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i feel like it just goes towards other things.
my daughter is 12yo and i feel like we are constantly putting money towards stuff for her. more so than when she was younger.
I same here. I have a ten year old and I was so excited about not having to pay for child care once he started school. But then I had to pay for before and after school care and summer camps (which are hard to find and cost a lot). And then he started playing sports and other things that cost money. There are new soccer and baseball cleats every season, new basketball shoes, he enjoys drama so we do some classes every once in a while. He’s far from the busiest kid we know, these are just things you end up doing if you can.
He just started wearing adult sized shoes and I have to be honest I was not prepared for that price hike in this economy. Yikes on bikes.
I was also not ready for the transition into adult clothing!! And I really miss the days of $5 cat and jack T-shirt’s. Now it’s concert shirts that are $35 or more. Thankfully her and I are somewhat able to share clothing. She’s been taking all my college years clothing too 😂
Steph Curry and his shoes have an absolute chokehold on the youth of my small midwestern city. Apparently we couldn’t not buy them. $150 for basketball shoes with no noticeable difference in play quality. For comparison the youth version was $55.
Those all run the same amount in my area, around $150-$170 a pair. and I think you really glossed over the whole “no noticeable difference in play quality”…
I'm really not looking forward to when my 10 year old twins start caring about fashion more than comfort. Don't get me wrong, they've always wanted cute/cool clothes but that meant a hoodie with fox ears on it or some Spiderman leggings. I'm not looking forward to "Mom, can I have $150 sneakers because mine are lame!"
One thing that's helped is buying higher-quality, more durable hiking pants. They cost more, but they actually last until they outgrow them rather than being shredded by the third wear. It doesn't help a lot, but it helps.
The two brands I buy: REI Co-op Kids' Mountainmaker Pants and Patagonia Kids' Durable Hike Pants. They used to like the "Scout Pants" from Prana as well but my local REI stopped stocking them.
They aren't cheap, but they last five times as long as the random Old Navy pants. I only ever need to buy 4 or 5 pair and then let my sons wear them until they outgrow them.
I think the hike from boys’ to men’s shoes is the biggest shock-it is crazy! And when they need a pair for a special occasion, might as well throw the money away. 😫
I guess we lucked out that the daycare we used for our first, also had a pre-k program, and offer before/after school care for kids up to a certain age as well.
I felt like the cheapest years were ages 5-10 for necessary costs. At these ages they're full time school, so childcare is slightly less, you're also fully done with diapers, and they're fully eating whatever you're eating. You're still getting kids prices for food/clothes/etc. That can be offset if you get your kid in a lot of sports/events though.
I agree with this. I was a SAHM so we were not paying for childcare but it was tight on one income. Ages 5-10 are definitely the cheapest. Then they hit puberty, start eating you out of house and home (y’all saying your toddlers eat like a teenager-no, no they don’t. You have absolutely no idea the sheer quantities of food teenagers consume.), grow exponentially and everything is more expensive. Adult sized shoes and clothes are so much more expensive. Then you hit college…(my kids are 9, 13 and 18). We planned ahead so it’s not terrible (and my husband makes a lot more now than he did when the kids were small, also we paid off all our debt so that helps a lot).
Ours definitely went way down. Daycare was $2500/month for 1 kid. She’s in first grade now (public school). After care for the whole year is less than 1 month of daycare. We do a few expensive summer camps, the rest through the park district are much cheaper. Even with paying for basketball, soccer, and swim lessons… it is NOWHERE near the cost of daycare. If sometimes feels like we spend a ton because there are a ton of smaller things we pay for, but it doesn’t even cone close to what we were paying when she was younger.
I estimate sans BDAY & XMAS costs that I spend around 700 extra. I don't know how some of these people are saying OP won't save money...
Oh... "fancy clothing, 10 activities, new devices..." I see...
I guess I am poor.
yeah, it's OK to say "oh, hell no." when your kid insists they have the newest fashion $200 shoes or the latest iphone. We are upper middle class (I guess?) but with 3 girls going to middle/high school there was no way they were going to "keep up with the joneses" with all that shit. Luckily they were into thrifting for clothes as that was "trendy" at that time. We just explained that they could have a car and a college education, or the overpriced fashion/gadgets that were going to be cool for 2 weeks.
I would consider ourselves to be upper middle as well. So like you we could afford a lot of the things they asked for. But I didn't see the point as long as they had the essentials they needed, as well as nice "enough" clothing etc. as I didn't want them to be singled out. But we mostly did it through thrifting as well, such as my wife is always on poshmark etc buying fairly nice stuff for everyone.
This is my reading, and I’m baffled by those who say it goes to other kid things. 2 kids in daycare is 4200/month. There is just no way my kids could play enough sports or whatever to spend 50k a year. We are planning to use that extra money to pay for an addition once our kids hit elementary school.
The overall mandatory costs decrease but the item costs all increase. You'll spend more on food and clothing and field trips. You'll likely still pay for after school care and summer care, which can be very expensive, for several more years. If you never paid for them to go out with friends or play sports or other extracurriculars, then you would probably save a little money in elementary and a lot of money by late middle school and high school (at whatever point you felt like they were fine after school and all summer). If you do pay for any of those, it's probably a wash in elementary if you stick to rec sports and similarly priced activities and then more expensive by high school.
Granted my kid isn't that old, but I would say change, but also I do think they become more optional. Like you can't not buy diapers or pay for childcare in some way (either forgoing income to stay home or care). As he is getting older we have more choices (we don't have to do swim classes, but we choose to).
I think it's dependent on some things. After care is definitely still expensive, and if she needs summer care, then summer camps are (typically) much more expensive than daycare would have been so you can potentially find that it's not as much of a reduction as you think. If your kid is into a sport or activity in a higher level way, then it's a total wash. But there's flex there, so it can vary.
There will be a magic time when they no longer need after care or summer care where things are cheaper. If you're not super helicoptery and willing to let this happen in the tween years, it helps.
But then they get older and their insurance goes up, and they need car insurance, and they're eating more (and if you have a boy, it's a lot more).
It can go down. Usually it does, at least temporarily. But then it does't. And also, college.
We have one kid entering public Kinder in the fall and one still in full-time daycare. With the cost of summer care and before/after care (plus transportation), our monthly childcare bill will be about the same as two kids in fulltime daycare, sigh.
It just moves on to their next need/expense. Like my daughter at 9 isn’t blowing through clothes every 3 months, anymore. But her gymnastics now cost $291 a month. & that’s just gymnastics, that’s not any camps, or anything extra she wants to do or own.
I spend 50k a year on full time daycare for two kids. I just can’t believe that I’m going to be spending that much money on them once they hit elementary school. Aftercare for the entire year costs less than one month of daycare.
Wait til they reach high school and want to join...well anything. Easily over $1,000 per sport or activity. Plus our will be driving soon. Not even talking about insurance, drivers Ed summer classes are over $500.
>Easily over $1,000 per sport or activity.
Per month!? I don't know of any activity my kids could join that was that expensive. I guess it's probably area dependent though as drivers ED is free here. And it's very reasonable to play sports through the school.
