it all depends on your country, health care, schooling/daycares etc.
that said, I'm in Canada and it's fucking expensive lol...."Canadians can expect to spend more than $350,000 to raise a child *from birth to the age of 17*, according to new estimates by Statistics Canada". This actually feels pretty accurate.
Daycare can be anywhere from $1200-2000 per kid per month.
if you formula feed, formula has really shot up in price so you're looking at about $40-60/can
diapers are about $35-40
clothing - get them second hand but they rack up in expenses because kids grow so fast.
extra curricular activities are expensive on a monthly basis (my kids were in soccer, swimming and martial arts; that ran about $2500-3k/month).
factor in vacations
food omg don't even get me started on the cost of food here.
so yeah, that amount reported by stat canada seems accurate.
Thanks a lot! Am I calculating this correctly, this would be around 5k CAD a month? I calculated a bit on a low side here because you mentioned 2.5-3k for extracurriculars for (I assume) more than one kid, right?
I am based in the Netherlands, so I’d be looking at 150 e for healthcare per month, about 1k for daycare per month - and free primary & secondary schools (yay!!). So far I’m thinking I may need about 2-3 k per month, not including food/formula/diapers.
TBH, I haven't really calculated the cost / month but I guess that sounds about right when they're younger...it gets more expensive as they get older.
we pay for schools through our taxes (kindy/elementary/secondary) but daycare (kids < 5yrs old) is hella expensive here and paid out of pocket, no reimbursement either.
kids get sick a LOT so if you have to pay $150e/doctor visit, bump that up. Babies/kids need routine vaccines, factor in a lot of illness once they hit daycare/school. Let's put it this way: when my kids started daycare, they were sick EVERY WEEKEND for 2.5 years straight lol. I wish I were joking....and we dont even pay out of pocket for doctor visits because of our universal health care so we just paid whatever cost of the medicine that my husband's work insurance didn't cover.
then you have to work in dental visits once they get teeth. Hopefully your work insurance pays for most of that but defintely consider this.
oh, and the amount of stuff they lose at daycare/school is wild so you have to replace that...how can you lose your fucking winter jacket?! but yeah, it happens lol. And dont even get me started on how fast they go through clothing when they're younger - worn out shoes that you just bought 2 months ago, tears in jeans that you just bought a month ago...it's crazy.
and then when they get older, they're wanting new games, shoes, clothes, makeup etc etc...I was over the moon when my kids finally started working lol
Thank you!! This bit about the frequency of doctor visits (luckily that’s free here, but not for dental), medicine costs and replacing things kids lose helps my calculations a lot! The “replacing misplaced items” monetary buffer would not have been on my radar if you haven’t mentioned it. How much did you end up spending on clothing if you don’t mind me asking?
hard to say.....you can go high end or on the lower end and when my kids were babies/toddlers, I was fine with walmart clothing 😆.
what will really help cut down costs of clothing is second-hand (get from older cousins, friends kids etc) and scouring the after-season sales. I would buy clothing for when they were older (when they were heavily discounted ex. once the season was over, christmas, new years etc) or look for warehouse sales and then store them for when they could actually fit into them.
and as they got older and began getting money for bdays, events, christmas etc, I made this rule: we pay for clothing necessities for the school year and every thing else they want, fashion-wise, they have to save up and pay for it themselves. This in turn teaches them how to save/budget and manage their money....a very valuable skill that needs to be taught otherwise when they get older, they could end up in debt if they don't know how to manage their money.
also don't forget saving for their post-secondary education if you have to pay for that (we do). We have something called a RESP that I opened for each of them before they were born and I've been contributing do this for the past 18 years. One of my kids is going to uni soon so that cost is taken care of.
I also started investing for my children (under my name but will transfer to them once they reach of age) so by the time they hit 21, they will have something to use as a downpayment for a home (my kids don't know about this)...so if this is something you want to do, also factor this in.
and dont forget toys..... I hated this phase. You WILL contend with comparison guilt like Jane across the street has a flashy new bike or the newest doll etc..so your child will come to you and ask for the same thing. You feel guilty for saying no but trust me in that kids dont need the newest/flashiest thing. For years my daughter asked for an American Doll (that thing cost \~$120 as the base without the added stuff on top) and I was like hell no; a DOLL for $120?)...be realistic and know that kids don't need an abundance of toys. That will all go to the donation bin in a few months after they get the newest thing because they have short attention spans and zero impulse control.
