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We've been very fortunate in having friends with older children... some of the clothes received had never been worn and another co-worker was moving and had the nicest baby furniture free for the asking.
I may have a $600 stroller... it doesn't mean I paid $600... just like about 90% of the clothes in the closet are gifts/hand me downs... even Halloween Costumes... same for toys.
The one that was done with babies and gave away the furniture found herself unexpectedly pregnant and after 3 years got the baby furniture all back.
Maybe we need a thread on money saving ideas when raising kids?
The biggest cost without a doubt is not needing daycare... as mentioned my brother and his wife paid $2000 a month for about 7 years in daycare... that's $168,000
It's about 50/50 when it comes to medical... some of top notch care through their Union and others don't...
Why didn't you include the additional information? You posted like it was a solution for impoverished children gaining access to the internet, when it doesn't help the truly impoverished. I didn't google it. My girlfriend tried to qualify for this service when she lost her child support last year. It's not as easy to get as it sounds. And many families above poverty level, like my girlfriend, don't have two pennies to rub together. The reality is that teachers do make accommodations for students who don't have internet. Internet service is not mandated for students who live in civilization.
You're making a lot of assumptions about my intentions with zero facts aren't you? Of course teachers make accommodations, who said they didn't? You forget I actually have children currently in public school.
Why didn't you include the additional information? You posted like it was a solution for impoverished children gaining access to the internet, when it doesn't help the truly impoverished. I didn't google it. My girlfriend tried to qualify for this service when she lost her child support last year. It's not as easy to get as it sounds. And many families above poverty level, like my girlfriend, don't have two pennies to rub together. The reality is that teachers do make accommodations for students who don't have internet. Internet service is not mandated for students who live in civilization.
I'm aware. There are families that can't afford $150 for a computer or even $10/month. For example, 31.3% of Philadelphia's children under the age of 18 live below the poverty line. Comcast bases its qualification on the free and reduced lunch program, which Pennsylvania calculates at 130% and 185% above the poverty level. Those are the parents who are more likely to have the money to take advantage of the subsidy, not the majority of the 31.1% of the children who are actually living below the poverty line.
This is a social issue, many single parent families stuck in this cyclical mess. The government especially at the local level don't have the resources to help people get out of poverty. The cheapest route is to offer food stamps and a welfare check just to get by. They need social assistance to help guide them out of poverty and dependence on welfare programs.
You see immigrants with children come to America with nothing and they don't stay below poverty for as long as some Americans here. Once they find ways to make money they are off poverty fast.
^^^Pretty much my experience managing rental properties...
Some families have 3 or more generations on assistance and others arrive with nothing and limited language and 20 years later their kids are Engineers and Doctors...
I did work for a Doctor that was born in Vietnam... he and his 4 brothers all are Doctors... it was their parents wish and that is what they did to honor them... his sister is the black sheep of the family because she became a Dentist...
Let's try to return back to the original topic. Are you finding having kids to be very expensive. I'm referring to kids under the age of 18.
If you'd like to discuss side topics, please start appropriate threads.
Thanks
I guess my question back to you is: Where did you get the idea that kids were cheap?
You can spend as much or as little money on kids as you want. If disposable diapers are too expensive, use cloth ones and wash a lot. Breastfeed instead of formula, if you can. Babies don't need a zillion toys, designer clothes or $500 carriages. They don't need adorable baby furniture -- buy furniture with an eye towards use as the child grows older.
As they get older, you can choose sports at the local Y instead of club sports -- or no sports at all. You can shop consignment shops for clothing. You can refuse to go to fast food restaurants, or only go to restaurants where "kids eat free" on certain nights.
Most libraries have access to internet -- not necessarily convenient, but it IS there if kids need access.
That is $240,000 per kid so with the two you are already at $480,000. That is to age 18 and does not include expensive presents, or education expenses other than the local school tax. This is according to the government statistics. My personal experience with my child supports their data.
There is an old saying "the baby brings the bread"
many a married man with no kids and a working wife finds each kid brings salary increases and when wife stays home even more so. Once the rock and boulder is on a mans back he often takes his career seriously and his bosses start to respect him.
Do you find that having children is expensive in your family?
I have 1 kid and 1 on the way. It seems expensive to me. Between clothes, formula, diapers, and childcare for 2 kids, kids are definitely the #1 or #2 expense in our family, only competing against a mortgage payment for our house.
I think it is worth it.