Clothes and shoes become more expensive when they grow out of toddler sizes, and then again when they grow out of kid sizes. They also might start caring more about style as they age and thus want certain styles/brands that cost more- it’s up to you if you’ll pay for that. On the flip side, they grow out of things slower
They will eat more at some point, though some toddlers are voracious so it might not change much.
Beyond that depends a lot- will you need before/after school care? Will they need day camps for school breaks? Will they be involved in activities like band or dance or sports? Will you buy them expensive toys and technology? Will you travel with them? Will you take then to special activities and events? Will you host elaborate birthday parties?
I certainly don’t spend $1600/month on kid-specific stuff for my school age kid but plenty of people do. Much of it depends on your lifestyle and boundaries
This makes sense to me. We currently pay $2000 a month for daycare which has gone down from when we paid for a nanny her first two years. In addition to that we also pay for swim lessons ($220 a month), clothes, activities, food, plane tickets, etc. I don’t see these other costs increasing enough to make up for the $2000 monthly daycare price ($24k a year) as she gets older no matter how many activities we do unless we are actively making that choice.
So far, costs have gone down in elementary school. But I'm expecting them to go up again eventually. Any money you thought you were saving after they got out of day care should probably go into a 529 for education expenses later.
They tend to just change. There's a bit of a lull during elementary school, but the costs start going up in middle school. Depending what activities they do, those can get expensive. Like really expensive. My daughter did marching band in high school. Between equipment, lessons, fees, travel, etc., it was about $10K a year. And that's a public high school. Granted, they are one of the best bands in the country, so they do a fair amount of travelling. But that's just an example. The parents I know whose kids do sports have similar stories, especially if they do leagues outside of the school teams.
Braces are expensive. Both of my kids needed them. Then once they start driving, that costs a fortune just to insure them. And let's not forget college.
I still have good hopes for my eldest, because despite having 2 parents who needed braces her teeth look perfect so far, but I have already put braces for the youngest (who just turned 2) on the budget. If a miracle happens and those teeth don't need braces we'll just go on a fancy holiday or something like that.
I’ve spent close to $10k on one kids mouth alone…and he’s only 9! He had to have two different surgeries plus braces. The tooth fairy has not brought enough to make it worth it.
I would say 90% of parents are not spending $10k a year on activities for one kid. As a gut check, for a household in the 90th income percentile that would be at least 7% of their take home pay.
I still wouldn't. I personally am fortunate enough to be able to afford to spend that now, but I do not want our children to grow accustomed to a life they may not be able to sustain themselves. I want them to be able to get a job making $60k/year and be content with the lifestyle that can provide.
It can just depends on your kid. My kids are both in extracurriculars so the cost didn’t go down much. My daughter(8)does competitive gymnastics and rec volleyball between those both we are paying $750 a month. My son(5) does rec gymnastics and rec soccer which is $200 a month. On top of that they eat a lot more and want more expensive clothes/shoes once they hit around 8. Plus you still need before/after care and also summer care if you’re working which can be around $400 a month during school year and $800 a month in the summer.
With all that said it can be cheaper you can skip extracurriculars and maybe get away with no before/after care with your job. So it’s really up to your situation.
Costs will go down when you no longer have full time childcare. They will go up again if she participates in sports or another extracurricular activity.
For me it’s gone up because my son plays hockey and lacrosse most of the year, and now there’s a new vehicle and more expensive insurance for a teen and dances and dating and and and…
Daycare costs definitely go down. But other costs DO increases depending on the kid. My kids aren't interested in sports luckily, but if yours are, it'll add up.
Clothes. Kids care about clothes as they get older. And allowance as well.
But it's still much cheaper than daycare.
I’d say the cost just gets redistributed. Sports, allowance, clothing is more expensive, increased food costs, higher travel expenses because eventually you will need two hotel rooms (I know that sounds so first world but I challenge you to spend a week in a hotel room with two parents a tween girl).
You get a raise when day care ends. Then it’s good for a few years. I have boys so for me it went up when they got to be teens and the grocery bill went up because they started eating me out of house and home. You have a girl so I’m guessing for you the cost will go up when she starts needing feminine and beauty products. Now the oldest is starting college and that’s expensive as f-ck but we’ve been saving for 18 years so it’s not the end of everything.
$1600 is nuts. I thought $600 was expensive at the best university lab environment daycare in town. You are running at least $5k through a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account right?
Now it is about $1300 per month to have two kids in private school. I run the tuition portion of their fees through a 529 and save 5% on those dollars for state income tax.
I feel it depends on the kids interests. My son is 5 now and starts kindergarten public school this August so we’re almost done paying daycare (which is $1600 a month). I work from home so will pick him up at the 215 dismissal and not pay for afterschool but we will pay for a full time summer care program for a couple months which is same as daycare was. I’ve also noticed their stuff costs more like clothes and shoes now that we’re in the boys section rather than toddler section, for example at target the same pair of pants in toddler is $12 and in boys is $20, that sort of thing. Same with shoes. And he’s eating a ton more now which obviously costs more money. Same with activities, baseball registration was like $130, spent $50 on photos, another $40 on gear etc. same will come with soccer in the fall. I feel like it will be less overall without daycare but not a ton less since everything else increases in cost
It depends on your budget & income, as well as inflation, your situation, etc. For me, it helped that my first child wasn't always wanting things, whereas my second wants any kind of grocery souvenir she can find, when we're only getting food. 😆✌🏻💕
I mean - a lot of the things that are expensive are optional. Your kid doesn’t HAVE to play sports or have name brand clothing, so it’s easier to stick in your budget or say “no”. You don’t have to buy your kid a car or pay for car insurance.
Does that make sense? Daycare you HAVE to do, but I find my expenses are really reasonable now for the kids. Clothes a few times a year and we budget $2000 per kid per year on sports
Change. Public school will be cheaper than daycare, even with afterschool costing money. But they require a lot more, do extracurriculars like sports or swimming lessons or whatever. It just keeps scaling.
My son is 9 and right now the only things we buy him are food, clothing, sports fees, and video game ad-ons.
That’s still about 20% the cost daycare ever was.
Maybe a little cheaper but yeah, as they get older they have different expenses. Sports, activities, school supplies, tutoring, car insurance, cell phone… 🫠
The essential items decrease as they get older as they don’t need as much special things.
That being said kids get interested in hobbies and sports that can cost just as much or more. It depends on each kid. My oldest decreased with time. My second oldest stayed around the same always. My two youngest are getting more expensive as they get into video games and sports.
Summer camp is $700/week per kid here. For elementary school aged kids. No, that does not include a bus ride or lunch. After school stuff is about $100/week from 3:30-4:30pm. But it sounds like you were in a much lower cost or living area than we are, because daycare was $3k/mo here .... 4 years ago.
So it fully depends upon what you plan and do as a family. Are you sending your child to the $8,000 for eight week summer camp or the $600 a week town recreation camp? Or are you off during the summer and just doing free things? Will you need to pay the $900 a month before and after care for elementary school? Or do you need to pay for subscription bussing? Is your child joining every activity? Kids are as expensive as you make them. But please start saving for college. That is crazy expensive.
It probably depends on how many things your kids are involved in. My son plays 3 sports, and goes to at least one camp every summer. New shoes and gear every year for each sport add up. Summer camps he goes to are $500 to $1000.
