What does your household budget look like? Keep a disciplined household ledger. I think you have a very decent income, currently only one child. Even if the income decreases for a while (how long is one parent supposed to take a break?), and you have 2 children, a decent repayment rate is quite possible. Of course, you shouldn’t scrape the minimum, but in my opinion, you won’t get there with 2 children and less income either, unless one parent stops working forever and remains without income. What is the plan? Going back to work after 1 year? Going back to work after 2 years with split parental leave? Using parental leave plus? There are some nice options now. I wouldn’t repay with 1%. We also finance with Ing-Diba and they recommended a repayment of 3% given the current interest rates. But of course, that’s always a tricky matter. We have a rather minimalist approach. We buy a small house, renovate it step by step from the ongoing costs, and only take the necessary loans for urgent renovations. Besides, we generally live quite frugally, I think. So: keep a household ledger and find out what you really spend and need. We had considerable savings after we tidied up our insurance situation with a financial advisor, etc.