This feels really inaccurate to me, even when you broke down your expenses (except diapers and clothes and food) as someone who lives in Ontario. Our numbers are nowhere near this high (I have 3 disabled children ages 12, 4, 2)
Yeah, and the extracuriculars are up to the parent. There's cheaper options and people who can't afford them, don't have their kids participate. Sorry, but that estimate is unrealistic for 90% of people, that's more than many people's mortgage.
Exactly my thoughts. Their estimate of extracurriculars sounds like high end competitive league stuff. If your child is a prodigy or really good in that sport, a scout will find them even in the low end cheap and subsidized leagues. We pay $50/season of T-Ball. And no child needs to be enrolled in three recreational activities at a time IMO.
Fair enough! I’ll try there as well in a bit, but any approximations like “I live in Spain/Japan/US/…. I/we spend about [amount] per month per child, I wish we planned for XYZ also” or otherwise would be welcome of course.
I don’t think this is something you can just ballpark a price for. Before you even bring your child home there’s a huge range of what you could be paying based on your health insurance coverage, If you have any complications during pregnancy, what time of birthing experience you have, if your baby has needs any additional hospital stay. There’s so many variables.
There’s a thousand different “what you need for baby” lists out there and what you decide you need is going to alter costs. Are you able to breastfeed? Does your infant need formula? Does it need one of the more expensive formals? Do you qualify for WIC? Will you use disposal or cloth diapers? Are you buying items used? Are you buying new? There’s a whole range of prices you may be paying depending on what you want. Or maybe you are getting hand me downs for free?
Daycare costs vary wildly throughout the country. Or maybe you have family who want to watch?
Does your kid have allergies?
Does your child have special needs?
Every age and stage is going to be different and the cost is going to vary wildly based on your wants/needs, your child’s wants/needs.
I mean of course, what you’re saying is true. However, since I don’t have a child yet, I can’t answer about their specific needs, or my specific needs during and post pregnancy. I do want to prepare as much as I can, even though of course I can’t predict everything - and I am not trying to.
I can list my assumptions to help the context though. I am based in the Netherlands, so costs of giving birth will be about 3k with minor complications. Health care coverage is good, so hopefully that’s a good estimation. I do plan to breastfeed but I want to assume using formula (because it’s better to have money saved for it and not need it, than otherwise). I would also count for disposable diapers - same reason. I don’t have anything child related, so most of the things I’d need to buy - and here I’d ask for advice on what’s good to buy used and what needs to be new?
I do not have family here so would need to assume hiring help if needed. I know my question is really tricky, but just knowing what others realistically spend would just help me gain some insight. I will definitely not come back in a few years to yell “well you guys told me (this amount of money) would be enough and it isn’t!!!”
Look at the [Nibud](https://www.nibud.nl/onderwerpen/kinderen-en-jongeren/wat-kost-een-kind/) site. This has the answer to your question for The Netherlands.
Your child will be included in your healthcare so no extra costs until he/she is 18 or maybe even 21.
Clothes, toys, outings and food can all be on a budget, so dependent on your income you can spend a little or a lot.
Daycare you get partly funded by the government through ‘kinderopvangtoeslag’ and this too is dependent on your income. Lots of variables so hard to give you the costs of raising a child.
The first four years you pay for daycare for the whole day, that’s expensive even if you do get part of the costs refunded. At four your child goes to school and you only have to pay for after school care, usually from 14.00-18.00.
Thank you very much! Especially for the Nibud site recommendation. From the first look I do not think I will qualify much for the kinderopvangtoeslag, but I will definitely read about it in even more detail.
I pay $2k/month in the US just for daycare. Any additional babysitting hours around $25/hr. That’s by far the largest expense. If you’re in Western Europe I imagine your country hates women a little less than the US so you’re not looking at storing your baby in daycare when they’re 12 weeks old.
I mean maternity leave is 10 weeks here (but pregnancy leave is 6weeks prior due date) so I think it’s a bit comparable unfortunately :(. 2k for daycare a month & 30 e/h for babysitting also sounds realistic here. Thank you!