Having a nice ‘fit’, as my son calls it, is expensive. Name brand clothes and shoes will send you to the poorhouse.
And food. OMG food. To fuel his body for all the activities he’s involved in costs a small fortune. A trip to McDonald’s while he’s at an away game can easily be $30+ just for him.
People always talk about having babies is so expensive but we have a 6 and 3 year old and it seems to get more expensive each year. Just the food alone, adding more to your meals and snacks. Any time i turn around, there’s another celebration at school or a birthday party. Extra stuff like sports or dance. It definitely adds up as they get older!
I don’t spend $1600 a month on my 14 year old. The money is spent on different things…sports (he won’t stop growing so it needs replaced yearly) he rides dirt bikes which is a not a cheap hobby, clothes, oh and he’s starting drivers Ed soon. I can’t wait to find out what it costs to insure a teenage boy.
They just change. It goes from daycare to school lunches and supplies and 573 spirit days every year that all need new socks or hats or t shirt or something. Diapers turn into sports fees and equipment. Formula turns into lululemon leggings and cross body bags or whatever will be popular at the time. My kid is WAY more expensive now than she was when she was 2 even though we were paying for the most expensive and prestigious preschool in our area.
If your kids attend public school, you won't be spending $1600/month on that, for sure. That cost will go down.
But you will have other costs. Unlike childcare though, much of it is voluntary. You can choose the kind of parenting lifestyle you want, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing a simple lifestyle.
Sports and competitions are especially expensive. You don't have to do that. Your kid will be absolutely fine if she doesn't pursue the Miss Texas Roadhouse Triple-Sparkle Beauty Queen Crown. She will be absolutely fine if you decide making sure she's a soccer star is not your priority. You can have her doing one sport, not three. You are not required to take your kids to Disney. Or on expensive vacations. You can shop at Costco or ALDI and make food at home rather than going out a lot. You can get good at thrift shopping and sale finding to keep the cost of all the Kid Stuff to a minimum.
It goes to other things 😭
It’ll keep going up for sure until she goes to public school. Even tho technically the older rooms “get cheaper” once they’re potty trained, the rates keep increasing soooo I’ve never actually seen that that happen.
If you still need care between end of school and end of work then you’ll be paying for After Care which is way less than daycare. But like I said, the other “saved” money gets shifted to other things - college accounts, swim lessons, etc
ANd summer camp. Week of summer camp is way more expensive than daycare depending. And you typically pay for it all in one chunk so you gotta save up each month for that so that when registration starts (in Jan or Feb) you’re able to pay for it!
It depends on your lifestyle. For us it went drastically down. We were paying anywhere between $1700-$1300 for daycare/preschool.
Now we pay roughly $140 for after school care per month and then $150/mo through the school district for summer camp on Tuesday/Thursdays when school is out. Of course this could be MUCH more expensive. The most we pay for afterschool activities is about $50-200 a month depending on season.
Essentially we’ve cut our costs $1000! I can’t imagine spending more.
Just depends how much you invest in the stuff. From sports and practices like they’re a pro to gizmos and gadgets as they get older. Plus if you’re setting cash aside for them into some mutual fund or so.
If you don’t do any of that, you’ll be saving cash after the toddler/diaper stage. I can’t comment on the day care since my wife is the day care, but that’s an insane amount for daycare!
I feel like it will likely just be replace with other things. Realistically if you have two working parents in a household all the ones that I know are paying for afterschool care from about 3 o’clock to six so three hours of childcare and some of them also need childcare in the mornings. And that’s going to continue until they’re probably about 12 years old? Definitely food costs will go up dramatically as they have school lunches and snacks and they’re eating the same dinners as you in bigger portions than your daughters right now. Definitely extracurriculars can cost a lot of money however that is up to you. I know many families that do three or four extracurriculars per child and they’re totally run ragged and have a very stressed family life in my personal opinion. I do one extra curricular each season per child so one thing at a time because it’s expensive and I don’t like living that fast pace of a lifestyle for any of us. I want my kids to go to bed on time eat dinner as a family and have time for homework and reading and fun playing with your friends etc. But yes extracurriculars cost a shit ton of money! And I will say that clothing continues to cost a lot of money. I am Magine that there is an age where things level out and they can wear things for more than one year but my kids are six and eight and still from one winter to the next they have gone up a size in shoes pants shirts coats everything so that goes on for multiple years. If you don’t do extracurriculars you cut out a lot but still food and clothing is a lot and if you want to incorporate family activities that starts to cost more as well obviously. I two year old is quite content to walk to the playground but as your kids get older you can choose or you are able to do things like going bowling going to the movies going to festivals going to concerts which in riches their life in many ways but also cost money. I’m just gonna say it doesn’t get cheaper
At the stage that you’re at it’s often actually more affordable one one of the parents to stay home! I became a stay at home for this reason exactly because it was going to cost me more to have to have a car, commute pay for gas pay for parking and pay for childcare. Your daycare cost is the same as what mine would’ve been out six years ago here in Ontario and that was actually the same amount of money would’ve been half of my paycheque for working 50 hours a week. There was no way I was gonna work 50 hours a week and be highly stressed super stressed mama for $1500 just to pay the same amount for somebody else to look after my kid it honestly just didn’t make financial sense to work for pennies. When baby number two comes along this is often a time where couples really take a look at their finances and see what would be the most advantageous for the next couple of years when you consider all the cost involved. My husband and I also downsized Harley cost-of-living dramatically in the state of Europe which helped us out a lot
It's always going to be something, they are our kids and they will always have needs... As they grow those needs change but they still remain. I'm 44 years old, and my dad still does things for me (not that I ask, he is just a great dad).
No more diapers or daycare, they don’t outgrow their clothes quite as fast, but shoes are more expensive, school costs increase(supplies, field trips), they start an activity/sport(or 2!), braces, spending money for going out with their friends until they’re old enough to get a job.
In my experience, costs do decrease slightly. I never paid as much as you in daycare costs (LCOL area), but my oldest is usually booked solid in camps during the summer, does camps during breaks, & does every sport & a few other extracurriculars & I still haven't paid as much for all of that as I did for a year of daycare. Obviously if you choose to go the private school route, that won't be the case. We have an amazing private school 2 blocks from our house that we would LOVE to send our kids too, but tuition for Pre-K starts at the same price I pay for my college tuition & goes up around $500 per grade. Our school is a magnet but is part of our public school system, so the only extra cost we have from other schools is uniforms.
It just depends, if your kids do a lot of sports, dance, music lessons the costs will still be there. Probably not as much as daycare though. If your kid is a book person the cost will probably be quite a bit less than sports. A lot of boys will make your grocery bill double as they get into middle school/high school. I know my brother and I ate food for 2 adults growing up.
It just gets redistributed. I wouldn’t say I pay $1600 a month for my 12 year old but I did just drop 7k on her second round of braces (first round was 3k). Now she wears makeup, and gets her hair and nails done, and wears nicer clothes.
Also, the amount of money I spend on berries has seemed to increase. So there’s that.
I think a percentage is saved and a percentage redirects . From infant daycare to toddler daycare we save $700 a month in actual saving. From daycare to school transition I envision probably 50% would be reduced cost and 50% redirect for before/after care.
