and the cost of living in certain states. I live in New Jersey, a state with a notoriously high cost of living. My husband and I both work full-time and we have to in order to cover childcare. While I agree that sites like Pinterest deceive us into believing we need to buy everything brand new, I do not think it’s fair to assume that people are making excuses for not having kids because they’re too expensive.

0
Reply

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Editor’s Picks

  • 8 best cryptocurrency exchanges ranked | Source: Cult of Money

    8 Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges Ranked For 2025

  • crypto savings accounts

    5 Best Crypto Savings Accounts For 2025

  • Cryptocurrency Bonus Offers

    8 Best Crypto Promotional And Bonus Offers

  • best crypto wallets | Source: Cult of Money

    Best Crypto Wallets For 2025 (Software And Hardware Options)

  • Best Portfolio Trackers For Cryptocurrency And Stocks

    Best Portfolio Trackers For Cryptocurrency And Stocks

  • best tax software for crypto and NFT traders | Source: Cult of Money

    Best Tax Software For Crypto And NFT Traders In 2025

Popular Posts

  • proof of work vs. proof of stake vs. proof of history

    Proof Of Work vs. Proof Of Stake vs. Proof Of History

  • Why I Bought An NFT

    Why I Bought An NFT [And 5 Reasons You Should Too]

  • Dogecoin Experiment | Source: Cult of Money

    My Dogecoin Experiment: What I Learned From Investing $2,000 In DOGE

  • common crypto and nft scams

    Most Common Crypto And NFT Scams (And How To Avoid Them)

  • Bookkeeping and Accounting for Crypto and NFTs

    Bookkeeping And Accounting For Crypto And NFTs

  • what is a 51% attack

    What Is A 51% Attack? (And How Is That Game Over For Crypto?)

  • what is staking crypto

    What Is Staking And How Can You Make Money With Your Crypto?

  • what are veefriends

    What Are VeeFriends And Are They Worth It?

  • how to file a complaint against crypto exchanges

    How To File A Complaint Against A Crypto Exchange [Crypto Regulators]

Footer

Pages

  • Best Cryptocurrency Wallets
  • Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Categories

  • Cryptocurrency
  • DeFi
  • NFT
  • Personal Finance

About

  • About The Cult Of Money
  • Contact
  • How We Make Money
  • Advertise With Us
  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Mastodon
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • RSS
  • Threads
  • TikTok
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 | Cult of Money | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service

2 shares
wpDiscuz