According to an article in TIME magazine the average middle class family earning $57,000-$99,000 will pay out about $221,000 to raise a child from birth until high school age.
The report by the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion identified housing as the largest single expense, followed by food and child care/education costs. The $221,000 in expenses rises to about $292,000 when adjusted for inflation.
There are differences noted by where a couple lives (Northeast costs more than the South) and income levels, people who make less will spend less and people who make more will spend more. You know what they say about making more, you’ll just spend more and the famous “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems.” Also, if a couple has 1 child in a house it will work out that housing costs are higher per child than say if that same couple had 3 children. So I don’t think the study is perfect but it got me thinking about family costs overall.
I wonder if people could spend less in general, I know it’s something we have learned to do even though we never were big spenders. Still raising 4 kids makes you more aware of what is needed and what is wanted, it also has increased our awareness of what we use to waste when it was just 2 of us. In fact, with each child we’ve become more aware because we want to have a comfortable life as a family & it’s easy to waste without thinking about it. Target is at times the bane of my existence, it can bring me endless joy or complete pain at the checkout if I don’t pay attention to what I’m putting into the cart.
And after reading there are couples in the NY area who apparently could spend a $1,000 on a changing table it makes me wonder if there aren’t a lot people whose expenses could be cut out to lower that per kid cost. And babies really don’t need that much certainly not $1,000 changing tables as MOST of us know, but a lot of us do get sucked into those baby registries that claim we need way more for a baby than we actually do. Safety items are necessary, don’t skimp on not getting a car seat, but trust me there are things that every parent has bought or had bought for them that was supposedly SO important for a baby that never even got opened or was actually not really safe (like crib bumpers).
Additionally, while I do breastfeed & use cloth diapers with cloth wipes (we also do use disposables) those may not be options that all women are able to do for a variety of reasons but there are other things that can be done. For example: hand-me downs from kid to kid, buy less overall, grow a veggie garden, shop sales, get rid of the higher cost processed foods or limit them (I know I loves me some chips), cook more at home less eating out, go meat free one day a week, buy a more affordable home, buy bulk (on items that you actually use), price compare, reduce utility costs, make your own cleaning products etc… Obviously if a family needs to use childcare that is an expense that can’t be reduced but cost in other areas could be reduced and those savings could offset the increased cost for childcare.
Do you guys cut costs in different ways? What types of things do you do to save money, kids or no kids? And do you think it really costs a quarter of a million dollars per kid?
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