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Raising Kids Is Cheaper Than You Think
My husband reads a lot, especially about economics, politics and kids. He showed me this article posted on Canadian Business.com. It is titled “What’s it cost to raise a child? Less than you think, Fraser study suggests”. This posts and its related study had us both saying ‘wow’. Raising Kids Is Cheaper Than You Think
We are currently raising 5 children. 4 of ‘our own’ and 1 foster child. It instantly came into mind ‘how could it possibly cost less to raise a child than we think?’
We cloth diaper, breastfeed (when possible), use hand-me-downs, coupon and try to cut corners when we can. But still, kids are expensive. Even their basic needs.
The Cost of Raising a Child
The study quotes that it is possible to raise a child on $3000-$4000 a year if parents only include ‘necessary expenses’ and are careful with their dollars.
This idea boggles my mind. As a cloth diapering advocate, I can say that using disposable diapers, which most people don’t consider a luxury, will cost $800-$1000+ a year for a baby. If you are unable to breastfeed (as we don’t with our foster babies), formula costs about $1000-$2000 a year (or more for babies with sensitive needs). Right there, those two things are what the Fraser institute thinks we can raise a child with.
What is a “Normal” Expense?
So where do clothes, heat, extra water used, laundry detergent, gas to drive to doctor’s appointments, etc fit in? I know that babies only need diapers and formula for so long, but these ‘baby’ expenses soon turn into ‘toddler’ expenses, including shoes (their feet never stop growing), then ‘preschooler’ expenses, how many pairs of pants can he ruin the knees of in 1 year? Then we get into the school ages. Boy oh boy. They eat and eat, waste food, “it has ‘things’ in it” (which in our house usually means it’s healthy). They need school supplies, hair cuts (okay, I suppose I could do this on my own…) and bicycles, even second hand, these things aren’t cheap and are not what I consider a luxury.
The Extra’s
I believe that there is a huge difference between keeping a child alive and preparing them for the future. Perhaps I could get the books my oldest son reads from the library and not buy the lego that my second son loves to use to create masterpieces (and develop his fine motor skills). Taekwondo and soccer, swimming lessons, birthday presents, are they luxuries? I suppose so, but I don’t want to see what this world would look like with the next generation missing out on so many developmentally supportive activities, that yes, cost money.
Perhaps one day, I will cost it all out. For now, I am pretty certain that the 3-4K yearly will barely get us to breakfast.
Thanks for reading this article. Please tell us what you think – did we miss anything? Raising Kids Is Cheaper Than You Think
Read: Potty Training your Big Kid with Huggies Pull-Ups and Memorial Slideshow: How to Create a Tribute Video.
I have to agree that raising kids does not have to be all that much more expensive. For my daughter, we bought almost all of her baby stuff secondhand. We shop sales and shop carefully. As for wasting food, my daughter eats what she is offered or eats what she is offered later. We waste as little as possible. Raising kids does not have to be that expensive. And plenty of families do so on very little.
I agree. It hasn’t cost nearly as much for me to raise my children as “the experts” say. I am a big fan of consignment shops and that alone has helped tremendously from clothes to toys and some things in between.
Raising children is very expensive! We use cloth diapers, breastfeed, make our own baby food… use hand-me-down clothing from the relatives. We rarely buy toys (books are a more common splurge for us). BUT… daycare expenses alone are roughly 30K a year for our family of two children.
Maybe if you are a SAHM or SAHM that never does anything fun with your kids (no museum trips, playlands) you can scrape by for a few thousand dollars a year. However, I totally agree that there is a huge difference between just keeping a child alive and giving them a rewarding childhood! I didn’t read the study, but lost wages from a SAH parent should be factored into the cost of raising a child.
I don’t have kids, but I know that many of my friends spend money on things their kids just don’t need. Like a new set of toys, because their other toys are old. Or they buy toys for their kids every shopping trip. I’m not saying raising a child is cheap, but some parents make it more expensive then it should be. I am hoping that is where they were getting at with this article.
Yes! Raising kids are expensive. They eat EVERYTHING… and by EAT I mean WASTE 😉 Then they go through clothes so quick. It is amazing. BUT I wouldn’t have it any other way 😉
I don’t feel like we spend that much on our daughter. (I say that after I just spent $200 on her Fall/Winter clothing yesterday, ha!) Now that she’s eating what we eat (and a lot of it!) our grocery bill has gone up maybe $75 a month, we use disposable diapers but only buy them when we can get a good deal and stock up (I just bought 200 Huggies Little Movers diapers and paid $24 score!) I think you just have to be smart about finances, don’t buy toys and unnecessary things all the time and you’ll be fine.
I think that figure is unreasonable but having two boys I have been able to re-use a lot of clothes/jackets, etc.. for him. But diapers are still expense and as our eldest gets older we are purchasing more food and school activities
I don’t see how you can raise one on the expenses they say, even if you buy used clothes and shoes. Which you really need new good quality shoes for developing feet. Sure cloth diapering and breastfeeding saves, but I can’t breastfeed long. My milk has always dried up by month 3. Then I am buying super expensive, specialty formulas for babies that can’t stomach anything else. Now they are older, it’s even more expensive. Headphones for school, usb’s laptops because they don’t use books or paper much anymore, everything is online, etc etc etc. I have four, and I often forgo a cup of coffee because I know I will later need for a field trip, etc from school. It costs thousands a year per kid, and that’s without extra curricular activities other than school
I thought about what we spend on our kids and we really don’t spend a lot. Most of our “child expenses” go to groceries or their savings plans. Used (or donated or swapped) clothing, free fun (parks, library classes, community events etc), their toys are mostly birthday gifts etc. There are certainly times that we splurge on our kids but it’s mostly books and treats like my oldest son’s favorite special cheese.
I was also raised by parents who didn’t spend a lot of money raising their kids and I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. We didn’t have fancy birthday parties and didn’t start with any “activities” outside of school until much later in our lives. My siblings and I are all well adjusted adults and none of us feel like out parents did us a disservice by not spending money (that they didn’t have) on us.
So yes, I do think it’s possible to raise kids on that much a year and still raise happy, fulfilled, well rounded kids. I think that you make do with what you have. If you don’t have a lot, then you make the choice not to spend a lot.
On the other hand, if you have the money to spend, there are certainly worse things to spend it on than your children. Because, let’s face it, it’s fun to spoil our little ones once in a while!
I agree that I can be cheap to raise kids… if you make those choices. Like you said, cloth diapering (I only spend $300 on diapers for my 2 kids), breastfeeding (free), and buying used clothes… and only enough to “get by” all help. As far as toys, my kids play with very few of their toys, and gifts from holidays & birthdays alone are more than enough for them. I guess it’s all about the choices each individual family makes.
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back later.
Cheers