Financial cost of kids, marriage and pets?

CharllieSays

My partner and I were having a long discussion the other day about the cost of things like children, pets and marriage. Obviously there are much cheaper ways to go about getting married, bringing up children and looking after pets, but does anyone know the average cost of these (i.e total cost of children 0-21yrs, average total cost of a dog or cat for example, and cost of wedding/honeymoon) today?

*Apologies if this is the wrong forum to post, but I figured it ticked the 'family' and 'marriage' boxes, at least.

balletshoes

suffice to say, if you counted the ongoing costs of all those things up, you wouldn't do/have any of them .

thriftylass

You make it cost what you can afford.

If I tell you a child costs 220000 till they are 21 what does that tell you? Plus it might not be right, it depends on child care costs, do they need new/2nd hand clothes, do you cook from scratch or eat ready meals and so on.

It's really hard to put a figure on. We for instance have a two year old that costs us not much extra in food (eats what we eat, cook from scratch), maybe £20 in nappies, all his clothes are hand me downs, but he costs £1000 a month in nursery fees because I work full time. Same with weddings. We'll get married next year. You could do it for £500 or 50000, we aim for maybe £5000. We have a cat that cost us £15 in insurance and maybe £20 in food and litter a month. Again I could buy premium food and litter and pay three times as much.

[Deleted User]

Lots and lots, it's all horses for courses and dependant on your 'quality standards'.

In general, the answer is - 'lots'

I'm not sure you can put a value on 'lost sleep' either

Alikay

According to the Telegraph, a child costs £222k, but I think ours have cost significantly less than that. Still a few grand, though, and that's without public school education and cello lessons . Certain lifestyles will affect how costly children are....some options apparently making childbearing a proper little goldmine!:p

Marriage, I estimate, must be near-enough free (though I have divorced friends who'd scream otherwise!). Perhaps a few hundred pounds for rings, a white frock and a bit of a do up the community centre, easily offset by the cash saved on running one home instead of two for 50-odd years.

Pets must be the biggest variable: A couple of horses, pedigree dogs, exotic stuff like snakes and iguanas will obviously cost more than a goldfish won for 50p at a fairground. The longer they live and the sicklier they are, the higher the cost. My cat's a bit of a bargain - reckon she's all-in for about £250 a year, and I get mouse-control thrown in .

~Beanie~

Re the pets, I've got a cat and he costs me roughly £500pa for food/litter/treats. Then you've got c£150 per year for insurance, £50ish is for vaccinations/boosters. That lot comes to £700 per year.

Then you've got the cost of spaying/neutering, any medicines, cat toys, bedding etc etc

My cat is 10 almost so I reckon he must have cost me nearly £10K so far, but he's worth every penny.

Doozergirl

Well, for us, it started off pretty manageable and has increased exponentially from there. I worked out, when DS was born, that he cost about £12 a week. We lived in a small flat, had two cats and our fuel bills were less than £50 a month.

Now, we have a four bed house, two children and two dogs. He's 13, eats like a grown athlete and goes to private school. I drive 40 miles a day in school runs. Our monthly financial commitments shock me. I've resigned myself to the fact that things will be this hard for another five years and that we will work hard to stand still and then, hopefully, the bills will start to fall again!

The dogs, with insurance, vet plans and food cost in excess of £100 a month by themselves.

But it definitely starts manageable

Upsidedown_Bear

"The average lifespan of a dog is 13 years and the typical expense adds up to £16,862
The average lifespan of a cat is 15 years and the typical expense adds up to £17,173
Figures on the Rabbit Rehome website show the average life span of a rabbit is 10 years and the typical expense is £5,180."

From Payplan in 2012:
http://news.payplan.com/2012/06/20/the-true-cost-of-owning-a-pet/

There_Goes_Trouble

One thing re pets, they get more expensive as they get older so whatever figures you work out now, leave extra for that.

Alpha58

Get a cat. If you start to work out how much kids cost you'll never do it! (and that's before they start demanding money, smart phones, shoes...)

Soleil_lune

CharllieSays wrote: »

My partner and I were having a long discussion the other day about the cost of things like children, pets and marriage. Obviously there are much cheaper ways to go about getting married, bringing up children and looking after pets, but does anyone know the average cost of these (i.e total cost of children 0-21yrs, average total cost of a dog or cat for example, and cost of wedding/honeymoon) today?

*Apologies if this is the wrong forum to post, but I figured it ticked the 'family' and 'marriage' boxes, at least.

I would say 'how long is a piece of string...?'