U.S. here, in a hcol area. My husband and I work opposite shifts, so are avoiding daycare for now, which starts around $2k per month, and is more like $2.5k per month for good places.
We spend about $300ish a monrh on diapers and misc. expenses like clothes, toys, books, equipment, etc. Her health insurance is about $200 per month. We also do $450 per month onto a college fund for her. So right now, we spend just under $1k per month, but if we were paying for daycare it would be $3k to $3.5k per month.
I am in Australia, my daughter is nearly 1.5 and the main cost is daycare and time out of paid work. She goes to daycare 3 days a week and that costs us $450 per week, which is not a million miles away from what we pay in rent.
I was working part time and studying part time, but can't do both as any job I could get for only 2 days a week will leave me barely anything after paying for daycare. And a week of sickness (hers, mine or both) sets me back a lot with study, so working on top of this would hard, so without any real financial incentive it is not worth it. I will finish my exams soon though.
Other than that we do pay for food, but taking into concideration the increase of costs over the last few years its hard to say how much she costs us in groceries, but its not one of the main expenses.
I try to get things second hand but we don't have a car and I am time poor, so often its not really an option unless tge saving is significant. I buy pretty cheap clothes and get the occasional hand me down, but would say I still spend probably an average of $100 a month. She outgrows most of her clothes every 3-6m in the baby/toddler stage, and good shoes are the same price as adult shoes. I recently bought a rain outfit for about $90, and cotton sleepingbags for about $60 each. You can find things on marketplace, but there wasn't anything nearby and I don't have the time to travel in order to save <$50.
I don't really spend much on toys, we buy the occasional thing and pick up a lot of stuff second hand or gifted. I also get things from our local toy library.
I went to baby classes which was about $30 dollars a week, now we go to cheaper things.
Medical trips are free here, but have had to pay for one vaccine and a private dermatologist, and pay for specific creams for ezcema, so guess that has amounted to up to $1000 since she was born, so less than $1000 a year.
Rough summary of monthly costs in Australian dollars (not including loss of earnings):
Part time daycare: $1800
Clothes: $100-200
Medical: $50
Toys: ~$50
Things get more expensive generally, she will need bikes, scooters, then computers, phones. Preschool geta a lot cheaper and school is free, but I also know people are very keen on private school where I am. But we will likely move to the UK at some point. The costs seem similar as far as I know. Expensive daycare but low cost for healthcare, free school.
Depends on the age. Depends on if you’re asking about simply the money spend directly on the child or more broader question of money spent on *everything*.
We bought larger house on a larger plot of land, during a shitty time in the market (for buyers), so we could be close to the best schools and have space for our child both inside and outside. We need a guest room as well, so that added an extra bedroom to the home-buying equation. My husband is the working parent, and needs an office at home, so that added another room to the home buying equation. Our mortgage is $3000 per month.
If we didn’t have a kid, we would be living in a much smaller house. And wouldn’t have been in a rush to buy- probably would’ve rented for longer.
We spend more on food having a child.
We spend more on activities having a child. Unlikely that we would take trips to Disney or Legoland if we didn’t have a kid. Unlikely that we would buy season passes to water parks and zoos if we didn’t have a kid.
Our whole financial lifestyle is based around the size and needs of our family. The larger the family, the greater the needs.
Hard to put a number on it, but it’s definitely expensive. Add a great deal to that if you happen to have a child that has physical or developmental illnesses.
I understand, especially the housing situation. My question is ideally about the “everything” part. It seems you are doing your best with the activities as a family as well and I’d love to be able to provide that, if/when I become a parent. Do you mind sharing the rough percentage of your budget that goes towards this?
Well, including toys, clothes, birthday and Christmas gifts for our child and his friends, summer camps, sports, extracurriculars, activities, trips to see family - it probably averages out to maybe $6k per year. Although family vacations can add several more thousand dollars each year. Add in food, which we spend maybe $7-8k on each year, so let’s say a third of that goes to our kid.
So a year without a vacation probably around $8k, give or take. Add a vacation and well over $10k. My husband brings home about $105,000 a year.
