I suppose if you follow the world’s rules and standards, we MUST be very rich in order to afford the 6, soon to be 7 children we have.
The other assumption people have when they look at us is to assume that we have reaped a windfall from the Singapore government and they are quickly doing their mental sums to see just how rich we are.
The Singapore government started a Baby Bonus scheme in 2001 to encourage its citizens to have more babies. Good deal, right? Well, the problem is we missed the boat! Yep! Out of the 6 children we have, we could only claim it for one child. ONE child.
You see, we were always ahead of our time 🙂 We had our 4th child when their policy was extended to the 1st three children. We then had our 5th child when they extended it to the 4th child. In fact, we had to pay cold hard cash when we birthed our 4th child. No Medisave could be used for the hospitalisation fees.
Now that there’s the enhanced Maternity and Pregnancy Package, even more people are assuming we will benefit from it! From the moment it was released, I had congratulatory sms-es and emails. But if you read the No, No, No post in my blog, you’ll know that we don’t get a cent again. It is meant to benefit working moms and families who earn a much higher level of income than we do.
Yes, we will get up to $18,000 from the government if and only if we are able to put in the same amount in the co-savings Children Development Account. It is not an outright cash gift as it is for the first 4 children (that we did not receive, except for ONE child). The government promises to match dollar-for-dollar up to $18,000 that we are able to put aside into the account for the 5th and subsequent child.
Sounds good, right? Read carefully. The co-savings plan means if we put in $5,000 we get $5,000 from the government. But if we have no money to put into the account, we get nothing from the governement. So do not assume that we will just get $18,000 from the government.
(Sorry for the lengthy explanation. I just need to explain this since there are many people who cannot believe that we didn’t reap this huge windfall from the government 🙂 )
The moment dh stepped out for fulltime ministry work, we have been living a life of faith. This basically means we do not not where our money is coming from. It is both exciting and scary. We are not supported by any churches. We are not supported by our families. We are supported by Jehovah Jireh!
God has sent us love gifts through His many faithful children and servants. In cash, in kind. We have been blessed as we have obeyed His call on our lives. For those who have supported our ministry the past years, we say a truly heartfelt, “Thank YOU!” .
We are not rich by the world’s standards but we are comfortable. All due to the grace and mercy of our Lord. We have never lacked for the essentials. And many times we have been able to even have our wants satisfied.
So how do we manage to have such a large family and have mom stay at home on one fulltime ministry worker’s pay?
We live simply. We do without many things that many people assume are necessary and normal. Eg. holidays are a luxury, not a necessity. So if and when we do go for holidays, it is always to nearby countries. Enrichment classes are a luxury, not a necessity. Eg. swimming lessons are necessary (an important life skill) but not speech and drama classes. Yes we have a car but it is 7 years old. We do not have a maid.
Clothes are usually hand-me-downs or they are bought at sale prices. And we make sure the clothes we buy are quality, value-for-money ones that we can pass down to the next child. Each child does not have a wardrobe bursting with clothes. Neither does mom and dad 🙂 Same with shoes.
We don’t buy the latest toys either. If we get blessed with them great. If we don’t we move on. It really doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things, does it?
The one thing we invest in is good books. And if possible, I try to buy them second hand. Afterall, a book doesn’t need to be brand new to be read. But nowadays shipping from the US is expensive so buying brand new may work out to make more sense than buying second hand. Or we go to the library.
So, no. One does not have to be very rich or even rich to have a large family. We certainly are not. But I believe that our eternal rewards in heaven is much!
For more on how we live you can read Being Frugal, Dealing with Rising Costs and Being Frugal – Groceries.
Check out the rest of the other myths HERE.