the cost of raising a child. (serious entries only)?

Question

Hi, i'm doing a report on the costs of children. how much it would be to raise a child from the age he/she's in the womb until their 18. excluding weddings.. my report has to be 2-5 pages in length but i cant think of what to really say or how to start of so i was thinking maybe i would ask here and see if i could gather some ideas.

Answer 1

I'd start of with the expenses from birth. You have formula, diapers, bottles, not to mention the other necessities like a bed, car seat, clothes, childcare, expenses of dr. appts for shots. Not to mention if the child was born with any medical issues. Then after they start school more expenses for clothes, supplies, after school activties. Keep going with this til they become teenagers. Then you have different expenses. Oh and a car when they turn 16, and issurance for health and your vehicle when they first start driving. Telephone expenses because they run up your house or cell phone bill. I hope this can get you started.

Answer 2

its almost impossible to gauge the cost of raising a child unless you add the average income of the family raising it. people with lots of money will be throwing sweet 16 parties and buying cars where as poor families will spend more on WHOLE family items instead of individual child needs. But from personal experience i can say babies are pretty cheap..maybe 500 dollars a year till 8 yrs old then it goes up to maybe 1500 bucks a year... then at 13 the real money starts. Cell phones ,computers , clothes allowances cars and insurance could cost up to 3000 dollars a year. you can do the math but when deciding to have children cost should not be a factor...if you worry about the money....get a dog

Answer 3

Thats a tough question because I think it depends on the parents, if they buy only the best out there then its going to be way more expensive or the parents that cut cost buy shopping at 2nd hand stores and buying the cheap diapers..Right now I stay at home with our son and my husband is in the air force.IE GRANDMA HELPS ALOT ALOT!!!!! OUR son is 4 years old and wears abercrombie $15.50 per shirt and usually about $45 per jeans, he cant wear there jeans yet, gap *pretty cheap shirts around $9 and jeans around $25* and polo about $20 a shirt and $40 per jean* and thats all I put on him...shoes nike shox *$50 a pair* or adios $50 a pair also, he had a mclauren stroller that was $200, food he eats everything!! LOL and dont forget toys we spend about $30 a week on a toy!!! So just depends on the parent, if I were you I would first start of with if you shop cheap, second hand stores and so on, then I would compare with if you buy everything from retail stores and see what the difference is, I would love to know how much money I waste!! LOL

Answer 4

I have a two year old and 7 month old. My husband works about 70 hours a week. I stay at home because (for now) I can not justify the cost of child care (about $200 a week) for the amount of money I am capable of earning. Not much with no more exp. or marketable skills than I have.
We are behind on power bill, gas, credit cards, personal property taxes, Dr. bills, phone bills, cable,Title loan payment,etc, etc. I think the cost of raising children will depend on the lifestyle you lead. Do you buy pricey name brand diapers, or the dollar store variety? Do you join a movie club or do you go to the library and check them out for free? Raising children is all about sacrifices well it is on our budget. We have not been to a restaurant that does not have a dollar menu in more than 2 years. It is all worth it though!!!

Answer 5

Well since your report has to be 2-5 pages long, may I suggest that you break each paragraph down into stages of life, i.e. pregnancy (start up-furniture, doctors, etc) infancy, toddler, elementary, middle, high, college.
I can only tell you about start up and infancy. Start up cost me nothing...first baby, grandma basically bought everything. But my registry was about $1200.00 that included furniture. Hospital cost me about $800.00 as I ended up with major surgery. Childcare, national average is $680-850 per month. Food for me is about $80-100 a month, less in the beginning because she was strictly breast fed. Now that she's weaned me, I've had to start buying formula. Diapers about $100 a month. Clothing, I've been lucky Grandma loves to dress her up and consignments are the only way to go at this young of an age. I'm sure I'm leaving out a bunch but its 5:00 and I've gotta go pick up my little munchkin.

Answer 6

Start with the food - 3 meals a day at how much per meal and multiply.
THen the clothes - estimate how much clothes cost and how many you need to grow up. don't forget shoes
Consider school supplies.
consider the extra money it costs to have that extra bedroom (rent or mortgage) on the house.
Consider the cost of child care and before/after school care
remember diapers.
take into account school trips, family vacations, driving them to soccer, tee-ball uniforms, saxaphone lessons and taking them to the zoo or waterpark a couple of times a year.
one of the big things if there is a stay-at-home parent is what that parent COULD HAVE made in income if they didn't have to care for the child.
are you including the cost of college?

Answer 7

It really depends on where you live and depends on the parents. My son is still young and still not very expensive but as time goes on I know it'll get more and more.

I have always thought this site was neat. It's to calculate the cost of a child in your region of the states and you really get it broken down. I'm 100% positive that it will help you greatlly with your project.

Here it is: http://www.babycenter.com/costofchild/

Best of Luck!!!