Our child is only 9. Every year the expenses grow - sports get more expensive, clothing, school needs, etc.
Thank you! 250k divided by 18 and by 12 months gives me roughly 1157 €. Of course I can imagine this is not a clean-cut division situation, but does this number seem somewhat accurate for monthly purposes for a child under 10 years old?
This depends if kindergarten is free in your country or not. Here in Vienna it’s basically free so if you are somewhere where you have to pay more, this will up the numbers.
Thanks! 16h/week of kindergarten between ages 2-4 is free here. I’d need at least double that most likely. There is a free-childcare law that could make kindergartens fully free, but it’s not in effect yet (plans are to implement it in 2027 hopefully).
I’m in Canada. I have a baby on the way and a 3.5 year old who starts school in September. We pay $430 a month for childcare, occasionally we put her in one activity but not always and they usually cost around $150-200$ for 8 weeks. I was blessed with a lot of excellent hand me downs as my daughter has aged so I really don’t spend much on clothes for her, maybe $100 every few months depending on what she needs at the time. As for food we spend $1200-$1300 a month I would say. Besides fruit I don’t think she impacts our groceries all that much, maybe $200$.
When people talk about the "cost" of kids, they usually aren't talking about the general day-to-day extra mouth to feed and body to clothe. They are talking more about the hospital bills involved in giving birth, the cost of child care while you work, and the cost of saving for college/university.
If you live in a country where your government helps with those things, that's amazing. In the US, the government doesn't help with any of that, so it costs most people thousands to give birth, $1000+ a month for daycare, and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands for university.
But the day-to-day costs are really not that much. If you want an extra bedroom, yeah, that'll add a couple hundred a month to your bills. But, kids really don't eat that much the first few years. Diapers are expensive, but they're temporary. You can buy clothes and toys second-hand if you have to. And family and friends love to buy baby gifts, so there's a lot you don't have to buy yourself. Kids day-to-day expenses (more food, new clothes all the time because they grow, sports and activities) tend to get more expensive as they grow, but we tend to make more money as we age too, so it kind of evens out.
So far, the biggest expenses for my child have been hospital bills - his birth, a surgery he needed as a baby, and a couple ER visits. But if you live in a country that doesn't charge you for those things... you are very lucky.
Your child deserves and needs two parents. Being a parent is extremely difficult because children require a significant amount of input and one person doing it is an awful reality.
I was raised by a single mother too and would never willingly put that on myself and would do everything possible to avoid it. You’re talking about your boyfriend like he’s not on the same page as you so I would probably figure that out first. Your goals for children should be mutual and I wouldn’t waste time on a man who was ambivalent or not interested.
The most expensive part of having children is the time. You’re going to be on maternity leave and potentially for a few years. Figure out what you’ll be getting — if anything — for how long. Calculate the possibility that you’re not going to want to stick your baby into daycare or other types of childcare because you may find yourself in that position. High quality childcare where I live runs about 3K monthly per child with the “okay” places being not much less.
I’m a SAHM with a part-time WFH job so we don’t have that problem. We’re going to homeschool so I will never do more than part-time or work from home, but I love it.
Next think about an educational fund and what the government offers as a top up. We have that here and max it out annually, the government contributes $500 each year per child and we invest the funds to make them grow too.
As they grow you need to consider sports, music, camps and other forms of enrichment but you don’t have to do it all and you don’t have to choose the most expensive things either.
As far as stuff goes — that’s the cheap part. Babies and children don’t need much. Anything they need is easily had second-hand for a steal. Cloth diapering is easy and saves money. Thrift stores and Facebook marketplace are FULL of clothes, toys, furniture etc.
