About how money do you need to have a baby?

Question

My husband and I are doing well financially in our eyes, but as we approach our time to conceive, we want to make sure we are well prepared. Is there any guideline or personal story to help us relax a bit... we are so excited, and we just want to make sure we're all set to start this journey ... thanks!

Answer 1

I am a single mom, full time student (living on student loans), no child support and no family nearby... if I can pull it off.. you can:) We do very well. I have never done welfare (always worked, right up till I started school). No subsidized anything. You spend what you have... and you never do without for very long, if at all. It is exciting.. congradualtions... .dont' worry aobut money.. it always works out

Answer 2

Well, I usually tell people that ask this to go price things out. Find a list of things you will need, then go price them at the store. Even for diapers. Then times out the number of diapers you will need, and usually a baby goes through anywhere from 12-16 diapers a day at first. Also price out formula and clothing. Then check with your insurance, or look up online, how much they pay for pregnancy, prenatal visits and delivery. Also check to see what it will be in case there is an emergency (there usually never is, but if there is, at least you know what to expect financially). Also, if you have a pediatrician in mind, call and find out if they take the insurance you have and see how much they will charge for all the well baby checks and immunizations. You can also call the OB you want and check with them.

There really isn't a set amount to having kids. They are expensive though. For us, it can be anywhere from $17.00/week or so for diapers (we have 2 in diapers so we buy about a case a week).

If you breastfeed, that will cut down the cost. You won't have to pay for formula, so that can really cut costs. Also, if you want to use cloth diapers instead of disposable, they have services you can use that can be cheaper then buying diapers.

Just look at all your options and figure out what would work the best for you, and you can get a rough estimate.

I forgot to add that for our first one, who was born early, ended up in the NICU for a month, me on bedrest and in the hospital for 3 days, the extra appointments and medication for me before she was born, it was close to $400,000.00 by the time we brought her home from the hospital. Luckily, we had really good insurance and didn't pay a dime for her!!

Answer 3

Well, you have to look at the routine expense as well as the initial expense.

Initially, you'll need big stuff like the crib, furniture, bottles, etc, etc, etc. How much you spend all depends on your tastes, how generous or large your family is, things like that. You're probably looking at somewhere between $1K if you're extrememly thrifty to $3K if you're a fairly moderate person who would shop at Target or Babies R Us. But it's easy to go overboard when you're excited...

Also, you have to look at your insurance and see what kind of coverage you have. When I got pregnant with my daughter my husband had awful coverage, it was going to end up costing us about $3K to have the baby. We had to pay 20% of everything, plus a $500 deductible for me and for the baby, etc. He changed jobs while I was pregnant and we ended up paying $10!

In terms of routine expenses...will you need daycare? In the northeast you're looking approximately $800-$1300/month, give or take. More for a center, less for in-home. If you use formula, figure about $100/month if you use name-brand powder, $250/month if you use ready-to-feed. Generic can be a bit less, if you need hypoallergenic formula it can run $250+/month for the powder. I got a massive amount on ebay because we need a very hard to find formula and it was half the price of the stores.

Diapers are probably $25-$50/month depending on brand and how often you need to change them.

Clothes...they need a new wardrobe every 3 months or so for the first year. They often might change sizes during a season, so you might need double the clothes. My daughter will without a doubt change from 6-9 month to 12 month sometime around mid-July to mid-August, os we need two full sets of summer clothes. Again, cost will depend on where you shop and how much you need. Mine spits up a lot and goes through 3-4 outfits a day. I get most of her stuff at the Carters outlet (around $10-12 for most outfits) or the consignment store (around $2-5 per piece).

You'll need toys, for the first couple of years they'll be changing so quickly that they go through a good bit of toys. Once they're 2-3 yrs old they'll go through toy changes a lot less quickly.

Food obviously...not a whole lot of money there.

Um.....oh, the extra expense of adding them to your health insurance, plus the copays from constantly bringing them to the dr for all the various baby viruses.

You're never really ready for the expense, but it always seems to work out. Also, keep in mind that you can increase your dependents on your taxes by 2 for each child I think. It's not a lot, but the extra money you get back would probably at least cover diapers and formula :-) And while your other expenses will go up, you'll be spending a whole lot less money on restaurants, movies, any kind of social life!

Answer 4

If the birth is covered by insurance, you are set. That being said done and over with. You will find others wanting to give you baby clothes. TAKE THEM!!! You will need every tshirt, onesies, bibs, you can get your hands on. Staying smart and thrifty financially when it comes to having a child, always good. Diapers and formula are about the biggest expense with babies. My suggest, sign up at pampers, huggies, similac, etc. Research their web sites and get on their mailing lists. You will receive all kinds of coupons which will come in handy. All the best to your hubby and you and babies journey.

Answer 5

i am 15 wks with my first.
i didnt want my kid to grow up wanting for anything even though i dont have the BEST job in the world.
so i have planned my finances obsessively. this was my formula....

add together:
including startup products for my child (crib diapers clothes, etc, but excluding gifts! we already been given a carseat! very blessed...) i got great list from my doctor that lists everything you need for a child the first few mos. i have comparison shopped and priced EVERYTHING on the list so after i have my baby shower i can just go pick up what i still need.

+

OBGYN deductible

+

what we need to cover bills for 2 mos.

=
about $2500-$3000.

i have a good start and i am being very thrifty and life usually does work out.

Answer 6

I am a mother of 2, one just 2yrs and the other 9 months. Due to the price of daycare, I am currently a stay at home mom, but am going to college at night. We confortably live off of my husband's income-which really is not a whole lot. For finacial differences I gave up my clothes shopping, and now tend to only shop for the kids and groceries, and we had to sacrifice our mini-trips that we liked to take-but traveling w/ kids is difficult anyways.
Just do what you can with what you have and everything will end up being ok.

For my 9 month old I spend in a month $35 on diapers, $65 on formula (which I purchase at a wholesale club) $38 on jar food, and $15 on wipes. You also have to keep in mind the price of clothes (I try to borrow as much as posible, for they do not wear them very long) health insurance and life insurance. (It costs about $10,000 for non-complicated birth let alone dr. visits-I would talk to your insurace company about all that.) You also have to consider college saving for college education. Another thing is daycare. Prices in my area run about $125 a week per child.
You also have to consider many other odds and ends (crib, dresser, car seat, stroller, bottles, pacifiers ect.) Many items you can find 2nd hand at consignment shops, good will and yard sales-not to mention friends.

GOOD LUCK :)

Answer 7

it takes a middle class person 100,000 plus college and extra's to raise a child. At least 5,000 a year over your living expenses per child. $10,000 after taxes if you want to have extra's and colleg ;also good family insurance in case of special needs of the children Savings and a paid for home also help give security