we've gone from being well off (120k or more if both working full time) to (by centrelink definition) a low income family - and it happened overnight (well, over an hour, when DH got taken off the road due to health issues) - at this point in time, we could still comfortably have a second child, but any more would be pushing it to maintain the level of living we have. we don't go out a lot to restaurants or eat much crap, but we do socialise with friends who live a fair way from us, we have friends over for meals, we want DD to not go without (and we are already planning ahead under the assumption we will be a single income family when she gets to school, so paying out extra curriculars etc on that single wage). we have also factored in what might happen if for some reason i couldn't work for any period of time, and how we would survive if we had to revert to c'link alone as we had to do for a portion of last year/early this year

however, unfortunately, we can't just choose to have a child - we would have to undergo assisted conception and the related expense IS beyond what we can afford at the moment. yeah, we could do it, but it's not money i'm prepared to spend at this point on a "maybe" - there are no guarantees, and i'd prefer to put that money into our family. i'd prefer to emotionally invest myself with the family i DO have, not the family i MIGHT have - hope that makes sense)

we've done the dramatic drop of income, and it can make life mighty difficult if you have one "standard" of living and then change it - so when you consider your long term future, consider the "what if's" and whether you can maintain all those things you personally feel are non-negotiable** if you lost the wage you are currently relying on



**just to clafify - everyone will have different "non-negotiable" aspects of their life, things they personally will not forgo for any reason (be it their childs education, their home ownership, extra curriculars) and only you can decide what these are and factor that into the "how many kids can we afford" equation.