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Things I wish I'd done before I had kids |
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by lightbee  (December 2006) (rank 18th) |
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I've been thinking about some of the things I wish I'd done before I had kids, which I think would have made my life a little (or a lot!) easier. Although most (if not all!) of you have already had kids, I thought I would share it anyway. If
anyone has any other thoughts I'd love to hear them. Maybe we can pass our wisdom onto the next generation so they don't have the same struggles!
- Lost weight - I weighed about 86kg when I fell pregnant the first time and wore size 18-20 clothes. It made it so much harder to be pregnant and big and even though I've lost a lot of weight since then (down to 67kg!), it's a lot harder finding time to exercise and eat right when you're looking after kids.
- Paid all my debts - Would have made things a lot easier financially - especially when I was on maternity leave - if we only had to worry about day-to-day living expenses instead of paying back loans and credit cards.
- Saved some money - Pretty much goes hand-in-hand with the first one. Would definitely have made that transition period easier. I didn't realise how quickly kids grew out of clothes in the first year!
- Learned how to budget - When I fell pregnant I had only been living in a house I was fully responsible for for a year (which is how long I'd been married) and I hadn't yet gotten used to the cycles of when bills were due or things of that nature. Since that time, I feel like I've gotten heaps better at it! One of the best books on the subject I can recommend is "Your Money: Starting Out and Starting Over" by Anita Bell.
- Made sure I married the right man - A bit bittersweet this one. I was thinking of making this one "Marry the right man" but in hindsight, after marrying the wrong one, I think I would have been better off to be honest and call it quits before kids got caught up in the separation. On the bright side, my kids are wonderful people and wouldn't exist if I hadn't been in that relationship so maybe things have worked out as they should.
Some of the other things I thought to mention here were going overseas and doing my second degree (which is a bit of a career change!) but I think they can be done just as successfully with kids around. It's just a bit of a different focus. What does everyone else think?
