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Excuse me? What a presumptuous statement from someone who only has a 3 year old.
Since I have a 3 year old in daycare, I know how much it costs.
$20k might be the DC rate. I admittedly don't know the San Diego rate but it can't be much worse than where I live. I think $17k a year should be fine.
My kid attends the highest cost daycare in my area. I do know a thing or two about this.
Kibblekat, you didn't put specifics on the cost of daycare. The rest of your numbers look fine.
Would you believe that in rural areas the daycare that costs $20k a year in DC only costs $7k a year in rural parts of the country? Unbelievable.
Since I have a 3 year old in daycare, I know how much it costs.
$20k might be the DC rate. I admittedly don't know the San Diego rate but it can't be much worse than where I live. I think $17k a year should be fine.
My kid attends the highest cost daycare in my area. I do know a thing or two about this.
Kibblekat, you didn't put specifics on the cost of daycare. The rest of your numbers look fine.
Would you believe that in rural areas the daycare that costs $20k a year in DC only costs $7k a year in rural parts of the country? Unbelievable.
Ever think that your "DC rate" might be lower because there are more day care centers there?? Cheep daycare here is about $17,000/year at a day care center....DC isn't even top 10 nationally for day care costs..
We raised 6 on military pay and did not even MAKE enough pre-taxed if those rates really do apply...so don't get too hung up on it, but do be mindful that they are NOT cheap.
I think your best advice is to ask friends who have small kids right now about daycare/diaper/necessities costs these days (as I know they have changed considerably since my kiddos were little). Back in the day, daycare for a toddler was $50 per week!
Do a lot of research for pricing in your area. Get a good solid baseline of what the needed cost will be, and then try and factor in some of the "extra" costs like sports, extra curricular stuff, etc.
Once you've got it all added up, double it. That will probably be more accurate in real world numbers.
Once the kids reach the age of active conscious appreciation of the world (it's subjective, but say, 8-9 years old), this is when I find it gets more expensive. When you start expanding their world. Trips, attractions, museums, theatre, cinema, day camps, weekly camps. Look at the modern entrance fees and collaterals (getting to/from, meals) and multiply. It's the multiplication that turns every otherwise innocent trip idea into budget-blowing outings. Like paying for a school group that never quits. That's beyond the year-round sport/music classes.
And summer/spring/Christmas breaks. $200 a week camps. 2 kids - that's of course $400 a week. 3 kids... Multiplication!
Well, aside from all the basic baby expenses of food, diapers, bottles, etc, which really isn't that much unless you are really struggling, most of the significant expenses will be school and childcare related. There is clothing, but of course you can choose how frugal you want to be with that - if you do all new clothes, then you need minimum about five new outfits and one pair of shoes, plus outerwear, just about twice a year. Childcare is what kills me - you can't just look at some random daycare price and think that's it. Many daycares only do certain hours, have waiting lists, etc. The biggest problem for me is hours outside of that care, when he sick or they are closed. We only do preschool, not full daycare, so there are a lot of them. Also babysitting hours in the evening or on weekends, if I need to do something. Babysitters make almost as much as I do. Summers are bad because there is no preschool and instead my area has "camps," where you pay by the week and it's 4 times as much as during the year but for fewer hours. The next big expense is extra activities - swimming lesson, soccer teams, karate, gymnastics, etc. We do one or two things per session, and probably pay about 1-200 for 10 weeks, give or take. All optional, of course, and part of our expenses are related to the area we live in and the way people tend to live here. How I wish we could just be the kind of people who play with the neighbors - often I wonder what the purpose of the big house and nice yard are, since we never use them because we're never home. But then, neither are the neighbors. Finally, there are some medical expenses, but with insurance it's not much, and of course college savings.
Ever think that your "DC rate" might be lower because there are more day care centers there?? Cheep daycare here is about $17,000/year at a day care center....DC isn't even top 10 nationally for day care costs..
Our kids are in college and beyond--daycare is the least of your worries....
If you read that you would have seen that childcare in DC is actually more expensive then any of the other 50 states. It's unique in that there can be a huge disparity in incomes in DC. DC wasn't included in those rankings. I wasn't actually talking about DC though. I was talking about the DC area.
You're right in that college will be way more expensive but the OP didn't ask that.
That site said in the west people spend more money in real estate costs and next is childcare at almost 18k.
I returned to the Charlotte area and the place where I send my daughter for preschool wanted $1640 for 10 weeks for summer camp. That rate was because I already had a child enrolled. If I didn't it would have been $1690 and that would be for a 5 and 6 year old. That also doesn't include the extra $150 fee for both kids because it's summer. My son would get to go on 10 field trips but my daughter would be lucky to go on two.
Last edited by Riley09swb; 03-30-2014 at 09:04 AM..
Folks, I'm not sure where your numbers come from but they're wrong.
Expensive daycare in the city can run about $18,000 when their infants. But this particular child won't be in daycare as an infant, so it probably will only be about $16k for the first year and drop by about $2k after that. If you live in a rural area, daycare is about half that cost.
Other than that, college of course is the big one. I made the decision to set aside 100% of what we needed before our child was born, so her college fund is taken care of. You're far ahead if you can save up today for that rather than waiting for later but that depends on large part on your budget.
Formula and diapers will be expensive if you need formula and use disposable (formula is about $200/month, highly recommend Costco for both diapers and formula because they are way cheaper there). You'll save a lot by feeding naturally.
You'll need some for clothes and a little for toys. We don't spend much in toys - we figure that we send her to a quality daycare and she gets plenty of entertainment there. Weekends we do non-toy activities.
Right now at age 3 it's not very expensive. We'll see later how much prices climb.
Everyone's numbers are probably right -- their numbers include their choices but you're also right, it doesn't have to be that high. I know a military couple who found a SAHM to babysit their infant for $500 a month which would only be $6000 a year. But an exclusive day care center could be the sky's the limit.
If your child likes equestrian sports, it's a huge difference between a backyard horse and 4H and an elite equestrian center. Kids can survive without summer camps, parents can take them camping and hiking themselves for a whole lot cheaper. A trip to Disneyland could run in the thousands of dollars, but a trip to the Grand Canyon and staying in a tent could be almost only the cost of gas or bus tickets.
We dropped $300 on a convertible car seat that goes from birth to 70 lbs. We spent about $200 on cloth diapers when the baby was born, and never another penny on diapers since then. We got hand me downs for clothes and pick up the rest of the future clothes inexpensively at the end of whatever season (eg. buy next years swimsuits at the end of this summer when things are marked down). We take one paid mommy and me sort of class and do free programs at the library. We do a babysitting exchange co-op with a few other families in the neighborhood whenever we need a night out.
Also, expensive things like children's museums passes can often be checked out free or at a reduced price from the library.
Besides birthdays and Christmas, I would wager to say that my kid costs less than $300 per year. We breastfed, so no expensive formulas. We did baby-led weaning, so no baby food in jars or purees. Still a toddler though, so I'm sure more food will be consumed as she grows, but I don't anticipate a huge increase in our food budget since we don't buy a lot of processed things. We don't plan on pre-school or day care, so that won't be a factor. Kids can be as cheap or as expensive as you allow them to be. Don't let people scare you.
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