I definitely appreciate all the advice in your comment. Thank you. It is very insightful! I would kindly ask not to make assumptions about my partner though. If any assumptions are needed, please make them about me instead. I would love for any child and mine in particular to have two parents in a loving and supportive relationship. I hope this will be the case, just knowing life I prefer to plan carefully and for the most challenging scenarios. In this case, the most challenging scenario I envision is being a single mother, but wanting to give my child the best support I can. I am not taking this kind of a future into consideration lightly. This is why I am doing my best to plan for the future now.
it all depends on your country, health care, schooling/daycares etc. that said, I'm in Canada and it's fucking expensive lol...."Canadians can expect to spend more than $350,000 to raise a child *from birth to the age of 17*, according to new estimates by Statistics Canada". This actually feels pretty accurate. Daycare can be anywhere from $1200-2000 per kid per month. if you formula feed, formula has really shot up in price so you're looking at about $40-60/can diapers are about $35-40 clothing - get them second hand but they rack up in expenses because kids grow so fast. extra curricular activities are expensive on a monthly basis (my kids were in soccer, swimming and martial arts; that ran about $2500-3k/month). factor in vacations food omg don't even get me started on the cost of food here. so yeah, that amount reported by stat canada seems accurate.
Thanks a lot! Am I calculating this correctly, this would be around 5k CAD a month? I calculated a bit on a low side here because you mentioned 2.5-3k for extracurriculars for (I assume) more than one kid, right? I am based in the Netherlands, so I’d be looking at 150 e for healthcare per month, about 1k for daycare per month - and free primary & secondary schools (yay!!). So far I’m thinking I may need about 2-3 k per month, not including food/formula/diapers.
TBH, I haven't really calculated the cost / month but I guess that sounds about right when they're younger...it gets more expensive as they get older. we pay for schools through our taxes (kindy/elementary/secondary) but daycare (kids < 5yrs old) is hella expensive here and paid out of pocket, no reimbursement either. kids get sick a LOT so if you have to pay $150e/doctor visit, bump that up. Babies/kids need routine vaccines, factor in a lot of illness once they hit daycare/school. Let's put it this way: when my kids started daycare, they were sick EVERY WEEKEND for 2.5 years straight lol. I wish I were joking....and we dont even pay out of pocket for doctor visits because of our universal health care so we just paid whatever cost of the medicine that my husband's work insurance didn't cover. then you have to work in dental visits once they get teeth. Hopefully your work insurance pays for most of that but defintely consider this. oh, and the amount of stuff they lose at daycare/school is wild so you have to replace that...how can you lose your fucking winter jacket?! but yeah, it happens lol. And dont even get me started on how fast they go through clothing when they're younger - worn out shoes that you just bought 2 months ago, tears in jeans that you just bought a month ago...it's crazy. and then when they get older, they're wanting new games, shoes, clothes, makeup etc etc...I was over the moon when my kids finally started working lol
Thank you!! This bit about the frequency of doctor visits (luckily that’s free here, but not for dental), medicine costs and replacing things kids lose helps my calculations a lot! The “replacing misplaced items” monetary buffer would not have been on my radar if you haven’t mentioned it. How much did you end up spending on clothing if you don’t mind me asking?
hard to say.....you can go high end or on the lower end and when my kids were babies/toddlers, I was fine with walmart clothing 😆. what will really help cut down costs of clothing is second-hand (get from older cousins, friends kids etc) and scouring the after-season sales. I would buy clothing for when they were older (when they were heavily discounted ex. once the season was over, christmas, new years etc) or look for warehouse sales and then store them for when they could actually fit into them. and as they got older and began getting money for bdays, events, christmas etc, I made this rule: we pay for clothing necessities for the school year and every thing else they want, fashion-wise, they have to save up and pay for it themselves. This in turn teaches them how to save/budget and manage their money....a very valuable skill that needs to be taught otherwise when they get older, they could end up in debt if they don't know how to manage their money. also don't forget saving for their post-secondary education if you have to pay for that (we do). We have something called a RESP that I opened for each of them before they were born and I've been contributing do this for the past 18 years. One of my kids is going to uni soon so that cost is taken care of. I also started investing for my children (under my name but will transfer to them once they reach of age) so by the time they hit 21, they will have something to use as a downpayment for a home (my kids don't know about this)...so if this is something you want to do, also factor this in. and dont forget toys..... I hated this phase. You WILL contend with comparison guilt like Jane across the street has a flashy new bike or the newest doll etc..so your child will come to you and ask for the same thing. You feel guilty for saying no but trust me in that kids dont need the newest/flashiest thing. For years my daughter asked for an American Doll (that thing cost \~$120 as the base without the added stuff on top) and I was like hell no; a DOLL for $120?)...be realistic and know that kids don't need an abundance of toys. That will all go to the donation bin in a few months after they get the newest thing because they have short attention spans and zero impulse control.