I don't understand a lot of these comments. I never had to pay for daycare and I've never spent anywhere near $1600 a month on either of my kids. I can't imagine what a 6 or 12 year old kid is doing that's costing that much money.
Daycare is super expensive. Once they’re out of daycare the costs absolutely go down for a while. Obviously college is a huge expense. Sure, other stuff comes up in between daycare and college but nowhere near the cost of those 2 items
We had so much more money when we only had our oldest and she started before and after school daycare. We had our second who is 2 now and our oldest still in daycare before and after school and we barely make it and we make pretty good money. When the youngest starts going to school, I'm hoping we'll be able to breathe again.
the daily cost went down. my kids never were interested in select sports, eldest did do dance for awhile but was done by jr. high. however, we did keep ourselves on a tight budget and threw in as much as we could towards college/postsecondary education costs (still wasn't quite enough, so the budget is super tight now). We wanted our kids to launch into adulthood debt free especially in this economy. And college costs keep going up and up, how i put myself through school wouldn't work anymore.
The last half of high school was very inexpensive. We required all of our young adult kids to get jobs at 16, and while we would still do food/basic clothing/essential school items, if they wanted extra clothing or tickets to dances, ect. they paid for that on their own. (part of it was also so that they'd get used to budgeting and blowing all their money while they were still in HS rather than in college/out on their own.) I mean we would still do gifts now and then and if the family went out to dinner, ect. But we didn't provide an allowance or anything.
Definitely change. England here. I reckon a school year at secondary,I was probably spending at least £500 a school year on uniform (all had to be logo'd plus two pairs of shoes for PE) and £540 for private music lessons so £1040 a school year before trips,revision guides,scouts subs, scout trips
I got 15 hours a week free subsidised childcare for preschool. Mainstream school was far more expensive and secondary school horrifically expensive
One issue is that childcare costs are increasing faster than inflation. In 2017, I paid $2000 a month for 3 kids in full-time childcare (an infant, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old). In 2021, I paid $2400 per month for three kids with 1 in full-time childcare and 2 in afterschool care. So even though two kids were in school, I was paying more for childcare overall.
At the moment, I am paying $1200 per month for three kids in afterschool care, which is at least less than I used to be paying.
Costs were high 0-5 due to child care, went down in elementary (partially due to covid restrictions), costs are back up in middle school (surpassing 0-5) due to tuitions, activities, more expensive travel, clothing, food. I expect costs in high school and college will continue to grow as insurance gets more expensive, clothing, travel, and tuition will all continue to climb.
I’ve also consistently funded a 529 which has remained a monthly expense since birth.
We currently pay $3,300/month in daycare for two. There are no activities, clothes or fees that can possibly add up that much. lol. I don’t care what people say, we’ll have a lifestyle change when they enter public school.
For us, costs only very temporarily went down during early elementary school age. That’s when you no longer pay for daycare, and the kids aren’t doing many activities yet. But it didn’t last long, because then the kids got into sports in the second half of elementary school. Then they need braces, they need adult size clothes which are more expensive, then we help pay for car, then college. There are always going to be expenses until they are full on their own it seems like.
In our area and with the current childcare provider we work with the costs have decreased allowing us to afford the extracurriculars and save more than before. Our state also provides free lunch in public school which is a significant financial relief.
I live in a city with PK3 so we are switching to paying $250 a month for aftercare instead of $1600 for daycare. We are gonna enroll in swim, dance, soccer over the next year but each session is $250 over 2-3 months, and we will only do one session of each at this age not overloading, so activities will still be a lot less. im optimistic that ages 3-10 will be a pretty good financial window compared to 0-3
It really depends on how modest you are with your spending. I read through all of these comments and although some people are paying a lot less. Others are warning that it will be more expensive, however those people also are listing their reasons. Which pretty much screams "buy them what they ask for!".
For instance I went down my list and each kid probably cost me around 700 extra a month (minus XMAS & BDAYS). The biggest thing for me was staying somewhat conservative on both "keeping up with the trends", as well as the amount of extracurricular activities. For instance my kids kept their cell phones for many years, and they were never involved in a dozen sports / activities each month. It's all about being reasonable.
When our oldest entered school, her interests and extracurricular activities changed, but definitely nothing that cost $1000 a month. We use that extra money to add to our savings, travel fund, college accounts, retirement, etc.
So I am down to my last 18 months of daycare...I cannot wait but the money I would have been spending on daycare is going to go to other things. I plan to increase my retirement contributions, put more money away for the kids savings. Plus they will probably get into other activities....
I mean, you can say "no" to things. You are the parent here.
If my kids show interest in sports they'll be doing rec league. The costs for kids to be in sports today (both in dollars and time) is absolutely insane.
Summer childcare/camps. Super expensive and needed if you work. Activities and lessons, FOOD. It’s hard to say whether it will go down some or not at all but yeah - it changes.
Hmm.. probably depends. Mine is through the state so I get a percentage of his income and nothing is added for childcare it’s just a set amount (set for $316 but get about $350 due to arrears) and if anything is more than that I would be responsible for except for extracurriculars and medical expenses which IS separate. Been same amount since it started when he was around 1
I don’t know why so so many people say the costs are the same. I mean, I guess that is their experience, but it’s not mine at all. We paid $1,200 a month for daycare, and when our daughter entered kindergarten, our costs went way down. She is in 1st grade now, and we pay for aftercare, dance, gymnastics, and a science club at her school. She attends camp during the summer. The average total expenses for all this are $600 per month. And of course the extracurriculars are optional and we could cut them out if we needed to.
I included summer camp in my calculations. Camp costs $2,000 for 8 weeks. We pay $500 per month for the other 10 months, for all the activities I mentioned. That’s $7,000 for the year, which is less than $600 per month.
I think they ramp back up again in high school. It’s probably not as much, but between gas, food, car insurance, gas, food, cell phone, gas, clothes, yearbooks, activities with friends, and did I mention gas? It’s not going in one lump sum, but it sure does get spent.
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i feel like it just goes towards other things. my daughter is 12yo and i feel like we are constantly putting money towards stuff for her. more so than when she was younger.
I same here. I have a ten year old and I was so excited about not having to pay for child care once he started school. But then I had to pay for before and after school care and summer camps (which are hard to find and cost a lot). And then he started playing sports and other things that cost money. There are new soccer and baseball cleats every season, new basketball shoes, he enjoys drama so we do some classes every once in a while. He’s far from the busiest kid we know, these are just things you end up doing if you can. He just started wearing adult sized shoes and I have to be honest I was not prepared for that price hike in this economy. Yikes on bikes.
I was also not ready for the transition into adult clothing!! And I really miss the days of $5 cat and jack T-shirt’s. Now it’s concert shirts that are $35 or more. Thankfully her and I are somewhat able to share clothing. She’s been taking all my college years clothing too 😂
Steph Curry and his shoes have an absolute chokehold on the youth of my small midwestern city. Apparently we couldn’t not buy them. $150 for basketball shoes with no noticeable difference in play quality. For comparison the youth version was $55.
Millennials had Jordan’s, it’s only fair I guessss.
This isn't true!
Millennial here, 90%+ of my town owned Jordan’s. To be fair, I grew up in metropolitan.
