Costs of having a child

kathrynha

transistor wrote: »

Well I saw an article along those lines, but £60,000 of that was childcare and probably a portion (lets say 2000) of it was mortgage interest (which is not going to be an issue for us for at least 10 years).

So that brings it down to £6556 a year, still quite a lot. But this is an average, and I am sure the average person spends more than necessary. Give me some standard deviations and then I can work with this number :P

Some people must spend stupid amounts if thats the average!

Some of it's how you define what is normal household costs and what is extra child caused. We would have same house (had it pre-child) and a similar car whether we had her or not, and would have similar holidays (camping) whether we had her or not, and camping prices aren't as effected by peak/off peak prices as other holidays.

I reckon she costs us about £5000 a year "extra"
Christmas/birthday inc party, santa visit, etc - £800
Clothes and shoes - £400
School uniform - £100
Food inc school dinners - £1000
Brownies inc trips - £150
Swimming - £250
Football - £100
Childcare - £1100
School trips - £100
Fun activities - £500
Extras I can't think of at the moment - £500

But the fun activities we would do other (probably more expensive) things we didn't have her.
If I wasn't taking her to Brownies, football, swimming, etc I would probably have a gym membership.

Since having her we have spent less money on ourselves, so it does balance out a bit.

LandyAndy

While it is good to be prepared, the more you investigate the cost the more you realise you will never be able to afford it.;)


Eventually you just have to go for it.:D

quantumleap

Ths reality is, if you are breaking this down to a purely cost related decision then you may never feel able to have kids. For me, you have children because you want them, you want to be parents and to experience everything it brings. Of course you need to ensure you are financially able to provide for your child(ren) but I would suggest that as long as you are not struggling badly then you will find a way.

LilElvis

The computer room will become a playroom, unless you want to watch nothing but CBeebies and trip over toys every time you move. We've got a house which, though large, is very open plan and its driving us nuts with all of our four year olds clutter. We've decided to build an extension to give her a play/study room and a bigger, more family style kitchen.

Some costs, such as activities and childcare, will vary hugely depending on whereabouts you live in the country.

supermassive

From experience of ill-financially-equipped relatives having babies, I'd recommend saving like you'd save for a mortgage before conception, and afterwards, too.

As for the clothing issue - it's great if you know people with children slightly older, because all the hand-me-downs will be free/cheap and plentiful.

It's an expensive job, but not every child needs paid-for activities. My mother had a hands-off-parenting-hands-on-remote-control attitude as we were growing up. I was the youngest by 4 years so was pretty much out of the loop from the older 2 and thus being almost an only child. Activities were in great supply - from playing in the woods at all kinds of things, or just going to the local park and taking the neighbours dogs for a walk.

There's so much free stuff. The pressure put on modern day parents to be paying for all activities like some kind of pushy super parent is ridiculous and unrequired.

Errata

Some people must spend stupid amounts if thats the average!

£10 a week on nappies when terry ones can be hand and machine washed for pence per week sounds fairly dim.

wendz86

I would say the main costs are childcare if you / your partner works and loss of earning if someone goes part time.

I haven't found our food bill has gone up, we probably eat out less so that helps. She has eaten everything we do since she was about a year old.

Clothes and things aren't too bad. Supermarkets do a lot of money off events etc. Shoes are probably more expensive if you want proper fitting ones.

I can imagine as they get older clubs etc get more expensive but then you are paying less out for childcare. We currently pay about £70 a term for our 3 year old to do gymnastics.

Definitely can vary a lot.

kathrynha

Errata wrote: »

£10 a week on nappies when terry ones can be hand and machine washed for pence per week sounds fairly dim.

When you're only having one child the cost comparison between disposables and reusables isn't much difference, and not sure where you get "washed for pence per week" from, my friends electric bill went up by more than £25 a month. If you have multiple kids then reusables are definitely cheaper as you only have the initial outlay once.

£10 is obviously a rounded off figure to give the OP some idea of the cost, I can't remember the exact amount, just remember that child benefit used to cover formula and nappies

supermassive

kathrynha wrote: »

When you're only having one child the cost comparison between disposables and reusables isn't much difference, and not sure where you get "washed for pence per week" from, my friends electric bill went up by more than £25 a month. If you have multiple kids then reusables are definitely cheaper as you only have the initial outlay once.

£10 is obviously a rounded off figure to give the OP some idea of the cost, I can't remember the exact amount, just remember that child benefit used to cover formula and nappies

The increase in electricity bill is because of poor management of facilities, not because of difference between reusables and disposables.

gayleygoo

When my first child was born 7 years ago, people often commented on how expensive it must be to have a new baby. OH and I didn't agree - we had more money than ever before! Although this was because he only got minimum wage and my maternity pay of £80 (more than I'd usually earned in my 4hrs a week contracted job), so tax credits and child benefit was a bonus really. Our baby cost us very little since I breastfed, used cloth nappies I'd saved for and we had very little else to buy. But then we were lucky and had many things given or lent to us, and the relatives fell over themselves buying clothes and other stuff.

There are various costs of child raising, which other posters have talked about, so I won't go into detail on everything, but you can save money on most of them. Many you will probably just figure out as you go through the journey of parenting.

Maternity clothes - bigger sizes can work well, but you will also feel better to wear some well-fitting clothes as least some of the time during your pregnancy. They can be expensive to buy full price band new, but you get so much wear out of them they can end up good value. You may be able to get them second hand from charity shops or friends, or if you are handy with a sewing machine you can alter old clothes (or charity shop bought stuff) to suit a growing belly. Yoga trousers and elasticated waist trousers are a staple of my pregnancy wardrobe, and often cheaper than "maternity" stuff. A bigger cost for me is nursing bras, which are an essential if you are BFing.

A car is really only a child-related cost if you didn't think you'd get one otherwise. If you can walk to a local school or childcare place then you shouldn't need to change how you already travel anywhere else. It is handy for having holidays, trips out (especially if your town is as boring as mine is), getting to activities or further away playparks, going to A&E for the various falls and concerns that don't require an actual ambulance etc.

In any case, if you and your partner want to have children then please don't let money stand in your way. Yes, be financially stable as best you can, but if you are not actually struggling now then you will probably be fine. You will make do. Life will throw things at you whether you are rich or poor and have children or not. If you don't have children then you may be able to afford a more material life for yourselves, but it depends on what you and your partner want out of life. Children will cost money but the experience is worth every penny! And they will be fine without expensive things because a loving family is more important than how much you earn.