Saturday, 15 October 2011
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The Cost Of Raising A Child
Children are expensive. From the time of conception to the time they turn 18, there is SO much to buy. Here's a great look at what it costs to raise a child from newborn to 17.
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Comments (59)
I disagree that it is that expensive. It is 100% what you make it out to be. I have 2 kids. They are definitely not that expensive.
Aaaand this is one of the never-ending reasons why I will never have the desire to have a child. I'd like to keep the hundreds of thousands of dollars I will make thank-you-very-much.
I agree with @sarahsmurfette@xanga, It may cost that much to keep up with the jones. AS for wanting to keep the money well I am sorry the joy my kids bring me is price less.
I agree with @sarahsmurfette@xanga...kids are only as expensive as you make them out to be imo :)
The extra oil to keep the heat up...electricity for night lights...car seat...food...daycare...health insurance...Yes, I can see it costing as much as the charts say. Daycare alone is $820 a month - some people don't consider that a necessary cost, but it is not realistic for everyone to stay home, especially when you need to work in order to get health insurance.
It's definitely this expensive, but it's a gradual expense that you work into your budget as they grow. It's not something you have to eat up all at one time.
@LupusInvictus@xanga - I can see the need for health insurance, so I will give on that as being a reason for a Mom to work and put the children in daycare. Although most if not all states have a program that offers low or no cost medical insurance for children under 18.
So, I can agree that that expense would add up. Which is why, for the majority of cases, I wonder why both parents work (assuming both parents are in the picture)? You would have to be making considerably higher than minimum wage just to offset the cost of daycare and transportation. Not to mention anything else.
Which is why I say, kids are as expensive as you make it out to be.
I choose to stay home with my kids. My husband is in the military. Our children will get my husband's GI Bill money for college. I chose to breastfeed. Those things alone allow us to raise our children for far less than what is presented on the charts above.
I'm not going to say that it can't be that expensive, but It would depend on ones circumstances. I don't see us spending that much on our daughter, at least at this point. My mom and dad, when I was younger, weren't rich and then for many years my mom was alone raising my sister and I. I sincerely doubt she spent that much.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - :) i stay home with my children because right now if i were to get a job i would be paying for daycare. i got married right out of highschool and had our first child {of 2} shortly after. i have never had a real job so with out some sort of schooling i am pretty much unemployable... so i stay at home and raise the kids, cook the meals, clean the house...etc until my youngest is old enough for headstart... at that point i am going to go to cosmetology school... but as of right now it is not THAT expensive raising 2 kids. we buy diapers and things in bulk and that cuts down on the cost and right now i can get 2 weeks worth of formula at sams club for 17 bux. it can be done :)
These kinds of break-downs don't MEAN much. It's like saying that you spend 25 years of your life sleeping. It's true, but since it's spread out over your whole life, the TOTAL number has no real useful value. Same idea here.
@LupusInvictus@xanga - i work a differant shift to prevent from daycare. It is only how much you make it. even if he did go to daycare it would depend on where I would want him to go. but a preschool full time here would cost $400 a month. Honsetly all moms can stay at home if they choose. I have 4 kids I was a at home mom for 10 years. It is a matter of how many items you want in life. how fancy of a house. It is all about the choices you make.
The charts are too small for me to see.
And yes, I plan to own both of those someday and to pay cash for them from a kid-raising fund I've set aside. I'm putting the cost of 2 kids per month away for 18 years to grow that fund to that level. You breeders enjoy your snotty-nosed kids, when I have my airplane and Ferrari and pay cash for them making little more than what a high school teacher makes I'll be laughing in your faces!
Don't want children so...guess I have extra expense to waste on myself or family.
@opster25 - "Honsetly all moms can stay at home if they choose" - no, single mum's can't do that.
Where I live we have universal health care and daycare only costs about 70 dollars a month.
@opster25 - No, not all moms can stay at home. Be careful when making assumptions like that. You are lucky and privileged if you had that option, but not everyone is.
@opster25 - Not single moms. Or people who live in really expensive places. My standard of living is very very simple (I dont' have a car, washing machine, TV, cable, I used cloth diapers for my son who wears second hand clothes, same for toys, etc) but the area where I live has a generally high cost of living for rent/food/basics. And I can't move b/c my fiance and support system are employed here. It's a nice idea that all moms could be stay at home moms, but it's definitely not available to everyone.
It is expensive. But we need children to keep our race going. Besides if you really want kids the cost is worth it.
NOT EXPENSIVE! If you buy their clothes enough for a coupble weeks or even makes baby clothes, make baby food or use regular oatmeal ($4 worth of fruits/veg is cheaper than $10 store cups of baby mush), breastfeed or suppliment formula, do arts/music and more hands on stuff instead of buying gadgets and actually teach your the Alphabet and Numbers. Use cloth diapers that are more money up front but last until they are potty-ready. My first kid taught me that sitting one-on-one with her is all that matters. My second kid is gonna be a hippy-baby because im cutting out all of the crap that the media says I NEEDED to be a good parent. And dispite having a Princess Theme room my girl still loves trucks and Thomas the Train! So Im not afraid to give her boy shirts that have sports on them and digging in the backyard. So my influence and toys that I give her doesnt matter. Kids dont know if you got a set of trucks at goodwill for $2 or at Walmart for $15 (Did that and she wont stop playing with them!) My girl would be happy to regift her toys every year. Once I get out of school and save money I doubt ill use much of it because Im not going to try to impress anyone anymore. My kids will survive.
@Bro__oke@xanga - Who cares about "keeping the race going?" I don't! The human race dying out wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. The world was here billions of years before we were on it and will be here billions of years after the last humans die off. I never understood this rationale for having children.
@d639@xanga - Power to you!!! I don't think children are that expensive once you cut out all the fancy luxury crap. Do 7 year olds REALLY need a cell phone? Or a DS? Or brand new clothes every 6 months? It's called buying a size bigger so they fit for 2-4 years!! Just mend the bottom of pants, then undo it when they get taller. Majority of the clothes I had growing up could fit me for about 4 years until I finally hit puberty.
My parents raised 4 kids, they didn't have much, and they read the same rhymes and stories to us over and over. No fancy nonsense. That's the way it's supposed to be. I have every intention of having at least 3 kids, then maybe adopting more. My friend has 7 kids, she says it gets easier and cheaper after the 4th kid.
@emptyabyss@xanga -ok I agree single moms really have no choice @vlinder_farfalla@xanga - YES EVERYONE can it is a matter of how much YOU are willing to give up and how much your partner is WILLING to help moms go through with thier goal. I stand by my comment. OTHER then singel parents. EVERYONE can live on a ONE income family It is a matter of how much you want it and how much you are willing to live with out.
@written_conversations@xanga - I already posted I give single moms that.. see my comment above for the rest.
@StatelessPilot@revelife - laugh all you want when you are dieing in a nursing home all alone and my children are there for me and I die in the loving caring arms of my family I will be laughing in your face Objects are not everything in life
@opster25 - meh, I guess it's not worth arguing if you're not willing to concede that you can't imagine every single scenario. I live with my boyfriend, a roommate, and my son in a one bedroom apartment (my boyfriend and I sleep in a converted living room). I cannot imagine how we could do with less. It honestly comes across as really judgmental to say " it is a matter of how much YOU are willing to give up" as if moms who have to work are doing so to support some lavish lifestyle instead of being with their kids. I have a good friend with a newborn, and she and her husband both have to work, again, just to pay their rent- and she's really broken up about it- and they also live VERY simply.
At the end of the day though it's not really worth arguing much more for me because I was able to stay home with my son until he was one and since then I think daycare has been great for him, socially.