I read yesterday...

[toledo13]

...that it costs about $920 a month (for 18 years), to raise a child, including college (state?), food, clothes, etc. That's $198,720. This was in this month's Women's Health magazine. Does this number seem right? I better start saving some MORE!!!

 

[Avonlady1001]

No way do I spend $920 a month on my kids (I have a 4y/o DD and a 7mth old DS). I buy inexpensive clothes...they grow out of them SO fast...formula runs about $100/mth (I use similac cause they have the best coupons...yesterday I spent $12.99 on a $24 can! Haven't paid full price in 7mths!). Diapers I buy whatever's on sale w/ a coupon. Maybe around $100/mth in diapers. DS is on baby food now, so one jar 3x/day @$.50/jar is what? About $45 in food. So we're about $250/mth. Don't buy clothes every month & I only buy them on sale from Carters, Old Navy, Target...clearance is my friend. I try to buy a year in advance when the season's over.

...averaged out over the 18years though, including college, I guess it could easily be $1000. Thanks a lot...then multiply that per child....................WOW.

BUT, being a mommy is PRICELESS. Yes, it's expensive to have them, but worth every penny & more.

 

[DawnM]

I would guess they are including day care/ pre-school, and some very expensive food, vacations, clothing, toys, and such. Also the cost of a larger apt. or house because of added sleeping space needed.....so an overall picture.

If you count me leaving my job to stay home, then yes, that number plus living expenses for the kids would be about that much! But otherwise, we are pretty frugal.

Dawn

 

[ceecee]

I would say that's low, if they consider room and board expenses. There are school fees for private schools that cost more than that. Also fees for music lessons, sports, dance....the list goes on!

 

[puffkin]

If you have a kid in daycare, it is easily that much a month.

 

[dawnbu40]

My DD just completed her freshman year at a state university. Tuition was $7500 for the year (luckily she has several scholarships) she commutes but if she lived there it would be another $7500 for room and board. Multiply that by 4 or 5 years plus books plus tuition increases yearly that makes it over $60,000! And these are current numbers not the amounts for 18 years away for someone who has a baby. I think the $200,000 is too low. If you think your child is expensive as a baby it gets much more expensive as they get older! Clothes cost more, plus dances and proms, cars and ins and then that biggie COLLEGE! But in my book it is all worth it!

 

[Pigeon]

That seems low to me, too, once you figure in college and a modest number of activities. If you have a kid with a particular gift, you can drop a bundle on say, music lessons. We are frugal. We buy clothes mostly on clearance and we don't buy much in the way of expensive electronic gadgets for the kids. But kids are definitely expensive, especially if you plan to pay for college.

 

[andrews_dad]

From a dad of an under-2 year old ....

We've never bought clothing or toys do to hand-me-downs and gifts, so saved big-time there. They grow so fast I would not buy much new if I had to. A few wears and they've grown out, literally. Breast milk rather than formula for us, which is a big savings (formula is $20 per can or more).

Crib and baby supplies will run you several hundred up front. Some new and some used, we probably dropped a cool $1200+ on stuff like crib & changing table, supplies like boppy pillow, blanket & bumper set, rocking chair, toy chest, high chair, bouncy seat, bottles, breast pump & supplies, nursing bras, etc. etc.

$150 per week on day care alone, per child, is probably about average. That adds up pretty darn fast. Co-pays for Dr's visits adds up (mine is $20 per visit), co-pays for prescriptions. Diapers are in the range of $30-40 a case depending on brand. Wipes are $10-12 a case. Those always go faster than you dream. Food is about 50 cents per cup for Stage 1 and 2 stuff. Gets more pricey as they enter into toddler and adult foods.

Worth every penny but YES, it costs a ton of money to raise a child. I know that our checking account used to have much higher highs pre-baby.

 

[extremesoccermom]

I am super cheap and I have worked at a private university since my DS19 was born just for the tuition so I don't have to include that. Just fiquring child care ages 0-3 + summer programs (at 4 he started public school - preschool program) $18,570.
Clothing approx $500.00 year x 18 years $9,000.00
Food, home and Utilities 1252 monthx12(one year)/4 people x 18 years= $67,608
Private high school 4 years and books $25,000
Select Soccer $8,250

I am already at $128,428 and I am sure I am not remembering everything (Toys, holidays, baby furniture, big kid furniture)

 

[FINFAN]

between daycare, college, actvities, high schoool expenses,braces, medical and THEN the general living expenses....EASILY I could see that being an average cost breakdown, actually I think it is on the low side. Auto insurance alone....

 

[Nette]

That number is WAY too low. Daycare ran me about $900/month for the first five years of life. Private school is already over that figure monthly. Then add in after school care.

I buy clothing and uniforms on sale and we don't buy expensive food. My DD doesn't even have any extracurricular activities. Camp in the summer is easily $200/week. I'm thinking that even w/o the private school I'd end up spending more than that on her. The good news is, it's all worth it.