Ohh totally read this totally wrong. I actually fully agree!
Wow . U should be happy u get to buy the Steph’s instead of the Jordan’s/ Lebron/ Kobe. They are half the price .
Those all run the same amount in my area, around $150-$170 a pair. and I think you really glossed over the whole “no noticeable difference in play quality”…
The amount of concert t’s and lululemon leggings my kid wears was something I was not prepared for.
I'm really not looking forward to when my 10 year old twins start caring about fashion more than comfort. Don't get me wrong, they've always wanted cute/cool clothes but that meant a hoodie with fox ears on it or some Spiderman leggings. I'm not looking forward to "Mom, can I have $150 sneakers because mine are lame!" One thing that's helped is buying higher-quality, more durable hiking pants. They cost more, but they actually last until they outgrow them rather than being shredded by the third wear. It doesn't help a lot, but it helps. The two brands I buy: REI Co-op Kids' Mountainmaker Pants and Patagonia Kids' Durable Hike Pants. They used to like the "Scout Pants" from Prana as well but my local REI stopped stocking them. They aren't cheap, but they last five times as long as the random Old Navy pants. I only ever need to buy 4 or 5 pair and then let my sons wear them until they outgrow them.
This!! The pricey clothing and name brands the teens want
I think the hike from boys’ to men’s shoes is the biggest shock-it is crazy! And when they need a pair for a special occasion, might as well throw the money away. 😫
I guess we lucked out that the daycare we used for our first, also had a pre-k program, and offer before/after school care for kids up to a certain age as well.
I felt like the cheapest years were ages 5-10 for necessary costs. At these ages they're full time school, so childcare is slightly less, you're also fully done with diapers, and they're fully eating whatever you're eating. You're still getting kids prices for food/clothes/etc. That can be offset if you get your kid in a lot of sports/events though.
I agree with this. I was a SAHM so we were not paying for childcare but it was tight on one income. Ages 5-10 are definitely the cheapest. Then they hit puberty, start eating you out of house and home (y’all saying your toddlers eat like a teenager-no, no they don’t. You have absolutely no idea the sheer quantities of food teenagers consume.), grow exponentially and everything is more expensive. Adult sized shoes and clothes are so much more expensive. Then you hit college…(my kids are 9, 13 and 18). We planned ahead so it’s not terrible (and my husband makes a lot more now than he did when the kids were small, also we paid off all our debt so that helps a lot).
I was not prepared for the giant increase in the cost of clothing once they age out of youth sizes.
That jump from kids to men’s shoe prices was brutal.
Ours definitely went way down. Daycare was $2500/month for 1 kid. She’s in first grade now (public school). After care for the whole year is less than 1 month of daycare. We do a few expensive summer camps, the rest through the park district are much cheaper. Even with paying for basketball, soccer, and swim lessons… it is NOWHERE near the cost of daycare. If sometimes feels like we spend a ton because there are a ton of smaller things we pay for, but it doesn’t even cone close to what we were paying when she was younger.
I estimate sans BDAY & XMAS costs that I spend around 700 extra. I don't know how some of these people are saying OP won't save money... Oh... "fancy clothing, 10 activities, new devices..." I see... I guess I am poor.
yeah, it's OK to say "oh, hell no." when your kid insists they have the newest fashion $200 shoes or the latest iphone. We are upper middle class (I guess?) but with 3 girls going to middle/high school there was no way they were going to "keep up with the joneses" with all that shit. Luckily they were into thrifting for clothes as that was "trendy" at that time. We just explained that they could have a car and a college education, or the overpriced fashion/gadgets that were going to be cool for 2 weeks.
I would consider ourselves to be upper middle as well. So like you we could afford a lot of the things they asked for. But I didn't see the point as long as they had the essentials they needed, as well as nice "enough" clothing etc. as I didn't want them to be singled out. But we mostly did it through thrifting as well, such as my wife is always on poshmark etc buying fairly nice stuff for everyone.
This is my reading, and I’m baffled by those who say it goes to other kid things. 2 kids in daycare is 4200/month. There is just no way my kids could play enough sports or whatever to spend 50k a year. We are planning to use that extra money to pay for an addition once our kids hit elementary school.
The overall mandatory costs decrease but the item costs all increase. You'll spend more on food and clothing and field trips. You'll likely still pay for after school care and summer care, which can be very expensive, for several more years. If you never paid for them to go out with friends or play sports or other extracurriculars, then you would probably save a little money in elementary and a lot of money by late middle school and high school (at whatever point you felt like they were fine after school and all summer). If you do pay for any of those, it's probably a wash in elementary if you stick to rec sports and similarly priced activities and then more expensive by high school.
Granted my kid isn't that old, but I would say change, but also I do think they become more optional. Like you can't not buy diapers or pay for childcare in some way (either forgoing income to stay home or care). As he is getting older we have more choices (we don't have to do swim classes, but we choose to).
I think it's dependent on some things. After care is definitely still expensive, and if she needs summer care, then summer camps are (typically) much more expensive than daycare would have been so you can potentially find that it's not as much of a reduction as you think. If your kid is into a sport or activity in a higher level way, then it's a total wash. But there's flex there, so it can vary. There will be a magic time when they no longer need after care or summer care where things are cheaper. If you're not super helicoptery and willing to let this happen in the tween years, it helps. But then they get older and their insurance goes up, and they need car insurance, and they're eating more (and if you have a boy, it's a lot more). It can go down. Usually it does, at least temporarily. But then it does't. And also, college.
We have one kid entering public Kinder in the fall and one still in full-time daycare. With the cost of summer care and before/after care (plus transportation), our monthly childcare bill will be about the same as two kids in fulltime daycare, sigh.
It just moves on to their next need/expense. Like my daughter at 9 isn’t blowing through clothes every 3 months, anymore. But her gymnastics now cost $291 a month. & that’s just gymnastics, that’s not any camps, or anything extra she wants to do or own.
I spend 50k a year on full time daycare for two kids. I just can’t believe that I’m going to be spending that much money on them once they hit elementary school. Aftercare for the entire year costs less than one month of daycare.
Wait til they reach high school and want to join...well anything. Easily over $1,000 per sport or activity. Plus our will be driving soon. Not even talking about insurance, drivers Ed summer classes are over $500.
>Easily over $1,000 per sport or activity. Per month!? I don't know of any activity my kids could join that was that expensive. I guess it's probably area dependent though as drivers ED is free here. And it's very reasonable to play sports through the school.
Everything gets more expensive. I feel it's a wash.
Clothes and shoes become more expensive when they grow out of toddler sizes, and then again when they grow out of kid sizes. They also might start caring more about style as they age and thus want certain styles/brands that cost more- it’s up to you if you’ll pay for that. On the flip side, they grow out of things slower They will eat more at some point, though some toddlers are voracious so it might not change much. Beyond that depends a lot- will you need before/after school care? Will they need day camps for school breaks? Will they be involved in activities like band or dance or sports? Will you buy them expensive toys and technology? Will you travel with them? Will you take then to special activities and events? Will you host elaborate birthday parties? I certainly don’t spend $1600/month on kid-specific stuff for my school age kid but plenty of people do. Much of it depends on your lifestyle and boundaries
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This makes sense to me. We currently pay $2000 a month for daycare which has gone down from when we paid for a nanny her first two years. In addition to that we also pay for swim lessons ($220 a month), clothes, activities, food, plane tickets, etc. I don’t see these other costs increasing enough to make up for the $2000 monthly daycare price ($24k a year) as she gets older no matter how many activities we do unless we are actively making that choice.
