Mar�a is used to hand-me-down clothing inherited from her older sisters. Not to mention school books and toys. She doesn�t remember that last time she got something new all to herself. Ah, yes! The other day my mother bought me some ahtletic shoes for gym class,  she recalls. Mar�a is seven years old and lives in Alameda de Osuna, a residential area of Madrid. She shares a bedroom with her older sisters, Gema and Nuria, aged 12 and 14. All three wear blue and red plaid skirts. Thanks to the school uniform we save a lot of money on clothes, says Ascensi�n, the mother of this family, where also includes her husband�s parents. There are seven of us living in an apartment of just 100 square meters. We get by, but just barely, adds Gabriel, the father. Several showers a day, food, clothing, text books and vacations. The budget does not quite cover everything. So every day we have to do a juggling act, says Ascensi�n.

How to save
The first step for a large family to save money is to get organized.

The smallest girl and I often take our shower together. This way we save time and money. The water bill is one of the problems faced by large families. Heavy consumption is penalized: the more you use, the more each liter costs. For this reason, associations defending the rights of large families are fighting for the price of water to be proportionate to the number of people in the family. In the living room, Gabriel is doing the family�s tax return. Another disadvantage of being a large family is that we pay more taxes than anyone else. We consume more and pay more value-added tax, he complains.

Spain is last in aid to families
Spain is far behind the rest of Europe when it comes to helping families with lots of children. These families help boost the birth rate of one of the world�s fastest aging countries but get aid only in public transportation, education and a tax break.

In fact, Spain is the only country of the European Union that does not make a special payment to families for each child they have. When a family has a third child, the government pays the family a little over 24 euros a month, whereas in countries like Belgium or Austria pay more than 125 euros. The most fortunate are families in Luxembourg, which get 500 euros a month for that third child.

Everybody pitches in
Two salaries don�t go that far, so Gabriel and Ascensi�n recycle the girls� clothes and the grandmother, Rosario, works wonders with the sewing machine as she tries to adapt old clothes to new fashion trends. I work as a secretary, so at lunch time the girls eat at school and my mother-in-law cooks something for dinner, Ascensi�n explains. Thus, dinner just has to be heated up when everyone arrives home for dinner. Before then, the girls play in their room for a while. They share everything. Here, there is no place for envy. They fight, but they are used to playing together and sharing the same toys, she says. In summer, the whole family packs its bags and catches at train to a village near J�vea, where Ascensi�n�s parents have a house. It�s a change of pace and we go to the beach. We are saving up to rent a trailer to go to France next year, Ascensi�n adds.