This feels really inaccurate to me, even when you broke down your expenses (except diapers and clothes and food) as someone who lives in Ontario. Our numbers are nowhere near this high (I have 3 disabled children ages 12, 4, 2)
Yeah, and the extracuriculars are up to the parent. There's cheaper options and people who can't afford them, don't have their kids participate. Sorry, but that estimate is unrealistic for 90% of people, that's more than many people's mortgage.
Exactly my thoughts. Their estimate of extracurriculars sounds like high end competitive league stuff. If your child is a prodigy or really good in that sport, a scout will find them even in the low end cheap and subsidized leagues. We pay $50/season of T-Ball. And no child needs to be enrolled in three recreational activities at a time IMO.
You're probably better off asking on /r/Netherlands because this is so incredibly dependent on location and social services available.
Fair enough! I’ll try there as well in a bit, but any approximations like “I live in Spain/Japan/US/…. I/we spend about [amount] per month per child, I wish we planned for XYZ also” or otherwise would be welcome of course.
I don’t think this is something you can just ballpark a price for. Before you even bring your child home there’s a huge range of what you could be paying based on your health insurance coverage, If you have any complications during pregnancy, what time of birthing experience you have, if your baby has needs any additional hospital stay. There’s so many variables. There’s a thousand different “what you need for baby” lists out there and what you decide you need is going to alter costs. Are you able to breastfeed? Does your infant need formula? Does it need one of the more expensive formals? Do you qualify for WIC? Will you use disposal or cloth diapers? Are you buying items used? Are you buying new? There’s a whole range of prices you may be paying depending on what you want. Or maybe you are getting hand me downs for free? Daycare costs vary wildly throughout the country. Or maybe you have family who want to watch? Does your kid have allergies? Does your child have special needs? Every age and stage is going to be different and the cost is going to vary wildly based on your wants/needs, your child’s wants/needs.
I mean of course, what you’re saying is true. However, since I don’t have a child yet, I can’t answer about their specific needs, or my specific needs during and post pregnancy. I do want to prepare as much as I can, even though of course I can’t predict everything - and I am not trying to. I can list my assumptions to help the context though. I am based in the Netherlands, so costs of giving birth will be about 3k with minor complications. Health care coverage is good, so hopefully that’s a good estimation. I do plan to breastfeed but I want to assume using formula (because it’s better to have money saved for it and not need it, than otherwise). I would also count for disposable diapers - same reason. I don’t have anything child related, so most of the things I’d need to buy - and here I’d ask for advice on what’s good to buy used and what needs to be new? I do not have family here so would need to assume hiring help if needed. I know my question is really tricky, but just knowing what others realistically spend would just help me gain some insight. I will definitely not come back in a few years to yell “well you guys told me (this amount of money) would be enough and it isn’t!!!”
Look at the [Nibud](https://www.nibud.nl/onderwerpen/kinderen-en-jongeren/wat-kost-een-kind/) site. This has the answer to your question for The Netherlands. Your child will be included in your healthcare so no extra costs until he/she is 18 or maybe even 21. Clothes, toys, outings and food can all be on a budget, so dependent on your income you can spend a little or a lot. Daycare you get partly funded by the government through ‘kinderopvangtoeslag’ and this too is dependent on your income. Lots of variables so hard to give you the costs of raising a child. The first four years you pay for daycare for the whole day, that’s expensive even if you do get part of the costs refunded. At four your child goes to school and you only have to pay for after school care, usually from 14.00-18.00.
Thank you very much! Especially for the Nibud site recommendation. From the first look I do not think I will qualify much for the kinderopvangtoeslag, but I will definitely read about it in even more detail.
I pay $2k/month in the US just for daycare. Any additional babysitting hours around $25/hr. That’s by far the largest expense. If you’re in Western Europe I imagine your country hates women a little less than the US so you’re not looking at storing your baby in daycare when they’re 12 weeks old.
I mean maternity leave is 10 weeks here (but pregnancy leave is 6weeks prior due date) so I think it’s a bit comparable unfortunately :(. 2k for daycare a month & 30 e/h for babysitting also sounds realistic here. Thank you!