 

[Lisa_M]

That's probably about what I spend per month. Daycare alone is $700/month plus all the dr. co-pays, deductibles, medicine and added health insurance premium. I breastfeed, so we didn't really have a formula expense. She used formula at daycare for a while and I spent about $150 on that. DD never ate a whole lot of babyfood, so it wasn't a big expense and now she just eats what we eat. We also used cloth diapers for a year so we didn't have that constant expense either. Currently, she is using disposables because I just needed a break, but we willl switch back soon.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

It's easy to cut corners but they are going off no hand me downs, no coupons, sale prices and daycare etc.

Here, we never spent that much but I grocery shop with coupons, buy new clothing and shoes only on sale or clearance (and they still get very nice stuff!) no daycare, no private school fees.

It's also going to be affected by where you live. In some areas it's more than that because daycare and housing is $$$$$.

 

[delmar411]

I think that number is based off a lot of assumptions and situations that ppl may or may not have going on.

I can say there is no way that it will cost us $800k to raise 4 kids. It just won't and wouldn't even be possible with what we have in income.

Ppl need to evaluate their own standards of living, cost of living and what they want out of life and what extras they plan to offer to their child and go from there to come up with real numbers for their own family.

 

[Jsme]

It would be very easy to spend $920 a month per child. When they are infants day care alone is more than that. Not all mothers are lucky enough to stay home with their children. We calcuated the cost of me staying home verse the day care for 2 children under the age of 2 and I stayed home. Infant to 2 year old care in my area on the cheap is $150 a week. My children are now teenagers and still it would be easy to spend that much a month on each of them. I do not do it but it would be very easy.

You have to take in account many things. Daycare, clothes, food, formula, diapers, shoes, babysitting, toys and doctor care. Then when they are older you have to think about insurance, car, clothes, gas money, misc money, shoes, braces, dermatolgist, doctor visits, school fees, yearbooks, field trip fees and sports fees. This is only naming a few. If you did the math on all of that stuff alone it would be more than $920 a month.

We do not spend that much but it would be very easy to do so.

 

[kc10family]

I wonder about layaway?



I bet you add up all the things needed/ spent and it's a shocker.

IMO worth it all. I love my crazy little girls!

 

[allison443]

...that it costs about $920 a month (for 18 years), to raise a child, including college (state?), food, clothes, etc. That's $198,720. This was in this month's Women's Health magazine. Does this number seem right? I better start saving some MORE!!!

Well, many colleges now cost over $50,000 per year. So for four years it's over $200,000. That's just college.

Like most "statistics" that one is based on a lot of assumptions. I don't think it's possible to make an estimate like that-costs vary so much among different areas, etc.

 

[mjkacmom]

No way do I spend $920 a month on my kids (I have a 4y/o DD and a 7mth old DS). I buy inexpensive clothes...they grow out of them SO fast...formula runs about $100/mth (I use similac cause they have the best coupons...yesterday I spent $12.99 on a $24 can! Haven't paid full price in 7mths!). Diapers I buy whatever's on sale w/ a coupon. Maybe around $100/mth in diapers. DS is on baby food now, so one jar 3x/day @$.50/jar is what? About $45 in food. So we're about $250/mth. Don't buy clothes every month & I only buy them on sale from Carters, Old Navy, Target...clearance is my friend. I try to buy a year in advance when the season's over.

...averaged out over the 18years though, including college, I guess it could easily be $1000. Thanks a lot...then multiply that per child....................WOW.

BUT, being a mommy is PRICELESS. Yes, it's expensive to have them, but worth every penny & more.

Your children are little - I thought we'd have more money once we were done with the diapers - nope! Baseball, basketball, soccer, swimming, dance, gynastics, field trips, camps, clinics, medical co-pays, sports equipment, braces - it's an endless cycle of whipping out the checkbook! I miss those diaper days!

 

[emh1129]

No way.. It's all about choices, I guess, and details.

I breastfeed, so no formula.. No daycare costs (I sahm when not in school and I do that around dh's work schedule).. we cloth diaper to save $$ (occasionally will use disposables).. never bought store made baby food (always made my own).. and consignment or clearance/sales for clothing.
Medical costs, ice skating lessons, clubs, etc. all do cost money, but there's just no way that it could all add up to that much per month, even in a few years as they get older.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Your children are little - I thought we'd have more money once we were done with the diapers - nope! Baseball, basketball, soccer, swimming, dance, gynastics, field trips, camps, clinics, medical co-pays, sports equipment, braces - it's an endless cycle of whipping out the checkbook! I miss those diaper days!

ITA!

We'd just gotten to the point where we didn't have to pay $260/month for DD's afterschool care anymore. Yeah! But, now we have to start paying $210/month for her braces. Boo!