this is a really tough call to make - i can see where your sister is coming from in terms of getting yourself set up, but it's not the be all and end all of life! we were lucky in that i moved out of my parents house when i was single - and comparing the cost of a mortgage and the cost of renting - it turned out to be a whole $7 per week difference - paying it off got me some equity in the house, which meant we ended up gettins a nice amount of money back when we sold the house! i bought my house and had been paying it off a couple of years when DH and i got together. his brother passed away and DH inherited the family home (and the mortgage on it!) - so we sold my house, got rid of the mish mash of cars we had, and got one good car - which we chose on the basis we wanted a car big enough for a family. the amount we pay on our mortgage now is a lot less than a cheap rental in the city areas... we both had furniture that we'd been given by family, so we kept what we wanted, sold the rest of it cheaply to a few people we knew were struggling financially, and replaced the furniture with a lot of matching pieces. we're making the most of our double income to get our house establisehed while we go through assisted conception, knowing that once we have a child, my income will be halved for 6 months, and then gone for the remainder of my mat leave. i will be returning to work after 12 months, but only for two days per week - this is primarily because i know that i have a great job at the moment, it's really flexible with hours and things - and when my family are all at school, i will have something to return to during school ours - but i'll admit that i know i'm lucky in that factor - not everyone can work around their children like that!

i believe that money cannot be the deciding factor in choosing to have a family - it will have an impact, but everyone learns to live within their own means - and your financial situation now when your choosing to have your family won't necessarily reflect what it is going to be 10 or 15 years down the track when you have teenagers eating you out of house and home!