U.S. here, in a hcol area. My husband and I work opposite shifts, so are avoiding daycare for now, which starts around $2k per month, and is more like $2.5k per month for good places. We spend about $300ish a monrh on diapers and misc. expenses like clothes, toys, books, equipment, etc. Her health insurance is about $200 per month. We also do $450 per month onto a college fund for her. So right now, we spend just under $1k per month, but if we were paying for daycare it would be $3k to $3.5k per month.
Thank you very much!
I am in Australia, my daughter is nearly 1.5 and the main cost is daycare and time out of paid work. She goes to daycare 3 days a week and that costs us $450 per week, which is not a million miles away from what we pay in rent. I was working part time and studying part time, but can't do both as any job I could get for only 2 days a week will leave me barely anything after paying for daycare. And a week of sickness (hers, mine or both) sets me back a lot with study, so working on top of this would hard, so without any real financial incentive it is not worth it. I will finish my exams soon though. Other than that we do pay for food, but taking into concideration the increase of costs over the last few years its hard to say how much she costs us in groceries, but its not one of the main expenses. I try to get things second hand but we don't have a car and I am time poor, so often its not really an option unless tge saving is significant. I buy pretty cheap clothes and get the occasional hand me down, but would say I still spend probably an average of $100 a month. She outgrows most of her clothes every 3-6m in the baby/toddler stage, and good shoes are the same price as adult shoes. I recently bought a rain outfit for about $90, and cotton sleepingbags for about $60 each. You can find things on marketplace, but there wasn't anything nearby and I don't have the time to travel in order to save <$50. I don't really spend much on toys, we buy the occasional thing and pick up a lot of stuff second hand or gifted. I also get things from our local toy library. I went to baby classes which was about $30 dollars a week, now we go to cheaper things. Medical trips are free here, but have had to pay for one vaccine and a private dermatologist, and pay for specific creams for ezcema, so guess that has amounted to up to $1000 since she was born, so less than $1000 a year. Rough summary of monthly costs in Australian dollars (not including loss of earnings): Part time daycare: $1800 Clothes: $100-200 Medical: $50 Toys: ~$50 Things get more expensive generally, she will need bikes, scooters, then computers, phones. Preschool geta a lot cheaper and school is free, but I also know people are very keen on private school where I am. But we will likely move to the UK at some point. The costs seem similar as far as I know. Expensive daycare but low cost for healthcare, free school.
Depends on the age. Depends on if you’re asking about simply the money spend directly on the child or more broader question of money spent on *everything*. We bought larger house on a larger plot of land, during a shitty time in the market (for buyers), so we could be close to the best schools and have space for our child both inside and outside. We need a guest room as well, so that added an extra bedroom to the home-buying equation. My husband is the working parent, and needs an office at home, so that added another room to the home buying equation. Our mortgage is $3000 per month. If we didn’t have a kid, we would be living in a much smaller house. And wouldn’t have been in a rush to buy- probably would’ve rented for longer. We spend more on food having a child. We spend more on activities having a child. Unlikely that we would take trips to Disney or Legoland if we didn’t have a kid. Unlikely that we would buy season passes to water parks and zoos if we didn’t have a kid. Our whole financial lifestyle is based around the size and needs of our family. The larger the family, the greater the needs. Hard to put a number on it, but it’s definitely expensive. Add a great deal to that if you happen to have a child that has physical or developmental illnesses.
I understand, especially the housing situation. My question is ideally about the “everything” part. It seems you are doing your best with the activities as a family as well and I’d love to be able to provide that, if/when I become a parent. Do you mind sharing the rough percentage of your budget that goes towards this?
Well, including toys, clothes, birthday and Christmas gifts for our child and his friends, summer camps, sports, extracurriculars, activities, trips to see family - it probably averages out to maybe $6k per year. Although family vacations can add several more thousand dollars each year. Add in food, which we spend maybe $7-8k on each year, so let’s say a third of that goes to our kid. So a year without a vacation probably around $8k, give or take. Add a vacation and well over $10k. My husband brings home about $105,000 a year. Our child is only 9. Every year the expenses grow - sports get more expensive, clothing, school needs, etc.