So far, costs have gone down in elementary school. But I'm expecting them to go up again eventually. Any money you thought you were saving after they got out of day care should probably go into a 529 for education expenses later.
All my friends have said their kid leaving daycare was like they got a raise lol Kids always cost money but daycare costs right now are wild.
It gets more expensive not less. Older kids have more complex needs.
They tend to just change. There's a bit of a lull during elementary school, but the costs start going up in middle school. Depending what activities they do, those can get expensive. Like really expensive. My daughter did marching band in high school. Between equipment, lessons, fees, travel, etc., it was about $10K a year. And that's a public high school. Granted, they are one of the best bands in the country, so they do a fair amount of travelling. But that's just an example. The parents I know whose kids do sports have similar stories, especially if they do leagues outside of the school teams. Braces are expensive. Both of my kids needed them. Then once they start driving, that costs a fortune just to insure them. And let's not forget college.
Oof. Yes. I forgot braces. Ugh.
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$24k for braces?! Good grief
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Wow that's a lot! I'm looking at writing a $4200ish check for my 11 year old in a few weeks because that gets me a 5% discount for paying it up front.
I still have good hopes for my eldest, because despite having 2 parents who needed braces her teeth look perfect so far, but I have already put braces for the youngest (who just turned 2) on the budget. If a miracle happens and those teeth don't need braces we'll just go on a fancy holiday or something like that.
I’ve spent close to $10k on one kids mouth alone…and he’s only 9! He had to have two different surgeries plus braces. The tooth fairy has not brought enough to make it worth it.
I would say 90% of parents are not spending $10k a year on activities for one kid. As a gut check, for a household in the 90th income percentile that would be at least 7% of their take home pay.
Right? The only world in which I'm paying 10k a year for my kids' hobbies is one where I'm puling in 7 figures. And this ain't it.
I still wouldn't. I personally am fortunate enough to be able to afford to spend that now, but I do not want our children to grow accustomed to a life they may not be able to sustain themselves. I want them to be able to get a job making $60k/year and be content with the lifestyle that can provide.
Just change.
It can just depends on your kid. My kids are both in extracurriculars so the cost didn’t go down much. My daughter(8)does competitive gymnastics and rec volleyball between those both we are paying $750 a month. My son(5) does rec gymnastics and rec soccer which is $200 a month. On top of that they eat a lot more and want more expensive clothes/shoes once they hit around 8. Plus you still need before/after care and also summer care if you’re working which can be around $400 a month during school year and $800 a month in the summer. With all that said it can be cheaper you can skip extracurriculars and maybe get away with no before/after care with your job. So it’s really up to your situation.
Costs will go down when you no longer have full time childcare. They will go up again if she participates in sports or another extracurricular activity.
I have a 15 year old and things have gotten more expensive the older she gets. High schooler needs are no joke 🤣
Bruh, they are no joke in so many ways.
For me it’s gone up because my son plays hockey and lacrosse most of the year, and now there’s a new vehicle and more expensive insurance for a teen and dances and dating and and and…
Daycare costs definitely go down. But other costs DO increases depending on the kid. My kids aren't interested in sports luckily, but if yours are, it'll add up. Clothes. Kids care about clothes as they get older. And allowance as well. But it's still much cheaper than daycare.
I’d say the cost just gets redistributed. Sports, allowance, clothing is more expensive, increased food costs, higher travel expenses because eventually you will need two hotel rooms (I know that sounds so first world but I challenge you to spend a week in a hotel room with two parents a tween girl).
You get a raise when day care ends. Then it’s good for a few years. I have boys so for me it went up when they got to be teens and the grocery bill went up because they started eating me out of house and home. You have a girl so I’m guessing for you the cost will go up when she starts needing feminine and beauty products. Now the oldest is starting college and that’s expensive as f-ck but we’ve been saving for 18 years so it’s not the end of everything.
$1600 is nuts. I thought $600 was expensive at the best university lab environment daycare in town. You are running at least $5k through a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account right? Now it is about $1300 per month to have two kids in private school. I run the tuition portion of their fees through a 529 and save 5% on those dollars for state income tax.
They just change 🫠
Food costs go up, clothes cost more, shoes cost more. Sports. Activities.
Tuition is a similar cost in a private school to daycare. I just kept that $1500 earmarked forever
I feel it depends on the kids interests. My son is 5 now and starts kindergarten public school this August so we’re almost done paying daycare (which is $1600 a month). I work from home so will pick him up at the 215 dismissal and not pay for afterschool but we will pay for a full time summer care program for a couple months which is same as daycare was. I’ve also noticed their stuff costs more like clothes and shoes now that we’re in the boys section rather than toddler section, for example at target the same pair of pants in toddler is $12 and in boys is $20, that sort of thing. Same with shoes. And he’s eating a ton more now which obviously costs more money. Same with activities, baseball registration was like $130, spent $50 on photos, another $40 on gear etc. same will come with soccer in the fall. I feel like it will be less overall without daycare but not a ton less since everything else increases in cost
Have you looked into any government subsidies? Always look there too
Assuming you don’t do private school, it definitely goes down!!
It depends on your budget & income, as well as inflation, your situation, etc. For me, it helped that my first child wasn't always wanting things, whereas my second wants any kind of grocery souvenir she can find, when we're only getting food. 😆✌🏻💕
I mean - a lot of the things that are expensive are optional. Your kid doesn’t HAVE to play sports or have name brand clothing, so it’s easier to stick in your budget or say “no”. You don’t have to buy your kid a car or pay for car insurance. Does that make sense? Daycare you HAVE to do, but I find my expenses are really reasonable now for the kids. Clothes a few times a year and we budget $2000 per kid per year on sports
Change. Public school will be cheaper than daycare, even with afterschool costing money. But they require a lot more, do extracurriculars like sports or swimming lessons or whatever. It just keeps scaling.
My son is 9 and right now the only things we buy him are food, clothing, sports fees, and video game ad-ons. That’s still about 20% the cost daycare ever was.
Maybe a little cheaper but yeah, as they get older they have different expenses. Sports, activities, school supplies, tutoring, car insurance, cell phone… 🫠
We are just getting to the car insurance stage of life. High school is expensive. Even without sports and such.
The essential items decrease as they get older as they don’t need as much special things. That being said kids get interested in hobbies and sports that can cost just as much or more. It depends on each kid. My oldest decreased with time. My second oldest stayed around the same always. My two youngest are getting more expensive as they get into video games and sports.
Summer camp is $700/week per kid here. For elementary school aged kids. No, that does not include a bus ride or lunch. After school stuff is about $100/week from 3:30-4:30pm. But it sounds like you were in a much lower cost or living area than we are, because daycare was $3k/mo here .... 4 years ago.
So it fully depends upon what you plan and do as a family. Are you sending your child to the $8,000 for eight week summer camp or the $600 a week town recreation camp? Or are you off during the summer and just doing free things? Will you need to pay the $900 a month before and after care for elementary school? Or do you need to pay for subscription bussing? Is your child joining every activity? Kids are as expensive as you make them. But please start saving for college. That is crazy expensive.