Answer 8

first cost is insurences if you dont have one, cothes, food and so on. i would say about a few thousands. do a search on google. it might help

Answer 9

Okay well I have three children... I think I can help you out with this. I'm going to base my estimate on my own experience and on the average family with the average child (different children and different families are all well...different- my figures will be all just averaged out for simplicity) Also I'm in Canada so you need to take into consideration that a obgyn and delivering a baby actually costs money in some places like the United States (I'm not sure how much... here in Canada its paid by taxes so in a way its free here...) I won't be adding those type of medical costs to my answer. I also won't include any extra expenses such as family vacations, post education, dental work, first car..etc... Just the basics...


FOOD for baby $44,343.00~ ~ ~
Baby formula is about $25.00 per can and on average a baby will go threw on of these per week until about 18 months old (72 weeksx 25.00= 1800.00)
then once baby is done with formula they still require a high intake of milk.. I'd say about 2 litres every few days untill about 2 years old (18 months- 24months= 6 months of high milk intake 2L of milk= $ 4.00 (lets say every other day) = 91.25 daysx 4.00= 365.00) - then ofcourse there is baby foods and baby cereals. Baby food is about 80cents per jar baby cereal is about $4.00. For the sake of simplicity I'd estimate that a baby will go threw 2 boxes of cereal in a month and at least 1.5 jars of baby food per day from about 5 months of age to about 18 months of age (thats an average... my youngest daughter ate probably about 2 or 3 jars of baby food per day as she got older) So.. 13 months of solid foods, roughly ( 13monthsx2 boxes cereal=26..26x 4.00= 104.00, 395 days= 592.5 jars baby food, 592.5x 0.80= 474.00..Solid food equals about $578.00) Then theres the regular groceries etc.. that the child will need from age 2- 18. Obviously the amount of food needed will change with time (as the child gets older, bigger, etc.) so to compinsate I will average it out at about $50.00.00 per week (832 wksx50.00= 41,600.00)

DIAPERS for Baby $1200.00~ ~ ~
Diapers on average are $20.00 per bag.. the amount of diapers you get per bag changes (decreases) as the sizes become larger.. On average I'd say a Baby goes threw 2 bags of diapers per month (Ofcourse the actual amount is probably more like 3 or 4 bags per month depending on the child). Babies usually begin to potty train at about 18 months old and should be completly toilet trained by age 2 or 3.. .Again, for the sake of an average lets say the baby requires diapers up to age 2.5 (30monthsx2 bags diapers= 60 bags, 60x20.00= 1200.00)

Okay now EQUIPMENT and FURNISHINGS $ 2830.00. I've only included the necessities in my equations...

crib- $400.00
crib mattress- $80.00
crib bedding and recieving blankets, etc..- $150.00
Infant car seat- $80.00
Toddler car seat- $80.00
Booster seat- $40.00
Stroller- $100.00
baby swing, bouncy chair and other extra 'luxeries'-$100.00
Toddler bed- $100.00
Single bed- $500.00
Single Matresss with 1 set of bedding- $600.00
Highchair, booster etc.. - $250.00
change table, dresser, desk..etc..- $450.00

TOILETRIES $7488.00~~~

Soaps, shampoos, bubble bath etc.. Well my girls go threw about 1 bottle of shampoo in like a week, but I have three so... I'd say about 1 bottle shampoo ($3.00), 1 bar soap($1.00), and other like hair styling product, pony tails, bubble bath etc. 1 per month at like ($4.00 ) SO from birth- 18 years... (936 weeksx 8.00= 7488.00)

Then they hit puberty.. FOR GIRLS $300.00 there's feminine products which are about $5.00 per pack. 1 per month from about 13- 18 years (1yearx 5.00=60.00, 60.00x 5years= 300.00)

Now CLOTHING $16,200.00~ ~ ~

Because children are always growing I've estimated clothing costs at about $75.00 per month form birth to 18 that's probably pretty close... (216 monthsx 75.00= 16,200.00)

Then there's HOUSING COSTS...rent/mortgage, heating, water, phone cable, hydro etc 88,560.00...~ ~ ~

Average family pays PER MONTH 750.00 rent/ mortgage, 100.00 gas, 100.00 hydro, 150.00 phone/ internet, 80.00 cable, 50.00 water... So per moth..expenses equal 1230.00
Based on a single unit family (2 parents and 1 child... 1230.00 divided by 3= 410.00) So from birth to 18 (410.00per monthx 216months= 88,560.00 )

Then theres gasoline costs etc of riding your child to and from school for 12 years or more, and child care costs while you work to earn the money thus far to raise the child $115, 500~ ~
Lets put gas costs at $5.00 per day (which for most is a huge under estimate..) and child care costs at per week $150.00 from age 1 to 12 again probably an under estimate for most.. (365 daysx 12years=4380, 4380x5.00= 21,900.00...52 weeksx 12years= 624 weeks... 624 wksx150.00=93,600.00)

So there you have it.. on average it costs about $ 276,421.00 to raise 1 child... Keep in mind that that total is averaged and could be more or less depending on the family....

Hope I helped :)