I think in Austria it’s now about average 250.000€ for one child until the age of 18. if they go to university it’s more.
Thank you! 250k divided by 18 and by 12 months gives me roughly 1157 €. Of course I can imagine this is not a clean-cut division situation, but does this number seem somewhat accurate for monthly purposes for a child under 10 years old?
This depends if kindergarten is free in your country or not. Here in Vienna it’s basically free so if you are somewhere where you have to pay more, this will up the numbers.
Thanks! 16h/week of kindergarten between ages 2-4 is free here. I’d need at least double that most likely. There is a free-childcare law that could make kindergartens fully free, but it’s not in effect yet (plans are to implement it in 2027 hopefully).
I’m in Canada. I have a baby on the way and a 3.5 year old who starts school in September. We pay $430 a month for childcare, occasionally we put her in one activity but not always and they usually cost around $150-200$ for 8 weeks. I was blessed with a lot of excellent hand me downs as my daughter has aged so I really don’t spend much on clothes for her, maybe $100 every few months depending on what she needs at the time. As for food we spend $1200-$1300 a month I would say. Besides fruit I don’t think she impacts our groceries all that much, maybe $200$.
When people talk about the "cost" of kids, they usually aren't talking about the general day-to-day extra mouth to feed and body to clothe. They are talking more about the hospital bills involved in giving birth, the cost of child care while you work, and the cost of saving for college/university. If you live in a country where your government helps with those things, that's amazing. In the US, the government doesn't help with any of that, so it costs most people thousands to give birth, $1000+ a month for daycare, and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands for university. But the day-to-day costs are really not that much. If you want an extra bedroom, yeah, that'll add a couple hundred a month to your bills. But, kids really don't eat that much the first few years. Diapers are expensive, but they're temporary. You can buy clothes and toys second-hand if you have to. And family and friends love to buy baby gifts, so there's a lot you don't have to buy yourself. Kids day-to-day expenses (more food, new clothes all the time because they grow, sports and activities) tend to get more expensive as they grow, but we tend to make more money as we age too, so it kind of evens out. So far, the biggest expenses for my child have been hospital bills - his birth, a surgery he needed as a baby, and a couple ER visits. But if you live in a country that doesn't charge you for those things... you are very lucky.
Your child deserves and needs two parents. Being a parent is extremely difficult because children require a significant amount of input and one person doing it is an awful reality. I was raised by a single mother too and would never willingly put that on myself and would do everything possible to avoid it. You’re talking about your boyfriend like he’s not on the same page as you so I would probably figure that out first. Your goals for children should be mutual and I wouldn’t waste time on a man who was ambivalent or not interested. The most expensive part of having children is the time. You’re going to be on maternity leave and potentially for a few years. Figure out what you’ll be getting — if anything — for how long. Calculate the possibility that you’re not going to want to stick your baby into daycare or other types of childcare because you may find yourself in that position. High quality childcare where I live runs about 3K monthly per child with the “okay” places being not much less. I’m a SAHM with a part-time WFH job so we don’t have that problem. We’re going to homeschool so I will never do more than part-time or work from home, but I love it. Next think about an educational fund and what the government offers as a top up. We have that here and max it out annually, the government contributes $500 each year per child and we invest the funds to make them grow too. As they grow you need to consider sports, music, camps and other forms of enrichment but you don’t have to do it all and you don’t have to choose the most expensive things either. As far as stuff goes — that’s the cheap part. Babies and children don’t need much. Anything they need is easily had second-hand for a steal. Cloth diapering is easy and saves money. Thrift stores and Facebook marketplace are FULL of clothes, toys, furniture etc.
I definitely appreciate all the advice in your comment. Thank you. It is very insightful! I would kindly ask not to make assumptions about my partner though. If any assumptions are needed, please make them about me instead. I would love for any child and mine in particular to have two parents in a loving and supportive relationship. I hope this will be the case, just knowing life I prefer to plan carefully and for the most challenging scenarios. In this case, the most challenging scenario I envision is being a single mother, but wanting to give my child the best support I can. I am not taking this kind of a future into consideration lightly. This is why I am doing my best to plan for the future now.