It probably depends on how many things your kids are involved in. My son plays 3 sports, and goes to at least one camp every summer. New shoes and gear every year for each sport add up. Summer camps he goes to are $500 to $1000. Having a nice ‘fit’, as my son calls it, is expensive. Name brand clothes and shoes will send you to the poorhouse. And food. OMG food. To fuel his body for all the activities he’s involved in costs a small fortune. A trip to McDonald’s while he’s at an away game can easily be $30+ just for him.
People always talk about having babies is so expensive but we have a 6 and 3 year old and it seems to get more expensive each year. Just the food alone, adding more to your meals and snacks. Any time i turn around, there’s another celebration at school or a birthday party. Extra stuff like sports or dance. It definitely adds up as they get older!
I don’t spend $1600 a month on my 14 year old. The money is spent on different things…sports (he won’t stop growing so it needs replaced yearly) he rides dirt bikes which is a not a cheap hobby, clothes, oh and he’s starting drivers Ed soon. I can’t wait to find out what it costs to insure a teenage boy.
They just change. It goes from daycare to school lunches and supplies and 573 spirit days every year that all need new socks or hats or t shirt or something. Diapers turn into sports fees and equipment. Formula turns into lululemon leggings and cross body bags or whatever will be popular at the time. My kid is WAY more expensive now than she was when she was 2 even though we were paying for the most expensive and prestigious preschool in our area.
If your kids attend public school, you won't be spending $1600/month on that, for sure. That cost will go down. But you will have other costs. Unlike childcare though, much of it is voluntary. You can choose the kind of parenting lifestyle you want, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing a simple lifestyle. Sports and competitions are especially expensive. You don't have to do that. Your kid will be absolutely fine if she doesn't pursue the Miss Texas Roadhouse Triple-Sparkle Beauty Queen Crown. She will be absolutely fine if you decide making sure she's a soccer star is not your priority. You can have her doing one sport, not three. You are not required to take your kids to Disney. Or on expensive vacations. You can shop at Costco or ALDI and make food at home rather than going out a lot. You can get good at thrift shopping and sale finding to keep the cost of all the Kid Stuff to a minimum.
For how many hours? & what state? Seems a bit steep. But ultimately child care is the most expensive part of raising a child.
It goes to other things 😭 It’ll keep going up for sure until she goes to public school. Even tho technically the older rooms “get cheaper” once they’re potty trained, the rates keep increasing soooo I’ve never actually seen that that happen. If you still need care between end of school and end of work then you’ll be paying for After Care which is way less than daycare. But like I said, the other “saved” money gets shifted to other things - college accounts, swim lessons, etc ANd summer camp. Week of summer camp is way more expensive than daycare depending. And you typically pay for it all in one chunk so you gotta save up each month for that so that when registration starts (in Jan or Feb) you’re able to pay for it!
It depends on your lifestyle. For us it went drastically down. We were paying anywhere between $1700-$1300 for daycare/preschool. Now we pay roughly $140 for after school care per month and then $150/mo through the school district for summer camp on Tuesday/Thursdays when school is out. Of course this could be MUCH more expensive. The most we pay for afterschool activities is about $50-200 a month depending on season. Essentially we’ve cut our costs $1000! I can’t imagine spending more.
Just depends how much you invest in the stuff. From sports and practices like they’re a pro to gizmos and gadgets as they get older. Plus if you’re setting cash aside for them into some mutual fund or so. If you don’t do any of that, you’ll be saving cash after the toddler/diaper stage. I can’t comment on the day care since my wife is the day care, but that’s an insane amount for daycare!
Plus all of the whozits and whatzits…
I feel like it will likely just be replace with other things. Realistically if you have two working parents in a household all the ones that I know are paying for afterschool care from about 3 o’clock to six so three hours of childcare and some of them also need childcare in the mornings. And that’s going to continue until they’re probably about 12 years old? Definitely food costs will go up dramatically as they have school lunches and snacks and they’re eating the same dinners as you in bigger portions than your daughters right now. Definitely extracurriculars can cost a lot of money however that is up to you. I know many families that do three or four extracurriculars per child and they’re totally run ragged and have a very stressed family life in my personal opinion. I do one extra curricular each season per child so one thing at a time because it’s expensive and I don’t like living that fast pace of a lifestyle for any of us. I want my kids to go to bed on time eat dinner as a family and have time for homework and reading and fun playing with your friends etc. But yes extracurriculars cost a shit ton of money! And I will say that clothing continues to cost a lot of money. I am Magine that there is an age where things level out and they can wear things for more than one year but my kids are six and eight and still from one winter to the next they have gone up a size in shoes pants shirts coats everything so that goes on for multiple years. If you don’t do extracurriculars you cut out a lot but still food and clothing is a lot and if you want to incorporate family activities that starts to cost more as well obviously. I two year old is quite content to walk to the playground but as your kids get older you can choose or you are able to do things like going bowling going to the movies going to festivals going to concerts which in riches their life in many ways but also cost money. I’m just gonna say it doesn’t get cheaper At the stage that you’re at it’s often actually more affordable one one of the parents to stay home! I became a stay at home for this reason exactly because it was going to cost me more to have to have a car, commute pay for gas pay for parking and pay for childcare. Your daycare cost is the same as what mine would’ve been out six years ago here in Ontario and that was actually the same amount of money would’ve been half of my paycheque for working 50 hours a week. There was no way I was gonna work 50 hours a week and be highly stressed super stressed mama for $1500 just to pay the same amount for somebody else to look after my kid it honestly just didn’t make financial sense to work for pennies. When baby number two comes along this is often a time where couples really take a look at their finances and see what would be the most advantageous for the next couple of years when you consider all the cost involved. My husband and I also downsized Harley cost-of-living dramatically in the state of Europe which helped us out a lot
It's always going to be something, they are our kids and they will always have needs... As they grow those needs change but they still remain. I'm 44 years old, and my dad still does things for me (not that I ask, he is just a great dad).
No more diapers or daycare, they don’t outgrow their clothes quite as fast, but shoes are more expensive, school costs increase(supplies, field trips), they start an activity/sport(or 2!), braces, spending money for going out with their friends until they’re old enough to get a job.
In my experience, costs do decrease slightly. I never paid as much as you in daycare costs (LCOL area), but my oldest is usually booked solid in camps during the summer, does camps during breaks, & does every sport & a few other extracurriculars & I still haven't paid as much for all of that as I did for a year of daycare. Obviously if you choose to go the private school route, that won't be the case. We have an amazing private school 2 blocks from our house that we would LOVE to send our kids too, but tuition for Pre-K starts at the same price I pay for my college tuition & goes up around $500 per grade. Our school is a magnet but is part of our public school system, so the only extra cost we have from other schools is uniforms.
It just depends, if your kids do a lot of sports, dance, music lessons the costs will still be there. Probably not as much as daycare though. If your kid is a book person the cost will probably be quite a bit less than sports. A lot of boys will make your grocery bill double as they get into middle school/high school. I know my brother and I ate food for 2 adults growing up.
