How Much Does a Wife and Family Cost?

Here today I will speak to young men, who might like to have a wife and family at a relatively young age.

A stay-at-home wife and family is not, inherently, all that expensive. Basically, you just have to feed them. It can get expensive in time — you might buy a big house, two cars, and all that. But, at least in the early stages, the first five years or so, you do not have to do much with a wife and infants except feed them. Basically, this is about $1000 a month. But, against this, you are not spending money on “dating” or otherwise entertaining women. Also, a wife can cook, which might mean a lot less spent on restaurant and takeout food. Even if you have a wife and three small children, you can get by for a while in the same one-bedroom apartment you had as a single guy. I know one woman who raised four children to adulthood in a 400 square foot cabin. You can get by with the same automobile that you had as a single guy. Your wife can go to the grocery store on the weekend when you aren’t using the car for work. Or maybe you could even go carfree and use a cargo bike.

Much of the expense of having a wife and family, especially a little later, has to do with “getting into the right neighborhoods.” Mostly, this is about public schools, although it is also about the neighbors and the neighbors’ children with whom your wife and children will interact. If you have a stay-at-home Wife anyway, then much of this problem can be resolved with homeschooling. You still want to live in a decent neighborhood, with decent neighbors from whom you can choose your friends and acquaintances. In general, I would make an effort to get into a decent, family-friendly neighborhood, and compromise on living space if you have to.