I’m a mom of 14 – giving birth is like riding a bike, our home’s a well-oiled machine & my oldest keeps everyone in line
A MOM-OF-14 has revealed she spends $75,600 a year on food, bills, and clothes for her family.
She had always dreamed of having a large brood to “treasure” and says each pregnancy has only got “easier”.
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Sarah Wolfgramm, 48, and her husband, Haini, 56, a musician, have 10 daughters together – Eve, 27, Isabella, 24, Tihané, 23, Nora May, 18, Hazel, 17, Mary, 13, Vaké, 11, Sariah, who passed away at three months old, Lynnae, eight, and Joy, six.
The couple, from Redlands, California, have four sons – Heinrich, 26, Abraham, 21, Maikeli, 20, and Wesley, 15.
To run her household Sarah spends $6,300 a month, with $2,700 on the mortgage, $1,200 on food, $2,000 on bills, and $400 on necessities.
But the caterer is “thrifty” with her money.
She buys discounted clothes, items, and food at wholesale prices.
“Your family is your treasure and when you start to see wealth in family – it’s easy,” Sarah said.
“Plus for me giving birth is like riding a bike.
“I have the gift of being thrifty and frugal. So we need a minimum of $6,000 a month to run the house.
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“I go to bargain bins, Goodwill, and use my catering business to get food at wholesale prices.
“When the kids want something not in the budget like a brand-new t-shirt, they work for it and buy it themselves.
“The older kids pitch in and take care of their personal needs such as phone bills.”
Sarah and Haini, who have been together for 30 years, both come from big families and share the dream of having many children.
The couple welcomed their first child Eve, 27, in May 1996 and have continued to grow their brood.
Sarah had assumed she would stop having children once she had her “baker’s dozen.”
“Each month each kid is assigned one house task that they have to keep on top of
Sarah Wolfgramm
However, her 12th child, Sariah, passed away from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs) at just three months old.
“Sariah was our beautiful little girl. She gave me my baker’s dozen and so I thought I was done,” she said.
“But one day she fell asleep in my husband’s arms while I was baking a cake.
“He put her downstairs and when we checked on her she wasn’t breathing.
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“It broke all of our hearts.
“She was the youngest in the family and it rocked all of our worlds just knowing one of us could be taken in an instant.
“As we grieved as a family our children asked us to consider having another baby because they didn’t want their perception of babies to end on that note.
“It was so scary saying goodbye to my baby and not knowing what was next but I left it in God’s hands.
“Shortly after that, I was blessed with my rainbow baby, Lynnae.
“She put a rainbow over all of our broken hearts. We assumed we were done.
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“We had a baker’s dozen but then another rainbow baby Joy came when I was 42.
“We know that my youngest two were sent by Sariah, who is up in heaven, and we all feel comfort knowing we have an angel on the other side watching over us.”
Sarah said she has lots of patience and support to help her run her busy household.
“We have a huge resource of extended family – aunts, uncles, and cousins – who are always happy to help,” she said.
The family lives in a six-bedroom house with three bathrooms along with Sarah’s parents, Carl Knapp, 74, and Lynn Knapp, 73.
They each share a room apart from Eve, who has her own after Pihané moved out.
Wolfgramm family’s monthly bills
Food – $1,200
Bills – $1,200
Clothes – $400
Mortgage – $2,700
Tihané, Heinrich, Bella, and Maikeli have also fled the nest and don’t live under the same roof.
“It’s weird, the house feels empty,” Sarah said.
“We homeschool the kids because it works best for our schedule and it means I can stay on top of everything.
“The household is a very well-oiled machine and my eldest daughter has the self-appointed role of keeping everyone in line.
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“Each month each kid is assigned one house task that they have to keep on top of and that rotates so they all try different things.”
“But obviously if I notice something needs to be done, I’ll do it,” she added.
Sarah puts on 21 loads of washing a week to get through the dirty laundry,
She doesn’t make the family sit down for a regular meal every day but always cooks dinner.
“I only do one meal a day,” she said.
“At dinner, I set it all out on the counter and kids can take it whenever.
“I leave it out so that when the kids come in and out in the evening they can grab whatever they want.
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“You have to go with the ebb and flow of who needs what.
“It never works according to plan you just have to take it one day at a time.”
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