Just wondering what others find with their kids...not wondering specific numbers, more along the lines of "yeah, they're expensive" or "boy, they hardly cost me anything".
I like kids, I LOVE my nieces and nephews and can't imagine life without them. But with that said, me and my siblings grew up poor and I told my young self years ago that I was not having kids because I did not want to fall victim to the financial trappings my parents experienced. I wanted to travel and be free and not worry about feeding, clothing, sheltering my child in the future. Raising kids is hard and expensive and I work very hard and I want to enjoy the fruits of my labors, on ME.
On several occasions in my adult life in recent memory, I have been laid off from work and I thank God I didn't have anyone else DEPENDING on me to care for them - I had my own worries and concerns.
So yes, it's expensive to raise kids and to those who know this and still want kids, good luck and more power to you.
It's really not the diapers or the formula that add up a lot. It's daycare. But it's not just daycare.
For example, I'd like to take spouse on a date for a date night. It'd cost about $30 or $40 for a sitter in our area ($10/hr for 3-4 hours).
Tickets to ballgames. No discounts for kids. So for 4 of us to go to a ballgame, we'll looking right about $100. $50 for Mom and Dad, $50 for the kids. Not much more expensive than leaving them at home.
Ice skating rinks - add about $10 per kid to go including rentals and skate time. So a family of 4 we're looking at $40 for a couple hours time.
Skiing. Don't get me started there. $320 for a set of six lessons + $50 for gear rental + $50 for lift tickets.
Any one of these things isn't too bad. But it seems like every month there is something new. I didn't drop cash like this (but still did lots of stuff) as a kid because I grew up in an area where a lot of stuff is free. I don't live there today and where I live is more expensive.
It's a bit frustrating.
You didn't define " a lot of money".
These activities ^^ are expensive. So yeah. So are diapers but you CAN use cloth and wash yourself like back in the day.
But in a previous thread you also indicated that you tend to chose activities that YOU prefer.
My kid could NEVER sit through a ball game at your kids' ages. They're YOUNG, right?
You can do ALL of the above activities for free. They just won't be pro teams, formal "rinks" or ski slopes.
I do have to laugh that someone who can't ski decides to do so when they have little kids, then needs to pay for LESSONS. In my circle of friends, one dad taught us all how to ski. In his back yard. 5 acres.
He taught my kid how to drive at age 9 back there in an old beat up Subaru. He taught him how to shoot a BB gun there, too.
They played paintball and made up skits pretending to be Bill and Hillary and Secret Service
We took swimming lessons at the Y dirt cheap. Then I had my little kid's friends come take more lessons at my house with their parents there. THAT's an entire SUMMER of "busy".
What's wrong with ping pong?
I stuck to things I KNEW about or that a friend could teach my kid. His father was European so he coached the soccer with other parents. And we certainly didn't PAY to do them WEEKLY so you're living "extravagantly" IMO. ie going to see the Harlem Globe Trotters was a BIRTHDAY experience. Otherwise they played on the community intramural or school team or IN THE YARD. My kid and his friends played every season sport. Baseball, soccer,basketball and in my kid's case hockey. That one WAS expensive but he didn't start till 5th grade and I wasn't spending much on the other sports only hockey equipment and goalie camps.
Perhaps when your kids get older they'll have friends that they do activities with like my kid did so the cost for the PARENTS to also attend disappears.
In MY community we have after school care for $35.00 per semester in the community center which also has a pool and other activities like baseball, basketball etc. AND homework supervision and help.
IMO if you're spending this kind of money on LITTLE KIDS, you're really in for it later in life. Especially if you're doing it alone in your family unit of four.
I never spent a DIME on babysitters. My circle of friends rotated kids every weekend on sleepovers. The kids loved it and so did the parents and we knew each other very intimately from hanging out together every weekend and trusted each other AND treated each others kids like our own. I don't think I had a single weekend between ages 6 and 16 where my kid wasn't at someone's house or vice versa.
Maybe tap the brakes on all this stuff and get more involved in your community which comes in really handy AND teaches the kids stuff, too.
Last edited by runswithscissors; 10-01-2014 at 01:39 PM..
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You posted like it was a solution for impoverished children gaining access to the internet, when it doesn't help the truly impoverished. I didn't google it. My girlfriend tried to qualify for this service when she lost her child support last year. It's not as easy to get as it sounds. And many families above poverty level, like my girlfriend, don't have two pennies to rub together. The reality is that teachers do make accommodations for students who don't have internet. Internet service is not mandated for students who live in civilization.
