How do you do it?

We have furniture. Sort of. There has been a long, drawn-out, not-much-fun-to-listen-to ordeal over getting furniture for the babies’ room, which involved our original order never arriving because the company tried to screw Customs to me ordering something where they tried to charge us ½ of the cost of the furniture for shipping, to us not being able to find two of the same crib ANYWHERE. Well, this past weekend my husband found two identical cribs, purchased them, and put them together. Whew. Now the room looks more like a real nursery that babies can sleep in.

We still need dressers, but that is another adventure that I see giving us fits. See, we are cheap. Yes, it is true. We are cheap and we have two babies to provide for – not the best combination. Add the fact that furniture is expensive and you have a dilemma. Tell me this: how do people with not much money afford babies? Daycare, clothing, food, blankets, sheets, diaper genies, changing tables, beds, dressers, bathroom stuff – how does all of this fit into already-tight budgets? It is killing us – seriously. We are not poor. We are most likely above middle class – but this is hard on us. This is expensive. I am in awe of others that I know don’t have much money and wonder where they are buying things, or how they are affording anything at all.

I look around our house and I see many nice things. I know that we splurge a lot and could cut back quite a bit. And I know that we are very lucky – however I still can’t help but see the impact that new babies are having on us and wondering how others do it. How do you do it?