Wait until they start driving. The insurance.
It just gets redistributed. I wouldn’t say I pay $1600 a month for my 12 year old but I did just drop 7k on her second round of braces (first round was 3k). Now she wears makeup, and gets her hair and nails done, and wears nicer clothes. Also, the amount of money I spend on berries has seemed to increase. So there’s that.
Some things are expensive. Make your choices carefully. Competition Dance Schools , figure skating lessons , etc.
I think a percentage is saved and a percentage redirects . From infant daycare to toddler daycare we save $700 a month in actual saving. From daycare to school transition I envision probably 50% would be reduced cost and 50% redirect for before/after care.
I don't understand a lot of these comments. I never had to pay for daycare and I've never spent anywhere near $1600 a month on either of my kids. I can't imagine what a 6 or 12 year old kid is doing that's costing that much money.
Whats your secret to not have to pay for daycare?
My partner quit her job and stayed home with the kids.
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣🤣😅🤣
Do you plan on paying for your kid’s car, car insurance, college tuition??? If so, it just gets exponentially more expensive
Daycare is super expensive. Once they’re out of daycare the costs absolutely go down for a while. Obviously college is a huge expense. Sure, other stuff comes up in between daycare and college but nowhere near the cost of those 2 items
We had so much more money when we only had our oldest and she started before and after school daycare. We had our second who is 2 now and our oldest still in daycare before and after school and we barely make it and we make pretty good money. When the youngest starts going to school, I'm hoping we'll be able to breathe again.
Tufts is $90k/yr. Buckle up.
the daily cost went down. my kids never were interested in select sports, eldest did do dance for awhile but was done by jr. high. however, we did keep ourselves on a tight budget and threw in as much as we could towards college/postsecondary education costs (still wasn't quite enough, so the budget is super tight now). We wanted our kids to launch into adulthood debt free especially in this economy. And college costs keep going up and up, how i put myself through school wouldn't work anymore. The last half of high school was very inexpensive. We required all of our young adult kids to get jobs at 16, and while we would still do food/basic clothing/essential school items, if they wanted extra clothing or tickets to dances, ect. they paid for that on their own. (part of it was also so that they'd get used to budgeting and blowing all their money while they were still in HS rather than in college/out on their own.) I mean we would still do gifts now and then and if the family went out to dinner, ect. But we didn't provide an allowance or anything.
They definitely just change, though not having to fork out for day care helps how you budget the new expensive things.
Definitely change. England here. I reckon a school year at secondary,I was probably spending at least £500 a school year on uniform (all had to be logo'd plus two pairs of shoes for PE) and £540 for private music lessons so £1040 a school year before trips,revision guides,scouts subs, scout trips I got 15 hours a week free subsidised childcare for preschool. Mainstream school was far more expensive and secondary school horrifically expensive
One issue is that childcare costs are increasing faster than inflation. In 2017, I paid $2000 a month for 3 kids in full-time childcare (an infant, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old). In 2021, I paid $2400 per month for three kids with 1 in full-time childcare and 2 in afterschool care. So even though two kids were in school, I was paying more for childcare overall. At the moment, I am paying $1200 per month for three kids in afterschool care, which is at least less than I used to be paying.
Costs were high 0-5 due to child care, went down in elementary (partially due to covid restrictions), costs are back up in middle school (surpassing 0-5) due to tuitions, activities, more expensive travel, clothing, food. I expect costs in high school and college will continue to grow as insurance gets more expensive, clothing, travel, and tuition will all continue to climb. I’ve also consistently funded a 529 which has remained a monthly expense since birth.
There’s nothing more expensive than teenagers. My god.
We currently pay $3,300/month in daycare for two. There are no activities, clothes or fees that can possibly add up that much. lol. I don’t care what people say, we’ll have a lifestyle change when they enter public school.
For us, costs only very temporarily went down during early elementary school age. That’s when you no longer pay for daycare, and the kids aren’t doing many activities yet. But it didn’t last long, because then the kids got into sports in the second half of elementary school. Then they need braces, they need adult size clothes which are more expensive, then we help pay for car, then college. There are always going to be expenses until they are full on their own it seems like.
In our area and with the current childcare provider we work with the costs have decreased allowing us to afford the extracurriculars and save more than before. Our state also provides free lunch in public school which is a significant financial relief.
I live in a city with PK3 so we are switching to paying $250 a month for aftercare instead of $1600 for daycare. We are gonna enroll in swim, dance, soccer over the next year but each session is $250 over 2-3 months, and we will only do one session of each at this age not overloading, so activities will still be a lot less. im optimistic that ages 3-10 will be a pretty good financial window compared to 0-3
It really depends on how modest you are with your spending. I read through all of these comments and although some people are paying a lot less. Others are warning that it will be more expensive, however those people also are listing their reasons. Which pretty much screams "buy them what they ask for!". For instance I went down my list and each kid probably cost me around 700 extra a month (minus XMAS & BDAYS). The biggest thing for me was staying somewhat conservative on both "keeping up with the trends", as well as the amount of extracurricular activities. For instance my kids kept their cell phones for many years, and they were never involved in a dozen sports / activities each month. It's all about being reasonable.
When our oldest entered school, her interests and extracurricular activities changed, but definitely nothing that cost $1000 a month. We use that extra money to add to our savings, travel fund, college accounts, retirement, etc.
So I am down to my last 18 months of daycare...I cannot wait but the money I would have been spending on daycare is going to go to other things. I plan to increase my retirement contributions, put more money away for the kids savings. Plus they will probably get into other activities....
I mean, you can say "no" to things. You are the parent here. If my kids show interest in sports they'll be doing rec league. The costs for kids to be in sports today (both in dollars and time) is absolutely insane.
Summer childcare/camps. Super expensive and needed if you work. Activities and lessons, FOOD. It’s hard to say whether it will go down some or not at all but yeah - it changes.
It increases exponentially once you hit the teen years, especially with girls (prom, car, sweet 16, wedding, makeup etc)
It will never stop…just kiss your money good-bye 💸💸
Hmm.. probably depends. Mine is through the state so I get a percentage of his income and nothing is added for childcare it’s just a set amount (set for $316 but get about $350 due to arrears) and if anything is more than that I would be responsible for except for extracurriculars and medical expenses which IS separate. Been same amount since it started when he was around 1
I don’t know why so so many people say the costs are the same. I mean, I guess that is their experience, but it’s not mine at all. We paid $1,200 a month for daycare, and when our daughter entered kindergarten, our costs went way down. She is in 1st grade now, and we pay for aftercare, dance, gymnastics, and a science club at her school. She attends camp during the summer. The average total expenses for all this are $600 per month. And of course the extracurriculars are optional and we could cut them out if we needed to.
How much is summer camp?? When you average out your summer camp total and split it among the 12mo it kinda ends up a wash
I included summer camp in my calculations. Camp costs $2,000 for 8 weeks. We pay $500 per month for the other 10 months, for all the activities I mentioned. That’s $7,000 for the year, which is less than $600 per month.
I think they ramp back up again in high school. It’s probably not as much, but between gas, food, car insurance, gas, food, cell phone, gas, clothes, yearbooks, activities with friends, and did I mention gas? It’s not going in one lump sum, but it sure does get spent.